TurboTax, is it going to give me the best refund?

[Anonymous]

I always file my tax with a tax specialist with 20+ yrs experience in the business. I usually pay $350 for filing, and we always get very satisfying refund, about $3000, every year. This year, our situation is different... much simpler. We had no job change, no house sales/purchase, no daycare, no school tuition. I feel like we can do the filing on our own using the TurboTax software. But I want to know how accurate the software is....if the program can actually give me the 100% correct refund....Has anyone filed the tax with both TurboTax and a professional tax person and seen the good/bad differences?

[Anonymous]

If you get a $3,000 refund every year, and your accountant has never discussed adjusting your withholding in a more accurate way, he isn't a very good accountant. Sorry, but that's the truth.

Remember, your "satisfying refund" is money you OVERPAID all year, and which you have been loaning the government INTEREST FREE.

Don't do both. That's a waste.

The program is accurate, if you do the updates as they are released.

If you have a simple life - mostly wage income, a few investments perhaps, but mostly 401k, no rental income, major sales of cap gain property.... then there's nothing in your life that is complicated enough for turbo tax to do incorrectly.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

OP here..you are totally right about that....we get excited about getting a lot of money back, but really, that's OUR money to begin with! We'll give a TurboTax try this year....It's only $20 or so anyway. Nothing to lose..

[Anonymous]

this and the fairfax county RE assessment thread are posts of the day

[Anonymous]

As a tax pro, I can say that turbo tax is wonderful for people w/ non-complicated returns. I have W2 and 1099 earnings, a 401k and IRA as well as a rental property. Turbo Tax gave me the exact refund than the system that I work with at work. The main goal, whether you're using a pro or not, is to reduce your taxable income. Turbo Tax does exactly that in a step-by-step approach. I do agree that if you're consistently getting a return larger than 1k, you should consider changing your W4 so as not to give the IRS an interest-free loan. However, it's important to remember many tax credits are temporary (i.e. DC 1st Time Buyer Federal Credit expires this year).