Every year I have to do the same analysis over again. What tax software to buy this year? There are three companies to choice from: TaxACT, TaxCut, and TurboTax. This year I received TaxCut Federal in the mail for free, but before jumping on it I thought I would first find out what the actual cost for it and it's competitors would be.
There are now three ways to get your tax software. You can download it, buy a CD, or do your taxes over the web. I personally have a preference to own the software and not have my tax data owned by a third party. So the web is out for this year. That attitude might change in a few years though.
For this analysis I will assume that I am purchasing the software by download or by CD. I will also assume that I am going to e-file both the federal and state returns. More detailed cost breakdowns for each company is listed at the end.
Option 1 TaxACT
$19.95 Ultimate federal and state CD $19.95
$ 0.00 Federal e-file
$ 0.00 State e-file (I think this is also free)
$19.95 TOTAL
Option 2 TaxCut
$24.95 TaxCut 2005 Deluxe Federal + State CD (Amazon.com)
$ 0.00 federal e-file (after mail-in rebate)
$15.95 State e-file
$40.90 TOTAL
Option 3 TaxCut
$ 0.00 Use free mail federal
$24.95 State download
$15.95 Federal e-file (not sure if this will be free or not)
$15.95 State e-file
$56.85 TOTAL
Option 4 TurboTax
$34.95 Deluxe federal and state download (Amazon.com)
$ 0.00 federal e-file
$15.00 state e-file
$49.95 TOTAL
CD-ROM from an online retailer is upto %15 cheaper than downloading from the corporate website.
TurboTax and TaxCut have rebates for buying other products, so if you are interested in one of those products, one of them might be more interesting to you.
Detailed data:
TaxACT
Free federal e-file
State $12.95
Standard federal Free
Deluxe federal Web $9.95, Download $12.95
Ultimate federal and state web $15.95, download $19.95
TurboTax
Free federal e-file
State web $24.95, download $29.95
Essentials federal web $9.95
Basic federal web or download $19.95
Deluxe federal and state download $39.95
Premier federal web $39.95, download + state $69.95
Business federal download $99.95
TaxCut
Free federal e-file
State download $24.95
Standard federal web $34.95, download $9.99, mail free
Deluxe federal + state download $29.99
Premium federal web $49.95, download + state $49.99
Business federal + state download $79.99
posted by Carmel Family at
1/04/2006 03:55:00 PM
3 Comments:
So are you going with TaxACT? Is it any good?
I've used TurboTax in the past, but for the past few years I've gone with TaxCut. Back in Chicagoland, I managed to pick up the Deluxe+State for $19.99 at Wal*Mart this year.
By
IvyMike, at 9:44 PM
I have never used TacACT before. I would guess that it is less polished than TaxCut or TurboTax, but is probably just fine for simple returns. $19.95 for TaxCut Deluxe+State is a good buy. $5.00 cheaper than Amazon. If you are going to e-file your state return though, you will still need to pay up.
I've used TaxCut for the last few years and have been happy with it. I haven't decided yet if I should stick with it, but I think I will probably give TaxACT a try.
By
Carmel Family, at 12:43 PM
I didn't really feel that you finished your analysis with a good conclusion. Does cheapest mean that's the one you're going to buy? TaxACT is completely new to me so that weighs in for my selection of software. I don't konw if it's good and bug free. Both of those matter when talking about the thousands of dollars we're going to spend on taxes this year.
There is also the "sharing" factor when you calculate with the price. My friends and I typically have shared the software between 3-5 of us and that dramatically lowers the cost of owership. I don't know if TaxACT is "sharable".. =)
By
Anonymous, at 8:44 PM
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