Tax Software

Once again, I let the Federal and State governments use way too much of my money over the past year.  I am getting a nice refund. Last year, we went to an accountant.  I had used software since 1996; first Turbo Tax, then Tax Cut.  Since we had a major change in our status after mom passed, we thought it was a good idea to use a professional preparer.  Our return is pretty basic, and though we usually itemize, the standard deduction was better for 2009.  This year, I had to decide which software I wanted: Tax Act, Turbo Tax or HR Block at Home (formerly Tax Cut). Each offered a free basic edition, but charged a fee for the state return. In the past, I have used the basic or free online software for the federal return and did the state return by hand.  Several people had recommended Tax Act, which has the lowest cost for the state return.  I found that I could not retrieve any of the Tax Cut returns I had saved on my hard drive without installing the actual program for the year I wished to view (#fail); however, the year I used the online version of Tax Cut, I was able to save a viewable  .pdf version. I won't bother to purchase software again.  HR Block at Home gave me an error that I was not able to correct and would not let me e-file (#fail). Tax Act worked fine until I made some changes, and it would not remove a deduction I knew was incorrect (#fail).  Finally, I used Turbo Tax, which I have not used for years.  I was very pleased with it and I will most likely use Turbo Tax next year.