I've been digging and can't find a answer for this.

I have been using the online free for the last several years and haven't had any real issues with things, but because I have a HSA through work, the free version apparently isn't the "correct" version and I am always prompted that I need to upgrade to the deluxe version for whatever amount.

Oddly/thankfully I have been able to somehow never actually do the upgrade thing and just kept going and filing with the free version. I think I did actually pay once but it was quite a few years ago.

That is until this year, they seemed to have "fixed" whatever it was that previously let me get all the way through without the upgrade.

So now they want to charge me $40 to "purchase" the upgrade to finish everything. And I do know that it is something I would probably now need to pay every year with the online thing.

I can get the desktop version for the same $40 from Amazon but I can't find anything that will tell me if I can just keep using that from this point on or if I will still need to buy it again next year. I don't generally get shit back from the feds, I'm getting a whole $2.00 this year, and I really don't want to have to keep paying for this.

There comes a time in life where your time is worth something. Just pay the money. Tax law changes every year. Just be happy you do not have to pay a CPA to do them for you.

The desktop version does not allow you to do each years taxes as many of the tax rulings and such change from year to year. Just bite the bullet and pay the $40 each year.

Thanks

I guess I don't mind too much having to pay, I was just hoping I wouldn't have to do it every year. If the desktop version is only usable once, I guess just staying with the online one will be the better option.

Back when we had our business, our accountant did the taxes to the tune of about $300. Kept us honest and we always got the max deductions. I kept her on for a couple of years but our returns became much more simple without the complexity of a business to deal with. I switched to turbo tax some 6 years ago and just pay the yearly fee. It does a really good job, importing all of your savings and investment accounts and is pretty simple to use. Just recently, I had an issue with my 2018 return and got a letter from the IRS saying I owed $1200~. I looked and looked and couldn't figure out where the error was so I called Intuit and talked with an agent (for over an hour) and she figured out I had erroneously reported a retirement pension under interest instead of where it was supposed to be, even though the end results where the same it showed up as unreported income. I filed an amended return and all is straight with the Feds.

If you're going to do your own taxes, it's money well spent.

You have to buy a new copy each year.

Each year installs as a stand alone piece of software on your computer. If you need to open and work on a previous year's return, you will need to have that year's edition installed on your computer.

I use the desktop editions. Each copy of the software allows me to file multiple returns (I believe up to five) which has allowed me to file separate returns for me and the wife (before we were married), as well as help my father in law, all without purchasing additional licenses.

I also like that I can save multiple copies of my turbo tax files as I go, so I can save at a certain point and model out the impacts of certain tax decisions for the future.

Thanks for the post.
I was about to ask the same question.
Thanks for all the answers

The paid online version works well, I’d just get that.

We have to use a specific version too with my wife being an independent contractor for her PT job and also owning rental property.

I much prefer the version that installs on my desktop computer so I can work on taxes even if the net goes down.

Turbotax sucks. So many better choices now.

quote:

Originally posted by Wishbone:
Turbotax sucks. So many better choices now.

Well?

quote:

Originally posted by Wishbone:
Turbotax sucks. So many better choices now.

What do they do or give you that TurboTax doesn't?

quote:

Originally posted by Wishbone:
Turbotax sucks. So many better choices now.

Not really sure how it could get any easier.

I have a pretty complicated tax return. In any given year, I get 2 or 3 W-2, 2 or 3 1099 contractor income, more than a dozen various other 1099 forms from interest paid and interest received and investments, file a Schedule C, get 2 or 3 K1 Partnership Returns, move a 401k, rental income, itemized deductions, home office, one vehicle using mileage deduction, another vehicle using depreciation and cost deduction, plus I use TurboTax tax to also file an S-Corp return using books kept on QuickBooks. My personal returns are in excess of 300 pages some years.

I still do my own taxes with TurboTax.

The issue for me on stand-alone vs. on-line prep. is: Will the tax prep company put their several-years-previous software back on their servers for your exclusive benefit should you happen to be audited or have to file a revised return a few years down the road? If you have saved the stand-alone installation media, there is no dilemma, if you are at the mercy of a third party, good luck.

I have been an employee, independent contractor, landlord, trustee of an estate, capital gains, capital loss carryovers, itemized deductions, multiple states; have always done my own taxes. I prefer TurboTax, software installed on my computer(s), not online.

I do have a tax consultant to clarify some of the tricky areas of tax.

So Aeteocles, you don't do a 1040 Short Form?

My whole thing with is I have "simple" return. I have one W2 from work, no kids, I rent, no other odd additions, no other income or investments ect..

If it wasn't for the HSA through work that I have never touch, the free basic anything is all I need. It's just a bit annoying that I need to pay for a "deluxe" version when their are all the free options available.

It's only $40 but if I remember right, state is no longer free eather with the upgraded versions, so that is another amount that is anywhere from $19.99-$29.00 depending on where you look. And I can't actually find anything through turbotax that tells me what exactly that will be.

I am looking at different options again. I have used tax act and h&r as well in the past, but they also require the upgraded versions.

If I have to pay, I have to pay. Just kinda "funny" being it will cost me more to file than I ever get back.

State returns with TurboTax are either $30 if you can get away with using the free version, or $40 if your taxes are complicated enough to need a paid version of TurboTax.

quote:

Originally posted by PakRatJR:
My whole thing with is I have "simple" return. I have one W2 from work, no kids, I rent, no other odd additions, no other income or investments ect..

If it wasn't for the HSA through work that I have never touch, the free basic anything is all I need. It's just a bit annoying that I need to pay for a "deluxe" version when their are all the free options available.

It's only $40 but if I remember right, state is no longer free eather with the upgraded versions, so that is another amount that is anywhere from $19.99-$29.00 depending on where you look. And I can't actually find anything through turbotax that tells me what exactly that will be.

I am looking at different options again. I have used tax act and h&r as well in the past, but they also require the upgraded versions.

If I have to pay, I have to pay. Just kinda "funny" being it will cost me more to file than I ever get back.

You don't have to pay extra for State as it comes free with the various TurboTax versions. Click the link below and you'll see it's included in the price.

https://www.samsclub.com/s/turbotax

Thanks, that's odd with the state. When I was looking yesterday everything I found said state was extra. I know it was free with the free versions of things....

A bit of a LOL also, I think I will not be using H&R this year. Going through as far as I can with them, instead of the $2.00 I am getting back with turbotax and taxact so far, h&r says I OWE $4.00 to fed and I am also getting a bunch less from state than the other two??? Yup, won't be using them

quote:

Originally posted by PakRatJR:
Thanks, that's odd with the state. When I was looking yesterday everything I found said state was extra. I know it was free with the free versions of things....

A bit of a LOL also, I think I will not be using H&R this year. Going through as far as I can with them, instead of the $2.00 I am getting back with turbotax and taxact so far, h&r says I OWE $4.00 to fed and I am also getting a bunch less from state than the other two??? Yup, won't be using them

With respect to H&R, my Father In Law used to use them. I offered to do his taxes for free, but he was set in his ways like a lot of older people get to be.

One year he was visiting and told me that for some reason he had to pay an additional $1,200.00 to the Feds. I knew it had to be a mistake because of his small fixed income and told him to bring his paperwork over.

Turns out that H&R Block couldn't even do a simple return properly and weren't experienced enough to realize that someone in his position paid around $250.00/year in Federal tax, not $1.450.00

So I filed an amended return for him and got his money back. He never went to H&R Block again and advised all his friends not to either.