Category Archives: TurboTax

TurboTax Deluxe

Turbotax Deluxe vs Premier

Turbotax Deluxe vs Premier: Turbotax Deluxe is the best option for people who are not self-employed or have rental properties. It’s also a good option if you’re not eligible for the free version.

Turbotax Deluxe vs Premier
Turbotax Deluxe vs Premier

TurboTax Free Edition

Turbotax free edition is designed to allow low income families and individuals with qualifying incomes to file their taxes for free.

The qualifications for the Turbotax free edition are:

  • You must have a qualifying income
  • You must be a U.S. citizen or resident alien
  • You must not be eligible to use the other Turbotax editions

1099 Income

When someone is paid as an independent contractor, they are not considered an employee. This means that they are not entitled to benefits like healthcare or retirement. The person who hires them pays their taxes instead of the government.

This type of income is called 1099 income because the IRS form for it is 1099-MISC and it’s a miscellaneous income. It’s also called contract work, and you can receive this type of payment from any number of sources including clients, customers, or employers.

The 1099 form is used to report all the money received by a business for services rendered in which the client does not withhold taxes from the payer’s wages or other compensation.

TurboTax Premier is the best option if you’re self-employed with 1099 income, have rental property income/expenses, or are eligible for the free version of TurboTax Freedom Edition.

TurboTax Comparison

TurboTax Deluxe is a software that is designed to make filing taxes easier. It includes the most popular tax forms and provides the basic features for simple tax returns. TurboTax Premier, on the other hand, includes all the features of TurboTax Deluxe and also offers more complex features like audit assistance, cost of home ownership and investment income.

Audit Assistance

Audit assistance is a service that helps with the process of auditing. This is usually done by an external professional, but it can also be done by someone inside the company who has been trained to do so. Audit assistance can be provided in many different ways:

  • Internal audit assistance: this is when the company hires someone internally to provide audit assistance. This person would work both on their own as well as in conjunction with other employees to complete audits. They might also be tasked with training new employees on how to do audits.
  • External audit assistance: this is when a company hires an external auditor to help them with their audits and ensure that they are being completed correctly.
  • Audit consulting: this is when a company hires an outside consultant who helps them find solutions for any problems they are having related to their auditing process, such as how often they should be doing them or how best to go about doing them.

Pricing

TurboTax Premier has a higher price than TurboTax Deluxe because it offers more advanced features which are not necessary for everyone. The Premier version has some additional features and benefits that make it worth the price tag. If you need to deduct investment expenses or get a refund on past-year over-payments, then you should choose this version instead of Deluxe.

Past Year Over-Payments

When a taxpayer overpays their taxes in one year, they are entitled to get that money back in the form of a refund.

Many taxpayers think of past-year over-payments as refunds, but they are not. When a taxpayer overpays their taxes in one year, they are entitled to get that money back in the form of a refund.

8 Tips For Making And Saving Money

In just a few days, it will be 2016 and we are eager for its arrival. We have some big projects planned for this coming year and we are working hard now to prepare for success. Some of our time is being spent looking for ways to increase our income and reduce our expenses as a family, saving money In 2016.

Increasing your Income in 2016
Who would not want to have more money left over for their budget? If you want to increase your 2016 income a little, now is the best time to plan.

Look over your TurboTax 2015 W-4. Recently, my husband had Human Resources send an email to all the employees to remind them there were some withholding changes in North Carolina. It was good for us to be reminded as well, since we have not really looked over our withholding in a while. If you haven’t looked at your Turbo Tax 2013 return in a couple of years, you might want to take a few minutes to look at it. Make sure your retirement benefits, flexible spending plan and health insurance are all correct. Make sure you are are taking advantage of the opportunities available to you to decrease the amount you pay in taxes. It might be time to find a health plan that is more affordable and accommodates your family better. If your employer offers a 401(k) match, make sure you are getting the max amount.

Saving Money In 2016
Saving Money In 2016

Make some extra money with a hobby. Do you play a musical instrument, handcraft something or enjoy number crunching? Talk to your friends, neighbors and extended family and see if you can teach them a skill or assist them for a little extra money on the side. We have a neighbor that is a very good builder and we bought a cat box from him. It was better than what we found for sale in stores and it was better-built and he got a little extra money from doing something he liked. Everybody won.

Sell your things. As we are tidying up our home in preparation for putting it on the market, we have been downsizing and getting rid of things that we do not really want or have not used in a long time. It really is crazy how much stuff you can accumulate without realizing it. If you sell some of your extra stuff, you can increase the space in your home and accumulate a little extra money. Craigslist and other similar sites make it free and easy to unload your extra stuff.

Saving Money in the New Year

You can make more room in your budget by streamlining your month to month bills and doing some things yourself. Weatherproof your house. You do not need to spend a lot of money on this to make a dent. Make sure there are no drafts or leaks so that you do not drain your wallet dry.

Check out your phone plan. Cell phone bills have gotten expensive for some people. Lots of people just sign a two year contract so they can get the newest iPhone model and do not count up the true cost. Some cell phone companies offer great plans that offer unlimited services for a small portion of the cost of a plan with one of the larger companies. Ting, Republic Wireless and other companies have smartphone plans that cost about $25 per month.

Compare prices on insurance. We halved out insurance a few years ago just by switching companies. Now you can go online to look at plans and compare prices for life, health, home and car insurance. Do not just go with the cheapest plan. Find one that offers the best value, as well.

Skip cable. You probably do not need cable anymore, now that options like Hulu Plus, Netflix and Roku are available. Even if you decide you would rather have cable, you should probably shop around and see if you can find a better deal somewhere else which could split the bundle.

Thoughts on Saving and Making Money for 2016
I talked about a few ways you can increase your savings, but I would love to hear more. What financial goals have you set for 2016? What do you want to achieve in the coming year?

