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Dan Szwarc · Mar 16, 2002, 04:46 PM

OK, I'm a longtime user of Turbotax for Windows and this year I purchased TaxCut because it runs in OSX.

This stupid program provides no information on how to file! It doesn't suggest which forms to print, it doesn't even give you a payment/refund address!! Am I missing something? Isn't this a basic function? I know how to do my taxes, but c'mon, without giving me a payment address, my return is useless!

If someone know how to get TaxCut to do this, please post here so I can complete this task.

Anilam · Mar 16, 2002, 07:44 PM

Originally posted by Dan Szwarc:
OK, I'm a longtime user of Turbotax for Windows and this year I purchased TaxCut because it runs in OSX.

This stupid program provides no information on how to file! It doesn't suggest which forms to print, it doesn't even give you a payment/refund address!! Am I missing something? Isn't this a basic function? I know how to do my taxes, but c'mon, without giving me a payment address, my return is useless!

If someone know how to get TaxCut to do this, please post here so I can complete this task.

Taxcut for X does not even let you file electronically.... It keeps informing you that you did not fill out your refund preferences, even when you did. Switch to 9 and it files properly. I and others bought it because it ran on X, and we were all deceived. They did not even turn on the electronic filing feature for 9 until 2/1. If you wanted to file before that you could not.

Guy

Dan Szwarc · Mar 16, 2002, 10:05 PM

Do you know if e-filing is free or does it cost more?
I have no problems booting into 9 to finish my taxes. It's better than using a PC.

miro7 · Mar 17, 2002, 09:33 PM

You guys definitely have some problems with your program installs. Taxcut printed out all my forms, including addresses to mail them (or as a reference after electronic filing). The first sheet that is printed out is a summary that goes over a checklist, has a quick summary breakdown, and instructions on how to file (including the pertinent addresses).

Supposedly, an update will fully enable electronic filing under OS X (I haven't filed yet, but my Father has--Federal worked, but State didn't). Either way, you can wait for the fix (they're running out of time to provide it), or use the prescribed method of rebooting and filing under OS 9. You should have gotten either a paper copy or PDF documents that offer a $14.95 rebate on Electronic Filing and a complete rebate on the State component of the program ($20 IIRC).

I'll see if I can't post specific directions for how to get the summary--it should have been the default settings after you completed each section--if you need them.

Edit: I just checked the Taxcut website, and there appears to be another update for the Federal and one for the State for Macintosh. I'm not sure exactly what the update fixes.

[ 03-17-2002: Message edited by: miro7 ]

[ 03-17-2002: Message edited by: miro7 ]

Dan Szwarc · Mar 18, 2002, 07:19 PM

I found the "file tax return" option after booting into 9. What ticked me off was that I had to select this option from the menu and that it didn't pop up when I clicked on the "file your return" tab.

Based on other complaints about Taxcut software, I guess I'm not the only one who dislikes it.

popheader · Mar 18, 2002, 10:34 PM

I've been doing my own taxes since 1987 and using software mostly Turbo tax (Macintax) since 1997. This year I had a Brainstorm why not save a few bucks and get Tax cut mainly since it is OSX native. What a huge mistake! Compared to Turbo Tax this program SUCKS. I only hope I don't get audited by the IRS. I don't trust the error check it randomly finds errors? Not the same ones each time!!! I feel the UI also is lacking in quality the text doesn't line up correctly. The only thing I can say possitive is it didn't crash. I really hope Intuit will upgrade Turbo Tax to Carbon next year. This was the worst $20 I spent! I only wish Intuit would price their software equally among Windoze and Mac!

[ 03-18-2002: Message edited by: popheader ]

popheader · Mar 18, 2002, 10:54 PM

I've been doing my own taxes since 1987 and using software mostly Turbo tax (Macintax) since 1997 this year I had a Brainstorm why not save a few bucks and get Tax cut mainly since it is OSX native. What a huge mistake! Compared to Turbo Tax this program SUCKS I only hope I don't get audited by the IRS I don't trust the error check I randomly finds errors? Not the same ones each time!!! I feel the UI also is lacking in quality the text doesn't line up correctly. The only thing I can say possitive is I didn't crash. I really hope Intuit will upgrade Turbo Tax to Carbon next year. This was the worst $20 I spent! I only wish Intuit would price their software equally among Windoze and Mac!

miro7 · Mar 19, 2002, 12:13 AM

This was the worst $20 I spent! I only wish Intuit would price their software equally among Windoze and Mac!

At least you can write it off on your taxes

Well, my experiences have been positive, but I can see why you guys would be upset. Seems both of you came from using a different program--which is perhaps better. I haven't used, so I don't know <shrugs>.

Anilam · Mar 19, 2002, 10:37 PM

Originally posted by miro7:
You guys definitely have some problems with your program installs. Taxcut printed out all my forms, including addresses to mail them (or as a reference after electronic filing). The first sheet that is printed out is a summary that goes over a checklist, has a quick summary breakdown, and instructions on how to file (including the pertinent addresses).

