Taxact Donation Assistant App How To Classify A

Taxact Donation Assistant App How To Classify A

There was little up-front assistance on more complicated matters such as determining how to classify a stock sale or what may be included under other deductible expenses, though digging through the sites Tax Guide 2009 answers many questions if your eyes dont glaze over first.

Since Macworld has its own reviews of TurboTax and TaxCut for online, we wanted to include reviews for three other servicesTaxAct, CompleteTax, and TaxBrainso that you can get a full picture of the online options available in advance of the April 15 tax-filing deadline.

At that price, customers can usually expect little more than basic entry forms, but with its good navigability and ample instructions, TaxAct offers huge bang for the buck.

As I worked my way through my test return, tabs across the top made the crucial act of backtracking easy, and the refund ticker kept me updated on how much Uncle Sam was going to either cough up or wring out of me.

You can import W-2 forms electronically if your employer is hooked up with W-2 eXpress, an Equifax-owned company that provides W-2 forms for some businesses.

TaxAct can also import investment-transaction information from the GainsKeeper financial services site.

A good piece of tax software doesnt just tell the user how to make entries; it makes an effort to actually advise the taxpayer.

For example, instead of just telling me to enter my IRA contributions for the year, TaxAct advised me that the contribution limit on traditional IRAs may be different than the Roth IRA limit.

For those pondering opening or contributing to an account by April 15 (IRA contributions made by then can often be counted as 2008 contributions), little pieces of advice like that can affect the bottom line.

When I indicated that I had sold a house during the year, TaxAct did me the favor of saying up front that the loss on the sale wasnt deductible; other sites made me go the long way around the block by asking for pages of information and then breaking the news.

TaxAct also noticed that my Social Security and Medicare withholding amounts werent the right percentage of my wages, and it noticed that I didnt enter any property taxes even though I owned a house.

The main help section, called TaxTutor, is fueled by famed tax-guide publisher J.K.

Lasser, and those interested in reading chapter-and-verse rules have easy access to the actual IRS form instructions.

New this year is the Donation Assistant, which finds the resale values on 700 items that you might have donated to charity this year.

The module is very similar to TurboTaxs ItsDeductible module, but be aware that the categories and values arent the same (for example, a hardback book in good-but-not-fabulous condition warrants a 1 deduction in TaxAct versus 2.50 in TurboTaxnot a big difference, but it adds up quickly if youve cleaned out the attic).

For example, the talking heads who appear in videos to offer guidance are basically useless, and the layout of the manual W-2 entry form seems like its begging people to make a mistake.

The sales tax deduction section also has room for error; I indicated that I lived in a state that doesnt impose a sales tax, but TaxAct still let me input a sales tax rate (which I made up; many will be tempted to take a similar step, given that the site doesnt offer local rate tables).

Two screens later, it simply told me that it was better to deduct the state tax withheld on my W-2.

CompleteTax Premium is best suited for people who have a solid working knowledge of taxes and are confident preparing their own returns.

Novices and worriers may find themselves taking longer than they would with other sites because theyll likely have to do more research to understand many of the questions theyre answeringCompleteTax doesnt place very much instruction or guidance on the questionnaires themselves.

This isnt to say that CompleteTax isnt worthwhileit just has its niche.

For instance, though the site design has gotten sleeker and more sophisticated-looking since last year, it still has a lot of white space and a sterile feel.

Clearly, when it comes to taxes, function is more important than formbut some users may balk at the no-frills look and the lack of hand-holding guidance.

Nonetheless, the tabs across the top are very good for navigationit was fairly easy to jump around to different parts of the return.

When youre not sure where to go, the search tool is helpful: When I couldnt figure out where to enter student loan interest, typing a few keywords into the search function of the help column (on the right side of the screen) quickly produced what I needed to know.

Taxact Donation Assistant App For Mac