Tax Software

[AgronAlum]

This is my third year with HR block. Online. After 3 decades I feel really comfortable/confident doing it my self. Standard deduction, some IRA to Roth IRA confusion every year because I just started converting 3 years ago. But after looking at last years entries it come back in a day or two. I used tax act for 6-7 yearsr then they changed the look and feel and I really got confused. Entered everything on HR block and it came out correct, then I paid and filed. Never looked back. Before Tax Act I used a software that was based out of Cedar Rapids, Parson Technology? Dont remember what the software was called.

I misspoke up above when I said I used Tax Act. I used them a number of years ago but like you said, I stopped because the interface got weird and a lot less straight forward. I actually used Tax Hawk this year but also filled everything out on Turbo Tax to verify. I had the same refunds for both fed and state but TurboTax was 80 bucks and Tax Hawk was 15.

 

[dmclone]

My employer sent out a message "New Withholding tax calculation for 2024 W-4. Update yours now". By updating this, is it going to tax more or less out of my check for taxes? If I hadn't bought a Tesla last year, I would have had to pay like $3k. I don't want them taking out less, I'd rather get that number closer to zero.

Just realized I was talking about federal. This year I owed $680 extra in state. I'd like to keep that similar or less.

 

[cyfanatic]

I misspoke up above when I said I used Tax Act. I used them a number of years ago but like you said, I stopped because the interface got weird and a lot less straight forward. I actually used Tax Hawk this year but also filled everything out on Turbo Tax to verify. I had the same refunds for both fed and state but TurboTax was 80 bucks and Tax Hawk was 15.

I did the same thing only using FreeTaxUSA...same exact refunds when filled out with TurboTax. Instead of filing for $80 with TurboTax I filed using the $15 FreeTaxUSA site. Both returns were accepted within hours and waiting for the next part of the refund.

 

[dmclone]

I did it in both TurboTax and Freetax and it matched up exactly the same until I put in some investment stuff and then the difference was only $25. I noticed a couple of things this year.

1. If you can't upload your document, the QR scanner thing works pretty slick with TT.
2. So many of my investment documents/PDF's have multiple documents on one form (Interest/Dividends/Stock Sales) and TT doesn't recognize all of them, only one.
3. FreeTax didn't allow me to electronically connect to any banks/financial, so I just entered them by hand. This was pretty easy in my case.
4. I like how FreeTax will allow you to see your 1040 in advance.

I'll probably keep using FreeTax in the future.

 

[flycy]

Do the cheap/free tax programs download last years taxes from a Turbotax/HR Block file so you dont have to fill all that info in? That is worth the money to me if they don't so wanted to know before switching. State being more costly is always a pain as I work in Nebraska and live in Iowa so have to file both states.

 

[AgronAlum]

Do the cheap/free tax programs download last years taxes from a Turbotax/HR Block file so you dont have to fill all that info in? That is worth the money to me if they don't so wanted to know before switching. State being more costly is always a pain as I work in Nebraska and live in Iowa so have to file both states.

It’ll carry over year to year but I don’t remember seeing where you can import from another site. Tax Hawk/Free Tax is 15 per state and free federal.

 

[cycloneG]

Do the cheap/free tax programs download last years taxes from a Turbotax/HR Block file so you dont have to fill all that info in? That is worth the money to me if they don't so wanted to know before switching. State being more costly is always a pain as I work in Nebraska and live in Iowa so have to file both states.

I downloaded a pdf copy of my return from Turbotax and was able to upload it to FreeTaxUSA which pulled the information into this year's return.