2014 Tax Return

Optimize Savings On Your Tax Return

It’s always difficult to be caught up in a mad rush at the end of the tax season to get your federal taxes filed on-time. Filing at the last minute is bound to be particularly stressful this year due to the scaled back phone support from the IRS and the additional requirements set by the Affordable Care Act. Here are some tax changes to take note of now so you are not surprised down the stretch with your 2014 Tax Return.

Tax Breaks

Sales tax can be deducted once again thanks to the last minute efforts in Congress. The primary beneficiaries of this measure are resident of states that have no income tax, as well as those living in states will considerably low income taxes. There is an IRS Sales Tax Deduction Calculator online to help assess the amount covered.

2014 Tax Return

Mortgage insurance premiums may also be deducted in some cases. Only people with a 2014 gross income that is less than $109,000 and who took out the loan after 2006 are eligible for the tax break. Programs like TurboTax Online will make the calculation for you automatically when you enter your income and your mortgage insurance paid.

Seniors are also going to get a couple additional breaks this year thanks to Congress. Those who are 70 and a half years of age may transfer as much as $100,000 from their individual retirement account (IRA) to a qualified charity. This will not be included in the gross income but instead count as the required minimum distribution. This may reduce taxes on Social Security benefits and avoid the Medicare high income surcharge.

Note that these tax breaks are only for the 2014 tax return. Congress has not made them permanent and the changing political landscape is likely to affect their renewal for the following year. Make sure to check several online tax resources next tax season to make sure they were renewed again.

Investment Income Tax

Single taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes in excess of $200,000 and married taxpayers with $250,000 or more may have to pay 3.8% surtax on their investments. Tax-exempt interest is not covered by the surtax.

Fraud With Taxes

Criminals Benefit Via Fraud With Taxes

As with any online program, Turbo Tax 2013 has had its share of people trying to fraud the users by stealing sensitive login information. The reason that this happens is because people are not careful when they log into the system, or they do not ensure that their connection is safe. Here’s many ways to avoid Fraud With Taxes:

Get Your Maximum Tax Refund

Criminals have systematically started to target Turbo Tax simply because it is a site where many people are now going to do their taxes without the help of an expensive tax refund business.

The Internal Revenue Service has reported major losses in its income since this type of fraud has been going on, but they are not the only ones. The customer is the one who also suffers when they are not receiving their full tax income. Sophisticated programs being used by criminals on the Internet are to blame for this, but also the method of encryption used on the site.

Fraud With Taxes
Photo by HM Revenue & Customs Fraud With Taxes

Keeping your password safe can help you to be sure that you will not have to worry about hacking in that regard, as is any type of malware protection on your computer. Intuit does offer some state-of-the-art protection for this, but it is also your duty to ensure that fraudulence does not happen on your part. This is all about the safety of you and your tax refund, after all. Always keep your Turbotax login tax return 2014 information safe.

TurboTax Deluxe

TurboTax Deluxe Buyers To Get Free Premier Upgrades

TurboTax, a popular tax filing software recently announced that it will offer users free upgrade to the premier version of the software on 7 February, 2015. The catch: only TurboTax Deluxe users will be able to avail it.

TaxAct

A spokeswoman for the company told the press that starting the coming Saturday, users will be able to click on a link in their TurboTax software to upgrade to the home or business version of the Premier version of TurboTax. The announcement has outraged devoted users of the desktop version of the TurboTax Deluxe because, for this season, the Premier version will effectively replace the older tax preparation software after the free upgrade.

TurboTax Deluxe
Photo by State Farm

Users who bought TurboTax Deluxe software this year were angered by the company’s decision to remove capital gain reporting capabilities from the new edition. Self-employed taxpayers, to whom this feature was indispensable, found themselves forced to spend 50% more than the TurboTax on buying the Premier version. TurboTax is an operation of Inuit, a company that specializes in making financial software solutions.

The Deluxe version’s hitherto loyal following protested on Amazon and tax software forums. Meanwhile, TurboTax’s H&R department tried to placate angered users with free updates for their copies of the software.

Inuit’s CEO, Brad Smith has apologized to buyers for not explicitly alerting them of the change beforehand.

The company began damage control by offering $25 refunds to all TurboTax Deluxe customers whose process of filing their 2014 Taxes was hampered by the changes in the Deluxe version of the software.
Next, the company offered free upgrades to the Premier version and has promised to restore the deducted capabilities to TurboTax Deluxe next year.

Buyers of TurboTax Deluxe receive their upgrades starting Saturday.

Intuit Apologizes To Upset Customers

Recent changes to the TurboTax Deluxe edition has caused the owners of the software, Intuit, to apologize to customers. Many customers had to spend more to upgrade to another version to get the features they needed, and they will receive a refund.

TaxAct

Sasan Goodarzi is general manager and acknowledges that the company has caused customers frustration and anger.

Many loyal TurboTax 2014 customers were outraged when they found out about the downsizing of the TurboTax deluxe edition. Customers – many of them loyal for years – had to spend between $30 and $40 to upgrade to other editions to get certain features. These included the forms used to report income from rental property, self employment and investments, Schedules C D E and F.

Intuit TurboTax Apologizes To Upset Customers
Photo by jurvetson

Anyone using TurboTax 2014 to file their return and who used the company’s software last year but had to spend money to upgrade this year will receive a $25 refund. Customers will need to give their social security number and must apply for the refund after they have filed their 2014 tax return.

The online version had already had the Schedules C D E and F removed, and Intuit explained in its apologetic email to customers that the changes were implemented to ensure a consistent customer experience across different platforms. Julie Miller is VP of communications at Intuit and she pointed out to NBC news that customers were not informed of this information in a timely or an effective way and definitely deserved an apology.