Did you try to file electronically in OSX with update A? It didn't work...I have not heard from anyone who was able to use the X version electronically with update A..There was not an install problem, I reinstalled many times with the same results. The fact is the program was not ready to be released in X.

On the other hand, I received my $14 check from them today which was nice.

Guy

Macola · Mar 19, 2002, 10:55 PM

Originally posted by popheader:
I've been doing my own taxes since 1987 and using software mostly Turbo tax (Macintax) since 1997. This year I had a Brainstorm why not save a few bucks and get Tax cut mainly since it is OSX native. What a huge mistake! Compared to Turbo Tax this program SUCKS. I only hope I don't get audited by the IRS. I don't trust the error check it randomly finds errors? Not the same ones each time!!! I feel the UI also is lacking in quality the text doesn't line up correctly. The only thing I can say possitive is it didn't crash. I really hope Intuit will upgrade Turbo Tax to Carbon next year. This was the worst $20 I spent! I only wish Intuit would price their software equally among Windoze and Mac!

I used TaxCut (Mac) last year and was extremely disappointed--it was buggy and kept rejecting my returns when I tried to file online. Even the updates were buggy. I was so annoyed by the whole experience that this year I used TurboTax (Windows) which has been a pleasant change...well, as pleasant as it can be on a PC

C.J. Moof · Mar 23, 2002, 11:42 PM

TaxCut is scaring me right now- can someone tell me if this is right?:

Get to the "remember when Prez Bush sent us all money last summer or fall? Put that amount in this box."
Before: $40 refund
After: $560 liability

Is that right? That was a loan from the Feds that I never asked for?

miro7 · Mar 24, 2002, 02:34 AM

Did you try to file electronically in OSX with update A? It didn't work...I have not heard from anyone who was able to use the X version electronically with update A..There was not an install problem, I reinstalled many times with the same results. The fact is the program was not ready to be released in X.

Well, I was able to file my federal, but my state kept getting rejected. The 'status update' gave me an ambiguous error (cannot process your state return--please send it via mail), so I e-mailed tech support--who gave me a better rundown of the error, but told me to mail the state return anyway.

After examining the supposed 'problem,' I can only conclude that something must be wrong when it gets transmitted--because the numbers that they say don't match are 1) correct on the form 2) numbers generated by Taxcut.

So, having said that, I'll be chalked up in the "Taxcut is a piece of sh*t," crowd. Man, talk about jumping through hoops. I could've done my taxes 10x by hand with all the time that I've spent. I still say that I didn't have any problems last year, but this year sux (filing only worked for federal in OS X and/or OS 9).

Get to the "remember when Prez Bush sent us all money last summer or fall? Put that amount in this box."
Before: $40 refund
After: $560 liability

Is that right? That was a loan from the Feds that I never asked for?

Not a loan, per se. It was merely an advance on your 2001 tax return. In other words, you got your money back into your hands--sooner than you would have normally, so you gave the government less of an interest free loan than usual

Hudson · Mar 24, 2002, 09:47 AM

I found TaxCut to do the job very well. It ran without any problem for me and I electronically filed my Federal return and it was accepted by the IRS without any glitch. I've been using the program under OS X, and for me it was far more stable than previous years under OS 9. I guess my mileage varied on the upside over some other's experiences.

C.J. Moof · Mar 24, 2002, 12:54 PM

Originally posted by miro7:


Not a loan, per se. It was merely an advance on your 2001 tax return. In other words, you got your money back into your hands--sooner than you would have normally, so you gave the government less of an interest free loan than usual

Grrrr... Yeah, but that assumes I'm into giving the government a loan at 0%, which I'm not. I don't want a tax refund check- I prefer to have my money in my pocket up front, thanks. Refunds are for suckers- it was your money all along, not some special gift....

Just when I thought I had my withholdings tweaked perfectly- paying my tax liability through my paychecks neither too much or too little, they mess with me this way.

Sorry, I'm off topic. I'll stop now.

pdjr · Mar 26, 2002, 06:05 PM

One very good web-based option is CompleteTax. When I say very good, I mean that it handles non-resident income, depletion and tricky NOL (net operating loss) scenarios. Plus, each time you login in, you are working on the very latest version (aka no updating required).

miro7 · Mar 27, 2002, 02:39 AM

Grrrr... Yeah, but that assumes I'm into giving the government a loan at 0%, which I'm not. I don't want a tax refund check- I prefer to have my money in my pocket up front, thanks. Refunds are for suckers- it was your money all along, not some special gift....

Well, I'm not in to giving the government a free loan either. I want my money up front (I'm getting a very small tax refund--so I'm getting better at this) as well. However, if you received an advanced refund check (the 300 per person max--600 for couples) then you had enough withholdings from the taxes that you pay to justify the gov't calculating that number.

The only way to be truly sure that you are only giving the gov't as little as possible is to simply [i]pay taxes each year. Course, you can always argue that they still want too much of our money