I have been using TurboTax since I first got a PC compatible computer (@1987). I started with the Chipsoft product and was always happy with the performance, accuracy, and continuity, including ability to print accurate forms even within the DOS environment. Since the Quicken people bought Chipsoft, the program has been going through what I can only describe as a "Death of a Thousand Cuts." Intuit introduced various levels and, due to the presence of rental property or Schedule C small business, I have had to use the Deluxe level since that time. Not a big deal, I felt the situation warranted it, and it imported data straight from my Quicken software. However, since that time, I have divested myself of my rental house, and have not used schedule C for 10 years or so, the primary reason I stuck with Deluxe was that it included investment tracking and calculations.
In 2015 (for Tax year 2014) Intuit decided that anyone with active investments would need to purchase the Premier product at almost double the price of Deluxe, in spite of the fact that Deluxe, as stated before, had been sufficient up until that time. There was apparently sufficient outcry that, by the time it was time to file, I was able to unlock the Premier features for no additional cost, but Intuit was now on my RADAR.
Again, the Tax year 2015 TurboTax requires the Premier level to handle investments, so I decided it was time to shop around. I discovered H&R Block's Deluxe software, at half the cost of TT Premier, claimed that it would import TurboTax information (important as I have data such as Capitol loss, Traditional and Roth IRA basis information, etc. that TurboTax has been carrying over for me) as well as Quicken data and bank/brokerage information, like TurboTax. Thus an idea was born:
I bought both programs and am going to install them side by side and blog a comparison. Starting now:
1) Installing TurboTax, Intuit decided to get all Nanny State on me and advise me that Microsoft no longer supports Windows XP. Duh. However, the computer I use for these things is a very well behaved XP Pro machine, so live with it, Intuit. Install times are subjective, so I will not try to make anything of them. TT has a "prerequisites" folder, which I presume it would run appropriate installers if it felt it needed to, but the install continued uninterrupted.
2) First thing upon initial launch TT contacted the mother-ship and determined that it needed to update. That was expected - it advised it would take about 7 minutes, it took 5. I am not sure how much was actually installed in the initial setup as the update said it was "installing Federal Tax Forms" and "installing Federal ACA forms" for the first 68%, then installing Program updates to 90%, then installing Help and Support to 97% and then installing Mississippi for the remaining 3%. I am not sure why the Mississippi was installed, as I specifically bought the federal only edition, however, in the past I have reported Forms W-2G from gambling winnings from Biloxi, so it is probably prepping to try to sell me the State filing edition.
3) Launching the program after the updates, Intuit Nanny'ed up again and reminded me how bad XP was for the safety of the world as we know it. Like previous years, it wanted to know who I was (this is pre-transfer) however, you can continue without filling in the form. If it is like the last versions, it will hound you to confess your essence every time you launch the program until you do. It then offers you a chance to review changes to the program from the previous year's version, which can also be skipped if you choose.
4) TT then scans your computer for the *.tax14 files that represent your past year's return. I did several as worksheets/what ifs and fortunately included the term "FILED" in the one that I actually eFiled to the IRS. Once I selected the proper one to transfer, TT imported it and then initialized the questionnaire to verify if any information had changed, as it has done in the past.
5) I continued through the personal information questions, and chose to quit the program at that point. TT asked if I wanted to save the file and when I said yes, it popped another Nanny screen about XP and offering to add a password along with Secret Question to recover it. Interesting, I had heard reports that some people last year had some security issues that involved their TurboTax data. My selection is not relevant to the comparison.
6) Every time I have installed TT for the past X number of years (I believe about 10), it has installed the IntuitUpdateService, which I have to believe is for push updates to the program. Since it also asks to update the program each time you launch it, I find this redundant at best and a nuisance for someone who tries to maintain an optimal, lean Operating System with minimal contact with the outside world that are not directly supervised. I launched the Services application in Administrative Tools and shut the Service down, and switched it from Automatic to Manual, as I have in the past. I relaunched TurboTax to verify it sould exists without the service running and sure enough it not only does, but it launches the IntuitUpdater to "phone home" before launching TurboTax proper. It ran just fine without the update service running and soaking up CPU cycles.
Tomorrow, install of HR (H&R Block Deluxe)...
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