Yikes! The tax deadline looms in another six weeks. That only leaves a mere five weeks for worrying about it and one more week for actually getting your taxes pulled together.

Perhaps it’s time to consider ordering some tax software. In a previous post I covered a bit about Intuit’s tax program. In this rundown I’ll share what people think about H&R’s entry.

When you’re buying tax software, you have to make sure you’re getting what you expect. If you intend to file federal taxes, as well as state taxes and do that by e-filing, you’ll want TaxCut 2007 Premium Federal + State +E-file.

As with the Intuit product, you answer a series of questions and the software fills it into the correct spots.

JonChilds1 says this about his use of the software: “For two years I have been using TaxCut Premium for preparing my tax returns. I find that anyone could follow the simple directions given and be successful in accurately preparing their tax returns. I like the fact that everything necessary is provided in the purchase price. I can prepare both my federal and state returns and then have the prepaid option of filing electronically. I wholeheartedly endorse H & R Block TaxCut products.”

According to reviewer theroots from Michigan, the software also includes one item Intuit doesn’t offer: The chance to get access to an H&R Block tax advisor.

dwah from Oregon has a few nits to pick: “Although TaxCut attempts to determine the areas where I need to enter information, I find that I could enter much of it faster directly on the forms (e.g., dividends, interest, business expenses). TaxCut allows direct entry — if you can find the right worksheet related to the form — but it doesn’t check off the interview for that topic. Therefore, when you return to the interview, it goes right back to the topic you’ve completed elsewhere… My biggest gripe about the program is that it so emphasizes the interview that it is difficult to navigate through the forms. Further, it is impossible to have more than one form open at a time, so you can’t make entries on, say, a depreciation worksheet, and see how that is affecting your Schedule C or 1040…”

emclouth from Michican likes the feature that lets users “print personal copies of the forms and a summary page to remind you which items to send and where to send them.”

It sounds to me like TaxCut has the edge this year. Now that that decision is out of the way, it’s time for me to go watch How to Look Good Naked while worrying about getting my taxes done. After all, I only have six weeks left!

Posted on February 28th, 2008 by dian