Which version of Turbo Tax should I use?

January 22, 2009 2:13 PM

Which version of Turbo Tax should I use?

I've been doing my taxes on TurboTax since TY2004. I am self employed with a few 1099s. Wife has 1 W-2. For business expenses, I only deduct materials & goods (in my case, software, computers & hardware, media, shipping, etc... not the home office or car). We also itemize since buying a home. And we just had a baby last year.
TT Deluxe has always done a good job finding deductions for me. But now I notice that TT Home + Business states it looks through over 350 personal & self-employment deductions. Does anyone have experience between the two? Will Home + Business really find me any more deductions than Deluxe?

posted by conigs to work & money (3 comments total)

If you're willing to use the online version of TurboTax, my understanding is that the "program" will initially ask you a number of questions and will automatically tell you whether you chose the right product or not. That's where I would start...
posted by masher at 2:36 PM on January 22

I've prepared taxes professionally.

This is the Intuit feature comparison chart. If you're basically an independent contractor with "just a few 1099s", you probably don't need the extra features of H&B, which is really designed for people who run a full-scale small business (with or without employees of their own).

The program's being billed as "finding" deductions is something I "find" amusing. It's just a sales pitch. The software's real assistance is in organizing a mass of complex financial material and feeding it into the forms properly. If you know your business and have a decent tax guide (I buy one about every three years), you probably already know all the valid deductions you can take.
posted by dhartung at 3:05 PM on January 22 [3 favorites]

The online version isn't that helpful about suggesting when to upgrade. I have one 1099 for some independent contracting and it still pushed me to upgrade.
posted by indyz at 6:13 PM on January 22