How accurate is Turbo Tax?

[Anonymous]

We have an accountant but I have entered everything into turbo tax just to get a feel for what we might owe since last year we owed a few thousand. We had a few changes this year and it has us getting a $2,000 ish refund. Turned in everything today and waiting to hear from the accountant. I don't want to get too excited about getting a refund; is Turbo Tax accurate? Anyone compared to an accountant?

[Anonymous]

My dad did turbo tax, accountant and himself. Turbo tax came out the best. They gave an option where you pay $50 and they give you audit guarantee.

[Anonymous]

Here's a secret: the accountant is probably plugging it into some software like turbotax. So it depends if you're capable of that for your situation, or if you need someone to advise you in some other way.

[Anonymous]

If you do Turbotax, pay for the audit guarantee. We were audited after using them one year for a simple return and ended up owing a lot of money, penalties etc. Guarantee or no, will never use again!

[Anonymous]

The software and ensuing return is o ky as accurate as the information entered into it, just as the return prepared by an accountant is only as accurate as the information you give him/her.

I did high net worth worth individuals for a big 4, there are no tricks - just putting the appropriate information into software.

[Anonymous]

Be suspicious of a company that guarantees you "the biggest refund." Most accurate return preferred, thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you do Turbotax, pay for the audit guarantee. We were audited after using them one year for a simple return and ended up owing a lot of money, penalties etc. Guarantee or no, will never use again!

I find this hard to believe. What did turbotax do wrong for you?

IME turbotax is very accurate although its true its only as accurate as the person entering data. You might find OP that it's a lot cheaper and almost as easy as an accountant.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks for the replies. We've used our accountant for a few years and we do have a few things that have been sort of complicated in the past, so we will stick with him. Just hoping I'm not overlooking something.

[Anonymous]

Turbotax is 100% accurate for the questions asked and answered correctly. In complicated or unusual situations it may miss things, eg if you are a G4 visa holder married to an American who sold property in your home country...

[Anonymous]

We have a complicated (about 40 pages) return that I do using Turbotax. One year I had a CPA do it also. We came out ahead -- the CPA's great software they use chose the wrong depreciation method for a rental property (the IRS defines the allowable method and rate, as long as you classify the asset accordingly).

[Anonymous]

We use it every year. Never had a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have an accountant but I have entered everything into turbo tax just to get a feel for what we might owe since last year we owed a few thousand. We had a few changes this year and it has us getting a $2,000 ish refund. Turned in everything today and waiting to hear from the accountant. I don't want to get too excited about getting a refund; is Turbo Tax accurate? Anyone compared to an accountant?

We've been using TT for about 8 years. This is the first year I have threatened to never use them again.

Over the years our income and financial situation has gone from simple to now somewhat less so. We now own investment real estate and DH is also now getting stock awards.

We were literally tearing our hair out and raising our voices at each the other night because TT kept telling us that we owed $31K in taxes due to stock awards that had vested, and sold. Thing is - we had already paid the taxes on these RSU's to the tune of 45% but TT kept trying to force us into a double-taxation situation. I literally had to dig around on Google to figure out what the heck we were dong wrong. One would think that TT would would have noticed that something was wrong also, instead I found myself on Bogleheads at 4am getting advise from others who also went through this same exact issue when using TT. I tried using TT's Help function and while it "sort of" addressed our issue it didn't even come close to walking us through how to correct the problem. Had it not been for that one discussion on Bogleheads we'd still be tearing our hair out.

I would say that TT is perfect for those who 1) have uncomplicated returns 2) or, have the patience to do a lot of their own research and footwork especially when it comes to entering in all of your income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have an accountant but I have entered everything into turbo tax just to get a feel for what we might owe since last year we owed a few thousand. We had a few changes this year and it has us getting a $2,000 ish refund. Turned in everything today and waiting to hear from the accountant. I don't want to get too excited about getting a refund; is Turbo Tax accurate? Anyone compared to an accountant?

We've been using TT for about 8 years. This is the first year I have threatened to never use them again.

Over the years our income and financial situation has gone from simple to now somewhat less so. We now own investment real estate and DH is also now getting stock awards.

We were literally tearing our hair out and raising our voices at each the other night because TT kept telling us that we owed $31K in taxes due to stock awards that had vested, and sold. Thing is - we had already paid the taxes on these RSU's to the tune of 45% but TT kept trying to force us into a double-taxation situation. I literally had to dig around on Google to figure out what the heck we were dong wrong. One would think that TT would would have noticed that something was wrong also, instead I found myself on Bogleheads at 4am getting advise from others who also went through this same exact issue when using TT. I tried using TT's Help function and while it "sort of" addressed our issue it didn't even come close to walking us through how to correct the problem. Had it not been for that one discussion on Bogleheads we'd still be tearing our hair out.

I would say that TT is perfect for those who 1) have uncomplicated returns 2) or, have the patience to do a lot of their own research and footwork especially when it comes to entering in all of your income.

File a paper return if it stresses you out so much.

[Anonymous]

It's perfect for our two W-2s and a 1099-DIV from Vanguard, some scattered charitable contributions, and property taxes. It's unclear whether I'm supposed to be deducting VA's car taxes, but I do it, anyway.

[Anonymous]

I got audited and my turbo tax return was accurate!

Funny thing was that the IRS mails you your audit and my address was too long for their form. So instead of their audit going to George Washington Carver St it was going to George Street..... This happened over and over again. You'd think the IRS could take any normal address?