Software for 2008 Taxes :: TaxACT

17 years ago

I have used both TurboTax and TaxCut in past years to do my federal income tax. It seems these packages are no longer best sellers: not carried in my local Walmart of my BJ's club, where these products had been available in past years.

I guess the Tax Act free tax software is putting them out of business. That said, I downloaded from TaxACT an executive program: ta08stdw.exe

As I am a bit "gun shy" and hesitate to execute this program. Can anyone confirm this is what I should expect to receive from the Tax Act offer? Has anyone used this software? Good?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (5)

bpgreen
17 years ago
I found Turbo Tax in a lot of different stores around here. I think it's still the #1 tax software. I'm going to give TaxAct a try to see how it does. I already did my taxes using Turbo Tax, but decided to d/l TaxAct to see whether it gets the answers right. If so, I may use it as my primary next year.

I'll post what I find after trying it out.

I started it last night (but didn't finish) and a quick observation is that you have to go through a lot more screens to get something done.

I also like the way TurboTax imports things from last year and uses them as a starting point. If you haven't changed employers, that can save some time. The way they prompt with last years' 1099s helped me realize I was missing one. If I had just entered based on what I had, I'd have missed one.
DA_Mccoy
17 years ago
I don't know about an "executive" download as I have always used the traditional download, but I and two of my children's families have been using the free edition of TaxAct for four or five years now. One family pays to have the ability to do their state and electronic file. The rest of us use the old fashion paper filing.

Never had a problem with it once you become familiar with the routine of ferreting through the occasional purchase offer.

Though it only allows you to do one tax return, I have found a work around that will allow you to do more than one.

Hint: When offered activate the automatic save.

If you have any questions you can either post them on this thread or if you wish privacy e-mail them to me.

DA
Related Discussions
Why no child tax credit?
Q
Comments (21)
Do you have a flexible saving account for dependant care? Child & Dependent Care Credit - Limit with ER Benefits Although there are expenses in excess of the $5,000 of dependent care benefits, there is no credit when the dependent care benefit exceeds $3,000. The reason for this is that the maximum allowable expenses that can be used for the credit is $3,000. You have actually received a tax benefit for a total of $5,000 in expenses by using the dependent care benefit. Therefore, there is no expense that remains allowable for the credit. The amount of the dependent care benefit disqualifies you from the child tax credit. Lines 28 - 32 of the Form 2441 will show this. If you have, for example, a dependent care benefit amount of $2,000 with the $7,169 of expenses, only $1,000 would be allowed for the calculation of the credit. The IRS does not allow the maximum dependent care benefit of $5,000 plus an addition of the maximum credit amount of $3,000 for the child. The dollars used for the benefit and the credit are overlapping. Generally speaking, depending on the level of your income, the $5,000 in dependent care benefit is a better deal for an individual than the credit.
...See More
tax software discrepancies
Q
Comments (21)
Yes, we are all human and we all make mistakes. If you pay a preparer to do your taxes, your return should be done correctly. You should have a guarantee that the return is done correctly. The preparer should pay penalities and interest if there is a mistake on your return and the IRS sends you a bill. Most of the people who use paid preparers are too lazy to do their own returns, don't want to spend the time to do their return themselves, are totally confused by tax law or want that guarantee in case the return is done incorrectly. Personally, I don't think you should be able to graduate from high school without knowing how to complete a return with wages, dependents, interest, dividends, and Schedule A. That isn't that difficult. It is important to remember that the paid preparer is only as good as the information that person has. If you fail to bring a W-2 or a 1099 Misc or a 1099 Int, the preparer has NO way of know that information is missing. A good portion of the mistakes preparers make are due to a lack of infomation or poor information provided by the client. We just had a case where a client got a letter from the IRS because he had forgotten to claim $17,000 in income on a Schedule C. In the IRS statistics, that goes down as a paid preparer mistake even though we had no way of knowing he had recieved that income in addition to the other income he had on his Schedule C. Some errors that end up on the preparer side of the ledger are a result of taxpayers lying about being married and whether or not a child has lived with them a full year. I've seen self prepared returns that a taxpayer claimed the Hope Credit and the Lifetime Learning Credit and the Tuition and Fees deduction for the same student for the same tuition paid. Clearly this was a mistake. The software gave him a warning, but the taxpayer ignored the message, printed the return and mailed it in anyway. Mr. Taxpayer got a letter from the IRS a year or so later. When I talked to the taxpayer, his response was "The software asked the questions and I answered it". If Mr. taxpayer had spent 15 minutes doing some research to figure out why the software said his return was incorrect, he would have saved himself the terror of a letter from the IRS and a bunch of money. If you do your return yourself and use two different tax prep programs and get two different answers, you really need to figure out why the answers are different. I'm not trying to start a fight, but simply let the OP know that he/she should have figured out why there was a difference before filing.
...See More
Is Trbo Tax Deluxe 2008 a dud this year?
Q
Comments (26)
equinecpa: You wrote: >>Two cents from a CPA: ..... Just the inconsistencies in results tells me you are making input erorrs -I'd count on it. The programs are not calculating the return differently -you are somehow inputting it differently. ========================================== That is not true. Compare TaxAct with TaxCut where you've bought and sold both taxable and tax-exempt bonds with acrued interest. You will find TaxAct understates the final income and therefore the tax. Several years ago I went thru the calculation line by line with both using identical input. (Both on computer and paper). I pinpointed the exact mistake TaxAct was making. I wrote it all up clearly and concisely and sent it by US Mail to TaxAct headquarters which was in Iowa. They acknowledged my analysis; said they'd fix it. They never did. A couple years later I checked it out again and this time emailed em. This time they denied the error. The wording of the reply showed that they did not understand the problem. I wouldn't trust TaxAct with anything beyond simplest of returns; ie wages only with a standard deduction.
...See More
Tax Program Problem: TaxAct
Q
Comments (3)
i agree with jlhug, a friend used turbo tax and had a refund of 5000.00. i double checked it for her and found she actually was only getting back 1500.00 the mistake, she was claiming everyone in the house as a dependant, even though they each had their own income and claimed themselves. the sad thing is she had done this for 5 years running and never been caught!
...See More
DA_Mccoy
17 years ago
I just checked my download disk. The file you cited is the same file I used.

DA
jerry_nj
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks all, and as said I am always leery/nervous about operating a ".exe" file downloaded from an unknown source. The TaxACT source was unknown to me and I got there by doing a "google" on "free tax software", so I was open to all the bad guys in the world to send me a trouble web site designed to look like a widely advertised tax tool.

DA, sounds like the TaxACT software doesn't off the "interview" format for inputting data. I found that helpful and it is used by both Turbo and Tax Cut, I'm sure about Tax Cut as I've used that for the last 5 or more years.
DA_Mccoy
17 years ago
Jerry,
Yes it does.

You start by answering your personal questions, name, address, DOB, SSN, etc. and then you begin a Q&A. It allows data and Q&A reviews/changes along with all the ancillary forms a filer might need. It's so uncomplicated even I can do it. :)

Another tip: After downloading/installing do an update to ensure you have the most current application. I can't tell you right now where to access. I think it is under Help or Online on the Toolbar.

Software for 2008 Taxes :: TaxACT

Comments (5)

bpgreen

DA_Mccoy

Related Discussions

DA_Mccoy

jerry_nj
Original Author

DA_Mccoy

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Software for 2008 Taxes :: TaxACT

Comments (5)

bpgreen

DA_Mccoy

Related Discussions

DA_Mccoy

jerry_njOriginal Author

DA_Mccoy

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

jerry_nj
Original Author