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Due to a turbo tax bug my return was flagged for an audit. Not worth it. Never using it again.
Curious, did you review your filing documents before submitting? Was it something inconspicuous?
Fortunately the audit was simple once I realized what had happened and explained it, but it was overall very time consuming.
Due to a turbo tax bug my return was flagged for an audit. Not worth it. Never using it again.
Just curious...what year was this, and what was the bug?
It was really a UI bug... it's unclear when you start a segment/form that it is going to be part of your return even if you don't finish it or if you think you cancelled out of the wizard.
The core issue is the complicated tax code, but the UI that handles making the user aware of dependencies that a) must exist, b) should probably not exist is very weak... all dependencies are considered semi-optional and the only check is the "checking your return" step which did not flag the issue in my return.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep -- this is some pretty evil rent-seeking. Unfortunately, disrupting it (i.e. automatic filing) requires political action rather than tech. For people with a single wage/salary job, the IRS already has a good idea what they owe thanks to their employers' reporting. IRS could simply mail them "we think $X is what you made, and $Y is what you owe," and they could either say "okay" if they agree, or fill out the form…
It seems that we should just require any company providing taxable things to common people (e.g. employers and banks) to do all of the work. Then the IRS can just figure it all out from that, you have a few checkboxes for if you have dependents, and it does all of the math for you. That way we have a smaller set of organizations doing the work once instead of every taxpayer doing it independently.
And don't forget to conveniently ignore the time cost of each individual taxpayer spending several hours every year doing their taxes (not to mention evaluating dozens of healthcare options...) or paying some business to do their taxes instead.
It amazes me how some people who have really simple tax forms still pay accountants..
Intuit's PolOps are also continuously trying to keep the US Tax system complex, so they have a reason to exist that isn't the case in other countries: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/business/24digi.html?_r=0 http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/27/turbotax-maker-funnels-mill... If you want something evil to disrupt, disrupt this.
Yep -- this is some pretty evil rent-seeking. Unfortunately, disrupting it (i.e. automatic filing) requires political action rather than tech. For people with a single wage/salary job, the IRS already has a good idea what they owe thanks to their employers' reporting. IRS could simply mail them "we think $X is what you made, and $Y is what you owe," and they could either say "okay" if they agree, or fill out the form…
Speaking of smaller rivals ... This guy provides free US federal tax forms for Excel : https://sites.google.com/site/excel1040/ ( old school shareware) Fill in, print out, mail in. (Absolutely great if you have to file previous years returns to qualify for Obamacare subsidies.) Turbo Tax tries to trick/force you into buying "audit protection": "Please enter your credit card number to submit form".
* If you enter any IRA contributions, including Roth IRA, it suggests you update to Deluxe to get "your biggest refund" even though Roth IRA contributions don't qualify you for deductions.
* They plaster "e-filing your federal returns is free!" everywhere while obscuring the fact that they want $20 to help you e-file a state return
* The audit stuff you mentioned
* They no longer include one free state as they have in previous years, but this fact is not mentioned anywhere in the product description
I last used TaxAct in 2011, and would still be using it but for an increasingly complicated business situation which necessitates lots of accountant time (one benefit of which is that form manipulation is thrown in for free). It's great. If any of you are doing uncomplicated W-2 or small business returns which don't have a gazillion moving parts, give it a spin; it's much better than the price suggests. Edit to add:…
Speaking of smaller rivals ... This guy provides free US federal tax forms for Excel : https://sites.google.com/site/excel1040/ ( old school shareware) Fill in, print out, mail in. (Absolutely great if you have to file previous years returns to qualify for Obamacare subsidies.) Turbo Tax tries to trick/force you into buying "audit protection": "Please enter your credit card number to submit form".
There's a fair bit of sleaze when you use TurboTax, at least this year: * If you enter any IRA contributions, including Roth IRA, it suggests you update to Deluxe to get "your biggest refund" even though Roth IRA contributions don't qualify you for deductions. * They plaster "e-filing your federal returns is free!" everywhere while obscuring the fact that they want $20 to help you e-file a state return * The audit st…
I was presented with a refund that was only possible if I purchased a small business plan. When I declined, the UI reduced my refund by $2k and also said I'd have to re-enter my personal information it had saved from last year, basically penalizing me.
Curious, I went to H&R Block and began to file my current-year taxes from scratch. Lo and behold, HRB's basic service level calculated my full refund.