Software
Review of: |
 This
is one of my least favorite times of the year. The time to file income
taxes. If you are like me, you find it at least distasteful if not downright
disgusting. You work hard all year to make money and then you have to be
reminded every year how much the government takes out of your income. Income
taxes and all of the complicated forms, incomprehensible tax laws, tax-saving
advice being peddled and you just want it to be over. Well, go ahead and
tackle those taxes without delay, especially if you are self-employed,
have your own small business or have a "regular" job and have a part-time
or home business. Now, Intuit, the financial and tax software company,
offers you TurboTax Home and Business which is designed especially to be
used for these kinds of situations. What does this software offer that
other tax software doesn’t, you might ask. For starters, it includes the
TurboTax Deluxe personal tax software as it’s base. Intuit has produced
TurboTax Home and Business to also cover those who have a sole proprietorship
business. Not only does it handle your personal taxes easily, it also handles
your business taxes. This is not for every business (for example, partnerships
and corporate businesses) tax situation but it does provide you with all
the tax advice found in TurboTax Deluxe and gives additional information
and extra advice designed specifically for sole proprietorships. See Intuit’s
web site, for more complete information, if you are unsure whether
this product would benefit your situation.
TurboTax Home and Business minimum requirements are for a Windows 95/98 or NT 4.0 operating system, with at least a 486DX or greater processor, 16 MB of RAM, a 2X CD-ROM drive (with a 4X or greater recommended), available hard drive space, an SVGA (minimum 256 colors resolution) monitor. To use the online services and to receive online one-click updates from Intuit, Internet access is required. Installation was very simple and was completed in just a few seconds on my system. At the beginning, prior to my first use, I registered online and accessed the web site for a "one click" update. As I recall, this is a new feature this year and worked seamlessly with my system. It downloaded 23 new files or updates to the program in just a couple of minutes. The upgrade of course was free and did indeed work as promised with one click. There is web site support available in the form of free FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) addressing issues about the program. The program itself is set up with the most frequently asked questions on the side of each page that your journey through TurboTax. All you need do is click on one of the questions and a box pops up on your screen with the answer and an explanation. I have used TurboTax for the last 4 years to do my taxes. I am indeed a proponent of this fine program. This is my initial foray into TurboTax Home and Business, although I have used TurboTax Deluxe for several years. My wife has a sole proprietorship home business, so this program’s strengths fit perfectly into our needs. Intuit indicates that the Easy-Step Interview process has been streamlined. There are fewer screens and questions to answer because they have tried to combine and process more efficiently the information and data gathered. They also claim an improved design of the Easy-Step Progress bar. It did seem to be easy to use this product. One of my favorite parts of TurboTax has always been the fact that your computations and figuring are done for you. With the new Home Office Expert and Depreciation Expert (which should really be called wizards in my book) there is further reduction of complicated mathematical computations. Home Office Expert teaches you ways to legally benefit from the new tax laws and tries to ensure that you claim every Home Office deduction you have coming. Similarly, Depreciation Expert helps get you get the most out of every depreciation deduction. Another significant strength of this program is the array of books and videos that are available. Tax experts Marshall Loeb and Mary Strauss narrate the videos that provide useful how-to tips or other suggestions on various topics. Online books, including Tax Savvy for Small Business and J.K. Lasser’s Tax Deductions for Small Business are provided along with more than 25 official IRS publications. Online video clips discuss various aspects of filing your income tax. There are many practical tips included, so if you have time, it is a good idea to view them. Some business specifics include the ability to print forms 1099-MISC and W-2 for your employees or contractors. You can print form 1040-ES and quarterly vouchers if you choose, to help you pay your taxes on a quarterly basis. U.S. industrial averages, allow you to compare your income and expense figures to those of similar businesses. Ratio analysis lets you measure your business performance against others. If you have not used TurboTax previously, there are built-in checks and "flags" that are used to try and help you prevent an audit or at least be aware that your tax configuration may increase the likelihood of an IRS audit. With this product, audit alerts are business oriented. The Two-year comparison allows you to compare your 1998 income and expenses with your 1999 income and expenses. Business Deduction Finder looks for deductions that you can take that you might have missed. The Final Review goes back over your completed return and checks to make sure that everything is correct and there are no errors. Prompts will be given to you if the program feels there are errors on the return or if there is missing information. Essentially, you provide the information, but TurboTax Home and Business figures your personal and home business taxes for you. Filing electronically assures you of getting a faster refund, cutting the time from filing to refund in half, on average, according to the IRS. This product is available in many local retail or discount stores, computer stores, online and of course, from Intuit directly. A typical sale advertisement in the Sunday paper lists it for $49.99 after a $20.00, mail-in rebate. Intuit can be contacted online about this product at either http://www.intuit.com or http://www.turbotax.com and there is a toll-free telephone number for ordering listed there.
Larry Grosskopf is a Clinical Psychologist at the San Antonio State Hospital, with a strong interest in computers. He and his wife Marta have two children, aged 6 and 5 currently living at home. |