I have been using TurboTax since it was a Mac-only program named MacInTax. Ever since its acquisition by Intuit/Quicken/whoever, the purchase and distribution methods and online corporate presence has been the epitome of bad decisions and the worse technology resulting from them.

For the past two or three years, just logging into the website has been an exercise for the not fainthearted. I won't go into the numerous times I've thrown my hands up in sheer frustration when dealing with their online "presence."

Today, for example. Earlier in the day, I received an email from TurboTax Advantage informing me that my 2017 tax software was ready. As I always order the program on disk, I was happy to learn it would be shipped soon. Now, here's the clinker: In the company's kindest of hearts, they were offering a software download version, too. Just "click here."

But "clicking here" takes me to a page that informs me that I'm not registered with TurboTax Advantage, and would I like to register and order the program? Excuse me? My notice was from TurboTax Advantage, a subscription I've had for years!

All attempts at clicking links to help resolve this were circular. I am not going to "register" to buy another copy, I was just interested in downloading an early version to see what my tax situation looks like this year.

Hoo-boy.

You might not have noticed, but Intuit really sucks.

Problem is, I haven't found anything better.

quote:

Intuit really sucks.

+1

I used to use them every year. Two years ago I switched to TaxAct. Much better

After the Schedule C fiasco 3-4 years ago, I've switched to H&R Block. It works just fine and is usually half the price of TurboTax.

On a different Intuit product -

Now that Intuit has sold Quicken to an outside group, I just upgraded to 2018. It appears solid.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mcrimm,

quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:
After the Schedule C fiasco 3-4 years ago, I've switched to H&R Block. It works just fine and is usually half the price of TT.

Now that Intuit has sold Quicken to an outside group, I just upgraded to 2018. It appears solid.

This is about Turbo Tax and not Quicken. I think Turbo Tax wasn't spun off by Intuit. But since you mentioned it, I had quick help two time with my 2017 Quicken via chat so as a give back, I was going to upgrade ahead of time. Usually, i skip version. Then I realized the 2018 begins a subscription service and not a software purchase.

With Turbo Tax, I've used it when it was still Parsons Technology before Intuit bought it. As V-Tail says, Intuit sucks but I'm used to it and it works for me. If you see a chat for help version, you might want to try it unless that was only for Quicken but I think I used the chat feature before they spun off Quicken.

Intuit is horrible. Now they have discontinued development of Quickbooks Mac, saying we all need a monthly subscription. I'm going to ride 2016 until I cannot get hardware to run it, then I'm going shopping for an alternative.

There's just no way I'm paying anybody monthly to store my financials, so if I choose to stop paying, I loose access to my books. It makes your business indentured to this company.

After getting slapped for filing errors using H&R block I just give a CPA 100$ to do our taxes now.

Very very very very worth it.

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
Intuit is horrible. Now they have discontinued development of Quickbooks Mac, saying we all need a monthly subscription. I'm going to ride 2016 until I cannot get hardware to run it, then I'm going shopping for an alternative.

There's just no way I'm paying anybody monthly to store my financials, so if I choose to stop paying, I loose access to my books. It makes your business indentured to this company.

Alternate suggestion: If you don't need all the GUI features, and the hand-holding provided by QuickBooks, if you have basic knowledge of double-entry bookkeeping, Medlin Accounting has some very affordable software. It is Windows, not Mac, but it really does not require any heavy-duty Windows features -- just one step above DOS. It runs happily on a virtual machine using any of the VM type packages available for Mac, UNIX, Linux, etc. I use their payroll package: just a fraction of the cost of QuickBooks payroll and every bit as good. Merlin is excellent about replying to emails for support, or "how to" questions, but I rarely need their good customer service. The product is simple, I have never found a software bug or anomaly, I would recommend that you take a look at it. It's shareware, so you can try before you buy.

quote:

With Turbo Tax, I've used it when it was still Parsons Technology before Intuit bought it

Parson's program was Tax Edge. Turbotax came from Chipsoft, another Intuit acquisition.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
Intuit is horrible. Now they have discontinued development of Quickbooks Mac, saying we all need a monthly subscription. I'm going to ride 2016 until I cannot get hardware to run it, then I'm going shopping for an alternative.

