[TriLUG] Ask TriLUG: Best Tax Filing Software?

[William Sutton]

I also left the 1040EZ behind a long time ago.  I've dealt with 
self-employment (for two people on 3 different jobs), capital 
gains/losses, partial year state taxes, moving expenses, 401(k) -> IRA 
conversions, investments with part of the income being exempt from state 
taxes, and charitable contributions.  This year I get to deal with 
mortgage interest for the first time.  Every year is an interesting 
financial snapshot of one's life and activities.

I'm also not a genius.  To repeat what I said earlier, it isn't 
particularly difficult; you just have to be aware of your financial 
situation, aware of your life situations, pay attention to how those are 
treated in the 1040 instructions and Publication 17, and work things 
through carefully.

Or you can trust <insert tax software here> to do it for you correctly. 
As I said before, I still don't trust other people's software :-)

William Sutton

On Mon, 14 Mar 2011, Reginald Reed wrote:

> Similar to Alan's comment below about the "Best," it also applies to
> generalizations such as "it's not difficult."  Whether or not one's
> taxes are "difficult" to do the old fashioned way is so variable
> laden, it's probably not worth saying it.  Key variables being
> mathematical aptitude, reading comprehension and most importantly your
> specific tax situation, to name a few.
>
> I personally use Turbo Tax Home & Business on OS X and Windows and
> have used Turbo Tax variants over the past 4 years successfully for
> our semi-complex tax situation (2 small business, capital
> gains/losses, stock options, employee stock purchase plans, dividend
> reinvestment plans, foreign securities, etc, etc).  I miss the long
> gone days of the 1040EZ :(
>
> --Reggie
>
> On Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 12:47 PM, William Sutton <william at trilug.org> wrote:
>> And this is why, as a professional software engineer, who has worked on
>> other people's crummy, buggy, code, I refuse to trust something as important
>> as my financial safety to someone else's crummy, buggy, tax application.
>>  All my taxes are done the old fashioned way: calculator, pencil, paper, and
>> an awareness of my tax situation.  it's not difficult. It just requires a
>> knowledge of what you are doing and a bit of care as you work the figures.
>>
>> William Sutton
>>
>
>>> On Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 12:21 PM, Alan Porter <porter at trilug.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I always love these questions where someone asks a crowd for the
>>>> "best", when each person usually has only ONE.  That means each
>>>> response will either be "mine is great" or "mine sucks"... no
>>>> real way to compare.
> --
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