[beverson]

Okay, so I'm going to have to take the plunge into buying tax preparation software. Recently I've just used TurboTax's Web-based service, but since I have to figure federal, Indiana, and Colorado taxes for tax year 2002, I figured having the real thing would make life simpler and be worth the extra dough.

So can anyone recommend TurboTax over TaxCut or vise-versa? From the research I've done, I'm pretty sure I can import the data I downloaded from the TurboTax site last year into either one. I know TaxCut is $10 cheaper, and I know they both have comparable rebates/whatever on one state and federal filing.

I'm full-time in Jaguar, so I want (need!) something that will work well in X. Additionally, as I will have to purchase a second state, the respective costs for that, which I haven't found on my own yet, could come into play.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[OptimusG4]

I used TurboTax this year and I saw no problems with it. Note though that I am a college student so I really didn't need any of the advance features or anything. But in my opionion, it worked and it worked well.

[lexhair]

I've used TurboTax since it was MacInTax years ago and have been satisfied with it. This year's TurboTax quirks include a one-click update which always tells me I need to update the TurboTax Engine (even on successive updates). There's also another quirk having to load classic to access some of the tax help functions.

If you go with TurboTax, I recommend ordering directly from Intuit to avoid having to file a rebate for your "free" state download.

I just read that TaxCut is behind schedule getting state versions and form updates out this year.

[PubGuy]

Tax Cut has all state forms available for download for the Mac. Program works great and has actually gotten better write-ups than TurboTax over the last 2 years...plus it is FULLY carbonized (does not need Classic).

[Macola]

A couple of years ago, I had such a horrible experience with TaxCut (updates crashing, unable to file online after repeated attempts) that I switched to TurboTax for Windoze. I'm sure TaxCut has improved since then, but I would still recommend TurboTax (for either platform).

[quadgrande]

I used Tax Cut last year on OS X and had no problems. It performed excellently. I noticed some GUI irregularities, for example drop down boxes being out of line, etc. Overall the program behaved exactly like TurboTax and was much less expensive ($24.95 including state vs. 49.95 ). This year I believe the price was upped.

I'll probably go with TurboTax this year as I also intend on buying Quicken, and there's some cash back involved.

[lexhair]

Originally posted by PubGuy:
Tax Cut has all state forms available for download for the Mac. Program works great and has actually gotten better write-ups than TurboTax over the last 2 years...plus it is FULLY carbonized (does not need Classic).

Clipped this from Macfixit this morning:

The Tax Cut Web site reads:

"Macintosh Users -- Macintosh State programs are available only as a download. State Programs can be downloaded directly from inside of TaxCut [...] All TaxCut State programs downloads for the Macintosh should become available by February 28,2003. There are no Macintosh states available at this time."

[ranga]

My dad has been using TaxCut to do our families taxes for about 3 years. To date, he hasn't had any problems with (in OS 9 or OS X).

TaxCut is about $24 or so and they include a $20 mail in rebate for one state, so if you have two states you'll have to pay for the forms for the second one. If you are interested in saving some money, just do one of the states by hand.

--ranga

[beverson]

Thanks everyone. I decided to go pick up a copy of TurboTax today. It's disappointing that we have to pay more than the Windows folks, and that TaxCut is also cheaper, but I've just read too many negative things about TaxCut in the last few days to warrant buying it. Maybe if I could wait another month I'd reconsider, but I need my refund back soon.

Hopefully others found this thread helpful too. Thanks!