Recommendations for online tax softare.
January 9, 2011 2:56 PM Subscribe
Doing taxes in the cloud--it sounds so dreamy that way.
I've used Turbotax and or Taxcut to do my own U.S. income taxes for the last dozen or so years. This year, I decided I wanted to look at doing my taxes "in the cloud", using an online tax preparation site.
Sadly, my google searches for recommendations led to a bunch what I felt was obvious blogspam, and very little useful information. I'm more confused than when I started. Primarily, I'd like pointers to legitimate and useful reviews of cloud tax software, and/or personal recommendations.
My personal tax story is almost certainly way too complicated to qualify for any "free" tier--specifically, I need to enter a bunch of small RSU sales. Software that makes that easy is a plus. And I will need to file California state taxes. But generic recommendations welcome, too.
I've used Turbotax and or Taxcut to do my own U.S. income taxes for the last dozen or so years. This year, I decided I wanted to look at doing my taxes "in the cloud", using an online tax preparation site.
Sadly, my google searches for recommendations led to a bunch what I felt was obvious blogspam, and very little useful information. I'm more confused than when I started. Primarily, I'd like pointers to legitimate and useful reviews of cloud tax software, and/or personal recommendations.
My personal tax story is almost certainly way too complicated to qualify for any "free" tier--specifically, I need to enter a bunch of small RSU sales. Software that makes that easy is a plus. And I will need to file California state taxes. But generic recommendations welcome, too.
I'm a little confused by this question. You say you want an online tax prep site and that you've used turbotax. Turbotax is mostly known as an online tax prep site.
I'd go for TT or H&R block. Those are the two best known names in online tax prep.
posted by jourman2 at 3:03 PM on January 9, 2011
I'd go for TT or H&R block. Those are the two best known names in online tax prep.
posted by jourman2 at 3:03 PM on January 9, 2011
Turbotax's online tax prep page is what you want. Your data is "in the cloud" for the most part, you can stop and start whenever you want to, it gives you a lot of online help and there's some sort of guarantee though I don't totally understand it. If you keep using it every year it will transfer your data from the year previously, and if you're below certain income levels, it's free or cheap. Make sure you've checked to see if your bank or other institutions offer a discount before you click through and sign up, you can save some money. They'll do federal and state taxes. I make a nice medium amount of money and I think I pay something like $60 for both. Not too terrible.
posted by jessamyn at 3:11 PM on January 9, 2011
posted by jessamyn at 3:11 PM on January 9, 2011
Response by poster: > You say you want an online tax prep site and that you've used turbotax
I've been using the PC installable version for years, but I'm looking at using the online cloud version.
As to why I'm looking to switch: maybe there's no reason to, but maybe there is.
posted by IvyMike at 3:25 PM on January 9, 2011
I've been using the PC installable version for years, but I'm looking at using the online cloud version.
As to why I'm looking to switch: maybe there's no reason to, but maybe there is.
posted by IvyMike at 3:25 PM on January 9, 2011
The web version of TurboTax is great. And, since you've been using the non-web version for a while, you'll be able to easily transfer over all your data from last year and file quicker. There are multiple tiers from free up to super-duper premium, but they're all affordable and will handle both state and federal. I've used it to file federal + state taxes in THREE states during the same tax year (plus like you I had some RSU sales to take into account) and it was totally fine.
posted by joan_holloway at 3:33 PM on January 9, 2011
posted by joan_holloway at 3:33 PM on January 9, 2011
I've been using the web version of turbotax for 4 or 5 years and it's great, really cuts down on the time and your records are backed up online, which is very handy. Highly recommend.
posted by fshgrl at 4:31 PM on January 9, 2011
posted by fshgrl at 4:31 PM on January 9, 2011
Turbotax online is awesome. Give it a shot. If I remember correctly, you can create an account and enter all of your information for free, and you only have to pay once you want to get PDFs of your forms. That way you aren't out any money unless you are happy with Turbotax - if you're happy, pay and get your forms, if you dislike the process you can stop at any time. I *think* that's how it works.
posted by Tehhund at 5:07 PM on January 9, 2011
posted by Tehhund at 5:07 PM on January 9, 2011
I've used FreeTaxUSA the last 3 or 4 years. I LOVE IT. It is simple, and it stores all of your previous information.
I used to use Turbo Tax online, until I got tricked into doing a bunch of stuff on there I did not need, and instead of paying 20 or 25, I ended up paying $60. It was kind of ridiculous (and I'm someone who usually uses an EZ).
Good luck!
posted by bibliogrrl at 6:05 PM on January 9, 2011
I used to use Turbo Tax online, until I got tricked into doing a bunch of stuff on there I did not need, and instead of paying 20 or 25, I ended up paying $60. It was kind of ridiculous (and I'm someone who usually uses an EZ).
Good luck!
posted by bibliogrrl at 6:05 PM on January 9, 2011
I use TaxAct and have used it for years. It works very well.
posted by fifilaru at 9:15 PM on January 9, 2011
posted by fifilaru at 9:15 PM on January 9, 2011
jourman2: "Turbotax is mostly known as an online tax prep site."
As a Linux user, I can confirm there was a time before this. It's only been in the last few years that they moved a lot of it over to a web service, and it still doesn't like modern versions of Firefox. Still, the web version is pretty nice and if the developers have any clue the web version is no different than the not web version.
I really like the "in the cloud" aspect, though they've been doing that since before "the cloud" meant anything. For people who reformat their computers and don't make good backups, this is a lifesaver.
posted by pwnguin at 8:46 AM on January 10, 2011
As a Linux user, I can confirm there was a time before this. It's only been in the last few years that they moved a lot of it over to a web service, and it still doesn't like modern versions of Firefox. Still, the web version is pretty nice and if the developers have any clue the web version is no different than the not web version.
I really like the "in the cloud" aspect, though they've been doing that since before "the cloud" meant anything. For people who reformat their computers and don't make good backups, this is a lifesaver.
posted by pwnguin at 8:46 AM on January 10, 2011
Response by poster: I ended up getting a good deal on oldschool non-web software and went that way.
But if someone stumbles across this in the next month or so, there's was good summary of tax software options on Get Rich Slowly earlier this week. It doesn't recommend one package over another but at least it's a good summary of what is available.
posted by IvyMike at 6:47 PM on March 18, 2011
But if someone stumbles across this in the next month or so, there's was good summary of tax software options on Get Rich Slowly earlier this week. It doesn't recommend one package over another but at least it's a good summary of what is available.
posted by IvyMike at 6:47 PM on March 18, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by decathecting at 3:03 PM on January 9, 2011