PC Magazine reviews the three leading tax software products:
Here is PC Magazine’s overview:
Intuit’s TurboTax and H&R Block’s TaxCut are both incredibly mature applications. Each has its own strengths, and each is recommended highly by us. They ask questions and provide voluminous guidance, you provide the answers, and they do the calculations and spit out the correct forms and schedules. TaxACT is our program of choice for taxpayers who need minimal guidance and for those who want to save a buck. Here we review all three.
Here are PC Magazine’s detailed ratings:
(Hat Tip: The Tax Guru, who cautions that "[m]y opinion on the foolishness of relying on do-it-yourself tax prep software for the actual returns that will be sent to IRS and State tax agencies hasn’t changed any.")
For other reviews of TaxACT, TaxCut, and TurboTax, see:
- PC World: Intuit’s TurboTax Retains Its Crown–Barely: H&R Block’s TaxCut for 2005 makes a strong showing as well, and 2nd Story Software’s TaxAct continues to be an appealing option for people with simple returns.
- TopTenReviews: 2006 Tax Software Report
- Home Office Reports: Review of Tax Preparation Software
- About.com: Top 3 Picks: Tax Preparation Software
- About.com: Top 5 Tax Software
One response to “PC Magazine’s Ratings of Tax Preparation Software”
Not so sure I’d trust the ‘About.com: Top 3 picks’ reviews. In Taxcut, they refer to importing ‘Microsoft Money 2001’ data, and their ‘purchase’ links are to the 2003 and 2004 versions. Dated, I’d guess.