There's just no way I'm paying anybody monthly to store my financials, so if I choose to stop paying, I loose access to my books. It makes your business indentured to this company.

Alternate suggestion: If you don't need all the GUI features, and the hand-holding provided by QuickBooks, if you have basic knowledge of double-entry bookkeeping, Medlin Accounting has some very affordable software. It is Windows, not Mac, but it really does not require any heavy-duty Windows features -- just one step above DOS. It runs happily on a virtual machine using any of the VM type packages available for Mac, UNIX, Linux, etc. I use their payroll package: just a fraction of the cost of QuickBooks payroll and every bit as good. Merlin is excellent about replying to emails for support, or "how to" questions, but I rarely need their good customer service. The product is simple, I have never found a software bug or anomaly, I would recommend that you take a look at it. It's shareware, so you can try before you buy.

Thanks for the suggestion. Payroll is one function that I don't need, so that is primarily why I've been able to manage with QB Mac's dismal payroll support. I mainly use QB to track rents, expenses, and generate invoices. I don't even keep my balance sheet accounts up to date. Being like most of the self-employed, P&L trumps all else.

I'm really trying to avoid having to run a Windows VM. That would just provide one more system to maintain. But it may be necessary eventually. One day I will have to finally make the decision to the big question: "What company do I dislike more, Microsoft or Intuit."

I will make this prediction: By continuing to piss on its users, and Mac users in particular with the "Online only" model, it will come back to bite Intuit one day. If I have to virtualize Windows to run a local accounting solution, then suddenly the market for software solutions is much bigger for me, and I'll probably be choosing a solution that doesn't involve Intuit at all. This is similar to the trend I see from Adobe. I've noticed that the low-cost Photoshop alternatives have gotten way better in the last few years (GIMP, Affinity Photo, etc), and many people are finding it possible to live without paying Adobe monthly. Personally, I've managed to successfully move all my work flow to OpenOffice, and I am quite content without Microsoft Office, a possibility I'd have thought impossible ten years ago.

To corporations: Keep forcing a subscription model, and while it might look good short-term, you are incentivizing alternatives to your hegemony.

quote:

Originally posted by zoom6zoom:

quote:

With Turbo Tax, I've used it when it was still Parsons Technology before Intuit bought it

Parson's program was Tax Edge. Turbotax came from Chipsoft, another Intuit acquisition.

I get what you're saying. I guess I was speaking from my point of view. I still remember the last Parson's Technology version I used. It had talking heads speaking to me and asking me questions. I was amazed. Then next thing I know, they said they were selling to Intuit and I had to buy Tubo Tax afterwards.

A few years ago, I did my taxes with TurboTax in early February. I had one document missing that would have decreased my taxable income so I held off on filing since I didn't know the exact value (only knew approximate value).

Fast forward to the final weekend before April 15th, I had received the missing document a few days prior so I loaded up TurboTax. It made quite a few updates, and I entered the missing information and instead of my tax going down it went up. Intuit had an error in early Feb and if I would've filed then I would likely have been flagged by the IRS (that slow arriving document saved me).

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
Intuit had an error in early Feb and if I would've filed then I would likely have been flagged by the IRS.

I was under the impression that Intuit says that they will handle any IRS problems caused by Intuit errors. I could be wrong.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
Intuit had an error in early Feb and if I would've filed then I would likely have been flagged by the IRS.

I was under the impression that Intuit says that they will handle any IRS problems caused by Intuit errors. I could be wrong.

They publish that they will, but the taxpayer who signed it is still on the hook in the IRS' eyes and IME you still have to be involved (e.g. a Big 5 acccounting firm messed up my foreign taxes and I spent several hours on the phone with the IRS as they'd only talk to me, had to review multiple 100+ filings, etc). I'm also making the assumption they'll handle it as poorly they do everything else.

There is a special place in hell reserved for the characters who came up with subscription software.

I saw an interview with Bill Gates some years ago when he suggested subscription based software and he was practically rubbing his hands together and giggling.

I travel to a lot of places where there is no little to no cellular reception, no wifi (unless you have satellite). Good luck on the cloud-based stuff.

Only two reasons for subscription software, in my opinion... greed (I.E. money), and attempting to limit piracy of apps.