TaxAct

I have always done my taxes by hand. At first with pencil, then pen. Then came the computer. Tax software was easy for me to justify spending money on. Perhaps a hidden deduction could be found to justify the expense.

I used Turbo Tax. It didn't find me that elusive deduction, but I enjoyed using it. It asked me an endless amount of questions and I think it even took longer than to do them by hand. I was nice having a soft copy and everything well organized. I was hooked.

This year I decided to try TaxAct. TaxAct is much cheaper than its rival TurboTax. I found a site that reviewed Tax software and ranked TaxAct a close second to Turbo Tax.

Using my Staples gift card that I won from QuiBids (TMI, I know), I bought TaxAct Deluxe Federal and State. Now, the store had a more expensive version. I thought it was "Premium" but looking at their website, I see they offer FREE, Deluxe, and Small Business.

This was my first problem with the software. Should I spend the extra $10 or not. Or not, according to the box. So, I didn't.

Well the darn thing kept asking me if I wanted to upgrade. And every-time I clicked on more-info or help, I got the cheesy nag screen demanding more money for the information that should be included. To do my taxes, I had to search IRS website for the answers and enter the information into TaxAct.

I needed to search for a form, but couldn't find it. It was a common form, so I had to go, Form by Form through the included forms to find it. Apparently TaxAct doesn't use the Form number as a search-able key.

I also found it a little confusing to get back to where you were when you leave interview session to jump to another location - or - when you exit the program and re-enter and don't select "Start Where You Left Off" (say if you wanted to make changes first).

The interface was nice and filing was pretty straight forward. I recommend the software for someone who knows a lot about taxes. For novices like me (if there are any) I would pass.

I had been using TaxAct for more than 6 years. I always have had good experiences until this year. I had 2 problems, neither has been resolved. The first is more of an IRS issue where I had to file an amended return and the IRS has yet to even acknowledge it so what they think I owe is very different than what I really owe. However, TaxAct's "expert" Audit Protection Service didn't even understand the IRS rules around one of the line items (I actually educated them on the topic by pointing them to an IRS publication!). They (or I should say, we) crafted a letter to the IRS for follow-up; I'm not sure when it will be acknowledged. The second is a true bait-n-switch on their Refer-A-Friend program. The terms that are currently stated on their website are very clear: "A 'new' TaxAct customer refers to anyone who did not file with TaxAct in the previous tax year." With that being said, the PREVIOUS year refers to 2019. I referred my son this year to file his 2020 taxes; he did file with TaxAct in 2018 and previous years but filed them himself in 2019. After following up with TaxAct since they never sent the referral bonus, I received an email from Amanda in their Support Department and I quote, "Unfortunately the referral reward was declined as it was determined the referred friend has already been a TaxAct customer in 2018, 2017 and prior years. The purpose of the Refer-A-Friend program is to recruit new customers who have never heard of TaxAct or who have never used our services, that includes last year, but not limited to the year prior. I will put in a request to review the language used on our help pages to indicate a more accurate description of eligibility for the new customers recruited with the Refer-A-Friend program." Regardless of what they think is the Refer-A-Friend "purpose", the terms that are CURRENTLY stated on their website are very clear and should be honored. Amanda chose not to honor them and ignored further follow-up attempts; classic bait-switch. I am definitely done with TaxAct.