293 of 297 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Mostly excellent. Some flaws. Price is nice, December 4, 2011 This review is from: H&R Block At Home 2011 Deluxe + State (CD-ROM) I've used H&R Block's tax software every year since 2004. Some annoyances, but most of it is excellent.
The 2011 version is much like 2010.
You can save money by waiting for price dips (see below).
Unlimited number of tax returns: (family members, what-if copies of your return, etc.) 5 Federal e-Files included. Nice!
Unlimited paper filings for one state ($ 19.95 extra per state e-file). So, I just file state returns on paper.
I would say it delivers huge bang for the buck.
- - - Price Dips - - -
The amazon price swings mostly between 25 and 40 (see Note 2). Amazon has almost always had the best price. There's an "Online Price Alert" that will email you whenever this or any amazon product dips below your target price. Google it. It's nicely done.
- - - Typical minor annoyances - - -
These are all carry-overs from 2010
- Upgrade pitches: They weave it into the interview and make it sound as if "an upgrade to Premium is advised for your situation" even when it makes little or no sense for your situation. Sleazy.
- Unclear wording in a few places, although most wording is very clear and accurate.
- Privacy Policy: Hard to view. Hard to read. Has reassuring tone, but doesn't hold much water.
- Copy...Paste from Interview screens: That would be very handy at times. No can do. Can't print them either. Only way I found is ALT + PrintScreen, then paste the graphic into Word or a paint program.
- - - Alternatives - - -
TurboTax is the head-on competitor. Both products have their fans and haters. Both can import previous year's data from the competing product, but most people become married to one or the other. TurboTax fomented a huge rebellion in 2008 when it introduced fee-per-tax-return pricing. They backed down on that, but they do usually charge 15-66% more than H&R Block.
H&R Block's Basic and Premium editions: See H&R Block's helpful comparison table. There are also Basic and Deluxe editions without a state download included.
Free File Tax Software - multiple IRS sponsored tax softwares to choose from if your last year's AGI was 58,000 or less. Available after January 17 via the IRS site. Free File Fillable Forms are available to all income levels -- No tax help, and no state forms are bundled in.
TaxAct has a free version, but it does not import previous year's data, and does not include state. Their better versions are almost as expensive as H&R Block at low tide, and not as good.
- - - Download Version - - -
Downloading via Amazon is pretty smooth and painless. You can easily download it again later, even to a different computer if need be. Your authorization is stored in your account at amazon. You need to first install Amazon's special Downloader software -- also fairly painless. (Download version)
- - - Notes - - -
Note 1: Early Versions: Before the mid-January update, it may not reflect all tax law changes, but I was able to punch in all my numbers and do some valuable "what-if" scenarios before year end (Federal only. No state modules were available as of January 1.) You can easily flag your estimated numbers as "Tentative" so they won't get accidentally included on your final return.
Note 2: Price History: If history is a guide, you can get this on amazon for about 25 bucks sometime in January. (Price dropped to $20 for 1 day on January 7, 2012). I plotted last year's price history as a pic and uploaded it, but amazon removed it on Dec 22.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews Was this review helpful to you?89 of 91 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Pleased overall. Solution to technical download issue included. State return error alert, December 9, 2011 I've used H&R Block's tax software (formerly called TaxCut) every year since 1995. Several times when I saw a promotional deal I purchased both TaxCut and TurboTax to compare. I found that TurboTax did not do anything better than TaxCut while costing consistently more. In addition, I like the option of being able to file 5 free Federal e-files as I do taxes for other relatives who are less computer savvy.
H&R Block software also wins if compared to the free on-line options. I don't like using the on-line tax programs for two reasons (1) I don't want my financial data to be on someone's web site (2) free offers include the Federal tax only.
This year I used a digital download for the first time rather than a boxed version. I liked the security of having a physical CD in case I need to re-install on another computer several years down the road. But you are supposed to be able to download the software again to a different computer and when the boxed version was not available I went digital.
