TurboTax vs. TaxCut vs. TaxAct: software review - part 1

February 11, 10:35 AMGadgets ExaminerDan Appleman

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Which of these three products is best?

Taxes are an necessary evil (unless, of course, you are a Republican Senator, in which case you may consider them an unnecessary evil). Perhaps the greatest frustration with taxes is not only do you have to pay them, but you have to spend hours of time and significant amounts of money to pay them correctly. In fact, taxes can be so complicated that even so called experts (such as treasury secretaries and former majority leaders of the Senate) are unable to figure out how to do this.

In recent years tax preparation software has gone a long way towards helping ordinary people to deal with taxes. This series of articles will review the three most popular tax software packages: TurboTax, TaxCut and TaxAct.

Before beginning this series, there are some basic facts and assumptions used in this review:

We can assume that all of the software packages know how to add, subtract and multiply – thus while returns may not be “correct”, they will be calculated correctly. All three packages guarantee this.

The tax code is complicated enough so we can assume that none of the applications will produce a legally correct return for every possible scenario, nor will they in their interviews be able to detect every possible situation in a complex return.

This review will cover the highest (home and business or premier) version of each software package. We can assume that anyone using these software packages has at least a moderately complicated return, with at least one complex situation, or investment or business income. This is because anyone who has a simple return with only wage based income can (and should) use one of the free online tax services, or the basic edition of any of these products.

TurboTax vs. TaxCut vs. TaxAct reviewed:

• Part 2 - The interviews
• Part 3 - Look & feel
• Part 4- Forms
• Part 5 - Pricing
• Part 6 - Conclusion