Strengths:Predictable interface
Thorough interview process
Accurate
Does all the calculations
Included Deduction Pro
Weaknesses:Deduction Pro software good for one year only
Difficult to navigate to forms
Can't have several forms open at one time--difficult to do comparisons and "what-ifs."
Posted Apr 20, 2008 - I've used TaxCut and/or TurboTax since 1999. Both programs are similar, although I find myself coming back to TaxCut each time I give TurboTax a try. This year, however, I was less happy with TaxCut and may go back to the other.
The interview is very thorough, but therefore also very annoying. 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). The interview does not include a navigator which allows you to skip around and easily revisit topics.
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. Although manually entered numbers, e.g., 1099MISC or Depreciation schedule, properly carry forward to the tax forms, they did not show up in the interview. That is, the interview did not see that I had completed the 1099 and asked if I wanted to do one. When I said yes, I ended up with two 1099's with the same information.
I find the DeductionPro software now bundled with TaxCut to be useful in tracking and quantifying my non-cash donations. You can use it to enter cash donations as well, but this seems redundant since I use Quicken to track all my expenses.
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. I wish they would use the typical Windows approach to allow multiple windows. I'd also like them to use the Windows keyboard shortcuts when possible, rather than their own.
I was also annoyed this year by TaxCut leaving out some critical forms and referring me instead to the IRS or state websites. Notably, the state extension forms (Oregon and Oklahoma) were not included. How much more difficult would it have been to include this very common form?
I would moderately recommend this program.
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