Downloading the software was easy, however during the install I got an error registering the software. When I started the software it immediately gave me a prompt to enter a key-code which (the prompt said) I should have received in the email after purchasing the software. The email I received from Amazon contained no such key-code. I had to call Amazon support and they told me that this information can be found following these steps
1) Log into Amazon
2) Select Your Account at the top right of the page
3) Select Games and Software downloads which is towards the bottom of the long page you see when you log in
4) Then under H&R software entry you will see the key-code that you need to enter to unlock the software
Once this was done the rest of the software functions well. In fact it looked more polished than in prior years. I always had minor display problems because I use large fonts and they never scaled quite right. This year everything displayed perfectly.
I read one review which mentioned a problem with seeing selection boxes. The problem there most likely caused by low screen resolution. Both Windows and Mac minimum requirement for screen resolution is 1024 x 768 pixels or higher. At a lower resolution, there will be problem with display such as not seeing selection boxes. Screen resolution can be changed on your control panel by change PC's display settings.
I did a preliminary tax return and below are my observations.
1. H&R Block starts the interview process with an annoying up-sell pitch, recommending an upgrade from Deluxe to Premium even when it is not necessary.
2. Copy and Paste from Interview screens is not possible. Sometimes I wish to do it for some issue as a reminder to myself. My solution is to do PrintScreen (holding ctl key, shift key, and PrintScreen key at the same time). This generates an image of the screen, which I paste into paint or photo editing software which I can print or save for later.
3. I don't use the default location for the tax returns, as I want to my backup program to back up only the data not the software itself. The software does not initially remember this new location on startup, it tells me I have no returns. I needed to pick the return manually from the File menu, as it does remember recently used files. The third time I started the software, it finally knew the location of the tax return file.
4. Some forms (such as foreign tax credit over the limit to be directly on 1040) require entering data manually. This year the foreign tax credit form is some what automated, when you hit next button it takes you to the next place on the form you need to fill out (last your you were just presented the form to fill out on your own). This form is not that hard to do manually as this form does not change year to year.
5. I use large font option on my monitor display and in the past had display issues (some things were displayed on top of each other). This year all forms displayed properly with this option. This is the first time in all the years I've used H&R Block software that I have no complaint about the display and did not need to change my monitor settings just to do the tax preparation. Nice!
6. H&R Block charges $19.95 to e-file each state return. Of course, this charge can be avoided by printing the forms and mailing them in.
7. In prior years the package include DeductionPro software. This year, like last year, this software is only available as an online tool. I will not use software that requires me to put my financial data on their site, and DeductionPro wants to import the data to H&R web site, so I will not be using it. Disappointing.
8. The price on this package changes day to day. I found a nice tools that shows history of Amazon prices and allows you to generate an email alert when the price reaches our desired price range. If you enter "price history alert" in Google it will come up at the top, it has the word camel in the name. I find this tool very helpful. I purchased this package for $31, last year I saw the prices fluctuate between $25 and the list price of $44.99.
9. For folks trying to download State Forms before January 16, 2012. The state forms are not available for download until January 16 for most states.
If you go to the Software Update Center on H&R website you will see a section called State Updates. Under there you there is a link called "Forms Available". If you click on that, it will show a table that shows availability of forms for each State. Right now (last checked on 1/6/2011) none of them are available. I called about my state (Massachusetts) and they told me that most state forms will become available for download on January 16. In the software package, select State Tab and click the button that is called "Buy" (a little scary since we already paid for it) but then "buy" will turn into "update" and when the forms will become available they will be downloaded to your computer.
10. ** ERROR ALERT ** 1/16/12 Version of Massachusetts state return contained an error that was corrected in 1/24/12 update.
If you owed taxes on your 2010 State return and paid owed tax in 2011, this payment was incorrectly included in Line 36 on the MA Form 1 as an amount withheld in 2011. This overstates the amount paid to the State for the 2011 tax year. This error has been reported to H&R and corrected in 1/24/12 update. Thank you to Tech Impaired to spotted it and reported to H&R!
I have been a H&R Block/TaxCut user for many years. The interview process is helpful in reminding you things you might have forgotten. On-line help is useful. 2011 H&R Block package appears more polished and has a number of improvements to a couple of small pet peeves I had in the past. So I am quite pleased with it and recommend it!
Ali Julia review
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2 comments:
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