TaxACT 2008 Ultimate

Follow-up review to my initial review. I've had to change my rating from GOOD to DO NOT USE! Yes, TaxAct is less expensive than the competition - but sometimes you get what you pay for. Although TaxAct… isn't as user friendly as the other packages, if you are an experienced tax preparer you shouldn't have too many problems navigating through this software. However, if you are inexperienced using tax preparation software, or have little experience preparing your own forms, you will be better served using one of Intuit's products. That said, the reason I'm giving this product a poor rating is for its EFILE. I completed my return, quadruple checked to verify all information was entered correctly - efiled my claim and printed out copies. A few days later I receive an email that my efile had been rejected by the IRS due to "discrepancies" in my wife's SS Number and date of birth. So I checked both the printed forms and all the data I entered in TaxAct. Everything had been entered correctly. I compared to my 2007, 2006, and previous returns. AGAIN EVERYTHING MATCHED!!! So I called TaxAct and immediately they tried to blame me. When I explained over and over again that all the information matched, then they claimed I had to check with the IRS - as the IRS rejected the efile. So I called the IRS. The Social Security information that the IRS uses comes straight from the Social Security Administration, thus, as the IRS claims, there's nothing they can do, and I would have to verify the info with the SSA. I called the Social Security Administration, explained the issue. They said because it involved my wife's number, that my wife had to call. She called, and they told her that she would have to go to the local office with proof of ID. So my wife had to take a day off from work (LOSS OF PAY!!!!) to go to the local Social Security Administration office to verify that in fact, the SSA DID HAVE THE CORRECT INFORMATION! The Social Security Administration has the CORRECT information. The IRS pulls the info directly from the SSA. The information I entered with TaxAct is 100% correct. Problem rsolved? So I efiled again (and now I'll be billed again for the state filing - another issue!) What happened? Again, the form was "rejected" by the IRS due to incorrect SSN & birthdate infor for my wife. To make matters worse, according to the state (NJ) all that information is CORRECT - but because my tax was rejected at the Federal Level, the Sate has to reject the efile as well. The only reason I efiled was TaxAct claims that if you efile and use direct deposit, you will receive your refund in 10 days. Also TaxAct states that if you EFile, you cannot mail in your taxes. Had to call the IRS again to find out what to do. According to the IRS, I can still send in the "paper return" because the efile was rejected. Additionally, because the IRS & the SSA has the CORRECT information on file, the IRS told me that there is definitely something wrong with the software package (TaxAct) which is preventing an accurate efile. Thus far, thus software has COST ME much more than if I had bought one of the more expensive packages. I can guarantee you, I won't use TaxAct again. I'll spend the extra money and buy a package that actually funtions properly!

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I'm going to *try* to be brief with my comments: NOTE: I've been a TurboTax user for 10 years, and I used the online version of TaxAct and TurboTax. BEFORE I START: Let me tell you the most amazing thing… about TaxAct... FREE TAX SUPPORT!!!! WOW WOW WOW. TurboTax charges like 20 or 30 dollars just for a 20 minute conversation with the same type of person that TaxAct lets you talk to FOR FREE!!! And they pick up the phone right AWAY!. It was april 14th and i called twice at two different times of the day and they picked up right away both times!! How amazing is that? They were veryyy helpful and they know their stuff. 1) Used this and TurboTax...got identical refund amounts 2) TurboTax return was done quicker since it was done second, but had it been done first I still would have finished it in about 25% of the time TaxAct takes. (TurboTax has a muchh nicer user interface and asks questions much more clearly so you can get done way quicker than TaxAct, but...) 3) TurboTax wanted $90 to do the same thing TaxAct charged me $17 for. They both included e-filing. 4) What do I recommend you do? One of these three things: a) If you have money to waste, use TurboTax b) If you don't have money to waste, use TaxAct c) If have some time to waste, use turbotax AND tax act. You are better off using turbotax first though so you can use those amounts to make sure TaxAct gives the same ones. RECOMMENDED FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE DOING THEIR TAXES THEMSELVES FOR THE FIRST TIME. (If you're unsure what i mean by using both, I mean use turbotax to see how much you you owe/are getting for a refund but don't pay them to file. Use taxact to make sure you get the same numbers and pay tax act. I'm not going back to turbotax again with this sort of price difference.

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Considering all the negative reviews for TurboTax and TaxCut, I'm surprised that TaxACT is so little known. I tried it this year for the first time and was impressed. I tried TaxCut years ago and was… annoyed by the way they took you by the hand and led you through, asking questions I could have just answered myself by filling out the tax forms. I tried TurboTax this year but hated it for the same reason. It also took a long time to install, and once it launched, they asked a lot of irrelevant questions or those I didn't want to have to figure out--and if I guessed wrong, how would it affect my return, and would I be able to correct it easily? I gave up after an hour, uninstalled, and returned it. My feeling is, when you have to spend more time figuring out the software than the tax forms, it's easier to just do it on paper. True, you can use the forms in Turbo, but they're not really the same as the IRS forms--they have additional fields you have to fill out for the sake of the software. It was a pleasant surprise to find that TaxACT is much more intuitive. They do have the lead-you-by-the-hand option, but the forms are straight-up IRS clones in most cases, with automatic calculation. If you try to fill in a field that affects others, you get a message asking you to enter the info on the supporting document. (You can override, but it's not recommended and won't be automatically calculated.) There were a few minor things I didn't like, but in speaking to tech support, I found that there are reasons for them, and I can certainly live with them. The return went together fairly quickly, corrected some math errors I had made on the paper version, and created a clean printout. I'll be using TaxACT again.

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