Is TurboTax Reliable?

[Pat H]

I've always done my taxes myself. I tried TurboTax online and it showed a much larger refund than I was anticpating. In going back over the return, TT is showing $1900 more in "other" deductions for Sched A than I can account for. I have gone over everything several times and cannot figure out what the difference is. Any ideas?

 

[Liz Wolf-Spada]

You are the one who has to enter the data for Turbo Tax to work with, so maybe you either entered your data incorrectly or didn't anticipate the effect it would have on your taxes. I would double check what you have entered to make sure it is correct.
Liz

 

[Pat H]

You are the one who has to enter the data for Turbo Tax to work with, so maybe you either entered your data incorrectly or didn't anticipate the effect it would have on your taxes. I would double check what you have entered to make sure it is correct.
Liz

I have done that several times but can't find what the differece is.

 

[Sea Six]

I'm guessing TT applied the standard sales tax deduction, which you would normally use unless you bought a new car or some other large purchase. Did you enter that on your manually prepared form?

 

[Talent312]

You don't tell us which line # is different, so maybe its either 23 or 28?
Data entry can be tricky, but I would sooner trust TT's calculations than yours.

Here's what I would do...
-- On the menu bar, click on "View" + "Forms."
-- On the left-hand side, you'll see a list of your forms. Load Schedule A.
-- Find the line that's different from yours.
-- Put yor cursor over the data field for that line and right-click.
-- See a little magnifying glass to the left of the data field? Left-click it.
-- It should then load the supporting form, statement or worksheet.
... which should explain how the $-amount was generated.

 

[Pat H]

I'm guessing TT applied the standard sales tax deduction, which you would normally use unless you bought a new car or some other large purchase. Did you enter that on your manually prepared form?

I don't take the standard sales tax deduction since I take state and local income taxes.

 

[Pat H]

You don't tell us which line # is different, so maybe its either 23 or 28?
Data entry can be tricky, but I would sooner trust TT's calculations than yours.

Here's what I would do...
-- On the menu bar, click on "View" + "Forms."
-- On the left-hand side, you'll see a list of your forms. Load Schedule A.
-- Find the line that's different from yours.
-- Put yor cursor over the data field for that line and right-click.
-- See a little magnifying glass to the left of the data field? Left-click it.
-- It should then load the supporting form, statement or worksheet.
... which should explain how the $-amount was generated.

I can't find View on the menu bar.

 

[Eric in McLean]

Go to the print section and see if you preview your return on screen. I know there's a way of looking at your final return before you file. I use Turbo Tax to calculate my taxes because I can't deal with AMT, phase-out, capital gain/loss netting. But there is no reason why your taxable income should be different from TT's.

 

[geekette]

I haven't loaded it yet this year, so flying slightly blind, but you are looking for the menu where they let you see My Return - in there you can select the different forms to display.

Might not be View, could be Return or Forms, or .... poke around, you'll find it.

 

[Nancy]

I use, and have used, Turbo Tax for probably close to 25 years. I have not used online version, so can't help you with that.

Nancy

 

[Pat H]

I have to pay first before I can look at the forms. Not sure I want to pay for something that might be wrong.

 

[Talent312]

I have to pay first before I can look at the forms. Not sure I want to pay for something that might be wrong.

Ah, jeesh. Sorry, but somehow I overlooked that you were doing it online. I was using a disk-version.
Still, I'd think that there'd be a way to look up the worksheets for Miscellaneous and other deductions.

The only explanation that makes any sense is that you input a number on the wrong line or misplaced a decimal. TT's calcs are accurate, up to the point where a human gets involved.

 

[PigsDad]

I agree that TurboTax is quite reliable, but they are certainly not infallible.

One year TT was the cause for an IRS audit for me. I had some stock sales that had $0 gain -- TT decided that since there was no gain nor loss on that sale, it should not be included on my Schedule D. The IRS gets upset when the total gross sales does not add up to the amount that is reported on the 1099 from the brokerage company.

The IRS sent me a bill assuming the total gross sales of those stock transactions were pure gains -- not a small bill! After providing the proper documentation and ammending my Schedule D by hand, it didn't cost me anything (except the time to deal with that mess, of course).

Kurt

 

[Pat H]

I can look at the place where I put the deductions in and that is correct. I can't see the finished product.

 

[laurac260]

I agree that TurboTax is quite reliable, but they are certainly not infallible.

One year TT was the cause for an IRS audit for me. I had some stock sales that had $0 gain -- TT decided that since there was no gain nor loss on that sale, it should not be included on my Schedule D. The IRS gets upset when the total gross sales does not add up to the amount that is reported on the 1099 from the brokerage company.

The IRS sent me a bill assuming the total gross sales of those stock transactions were pure gains -- not a small bill! After providing the proper documentation and ammending my Schedule D by hand, it didn't cost me anything (except the time to deal with that mess, of course).

Kurt

We used to use TT. That is until we got audited by the IRS and we ended up owing about $22,000 in back taxes/penalties. It was a one year audit, but since the error occurred over several years, we went ahead and refiled for all years. Now, before you think the error was TT's, or even ours, I should tell you the error was entirely the IRS's fault. We were given bad info from them, and even directed to a place on their website that gave the same wrong info. The IRS's response? :"We cannot be held responsible for the advice we provide to you." (and as a "reward" for our being proactive and refiling BEFORE they caught the error in future years, they were nice enough to charge us the penalties anyway. )

The moral of the story? We use an accountant now. No more filing our own taxes!

 

[Pat H]

I used H&R Block for a comparison and found the mistake. It was mine. I found it easily on Block but the way the figures were grouped on Turbo, I couln't pinpoint it.

 

[Mel]

So what was the error? $1900 is a large error... at least you had a sense of what it should have been, or you might have gone with what TT was giving you.

 

[dioxide45]

---Deleted---

 

[Pat H]

So what was the error? $1900 is a large error... at least you had a sense of what it should have been, or you might have gone with what TT was giving you.

Actually TT was right. I had written down an incorrect figure on my paper 1040 but put the correct one in TT. For some reason it was lumped in "other" so I couldn't find it. H&R Block was much easier.