Since we last tested every program that purports to prepare your personal income taxes, the folks who make the software played Musical Chairs and (tax) Tables.
DacEasy quit the game, stopping all sales of RapidTax. SwifTax became EasyTax and was sold to another company. MECA still sells Andrew Tobias's TaxCut but you can also buy a phone-order version called Kiplinger TaxCut.Parsons changed Personal Tax Preparer's name to Personal Tax Edge and brought out a Windows version, too. Chipsoft dropped TurboTax for Mac, bought MacInTax and had the Mac programmers write nearly identical TurboTax for Windows.
We rounded them all up, plus one received from little AM Software in Missouri, and did our personal taxes. And did 'em again and again and again! Two years ago, TurboTax came out best. This year, most programs print returns acceptable to the IRS - if you have a LaserJet II laser printer. And TaxCut joins Chipsoft's products in supporting the IRS's new 1040PC form, which lets you send in dot-matrix printing.
Most programs need a hard-disk computer, but they're easy to install and use. Most now include audit' flags that alert you to claims that can prickle hairs on IRS auditors. All list new tax law changes. All offer free extended-hour tech support. Most purport to help not just with the program, but with interpreting the IRS's questions.
All have space for notes. Most also stick memos on specific items. Several come with autosave turned on - a great idea to keep your from losing data. And most claim to copy TurboTax's interview' mode that tries to hand-hold you through preparation.
So this year, we started each program in interview mode. From our responses to questions, the program selected all the forms, schedules and worksheets it thought we needed. Then some programs filled in each page automatically as we kept answering questions.
We began with TurboTax for Windows, which is a twin of MacInTax for the Mac. It has all the same forms, entry screens and interview techniques.
We didn't much like its interview mode. It's too easy to hit an arrow that skips us over a crucial question. We ended up without filling in an important supporting form.
On review, we had trouble figuring out how to fix a typing error without activating the override feature. And when we did fix it, we found that some of our previous fill-ins and figurings were erased and had to be redone.
We'd hoped to move in pertinent tax data from our excellent Quicken for Windows, which can make .TXF files. But we couldn't, since we hadn't known to activate Quickens' tax schedule feature when we set it up. That's not TT's fault - but it does warn readers who made our mistake that you're in for a disappointment.
We next tried our previous favorite, TurboTax for DOS. Its programmers aren't great spellers, but they're otherwise smarter than the group on TT for Windows. When you fill out a W-2, it's assumed that your FUTA, FICA and State Tax wages are the same. The program fills in the boxes, while you can easily make changes.
The nonWindows version lacks a hypertext feature that quickly defines tricky tax terms. But we found its tax help more helpful than TT for Windows - and easier to get to. Here, the tax summary screen shows what tax bracket you're in - a fillip missing from the other two Chipsoft packages. But it can only print to one printer port. And despite what its package says, it needs 524K of available RAM to run.
We tried TaxCut next, both the Kiplinger version and the old Tobias version. They run almost exactly the same on DOS, Windows and the Mac, except that the Kiplinger packaging of all three versions has online tax help written by the Kiplinger staff instead of MECA's folks.
TaxCut proved to be a honey. Its interview format selected all the right forms. It helped more than TT with understanding what the IRS was after - and both Kiplinger's and MECA's help was in plainer English. Most important, we were warned right onscreen of the tax implications of answering one way or another. In TT, you have to remember to access a separate screen to get helps and warnings.
We got our $10 extra value from The Kiplinger version when it alerted us onscreen that part of our IRA deposit was taxable. Then it advised that we could avoid the tax just by withdrawing the taxable portion before April 15th. The MECA version didn't warn us of that, and TT didn't tell us until we accessed its tax saving suggestions."
The Kiplinger version costs $10 more, but it also adds a free copy of the $14 Kiplinger's book .