TaxActReviews 139

Mine was taxes with stocks sale and HSA.
Stocks sale was so painful to fill every transaction and it was useless, since i had to do a lot of figuring out myself.

HSA is worse. Its actually inaccurate. I contribute X $ from my pocket and i should be allowed to claim that as a credit, however this software doesnt do that.
Felt like i almost did everything by myself and paid $30 for that, inaccurate end result.

Would never come back to taxACT.

Every year I use TaxAct to file my free federal taxes. This year I filed having bought a house. The price was really good, the site easily navigable, and I was pleased with the service. Another online tax service charges double and had a glitch in their system for 2014 that cost customers money in their returns. My neighbors used the other well known service and had to call their call center. Three different call center agents gave them three different answers. TaxAct is be far, the best service in self prepared taxes I have yet to encounter.

Last year TurboTax got a lot of heat for secretly removing features from their products and then doing a hard upsell. Intuit realized their mistake but ended up damaging their reputation quite severely.

I've been a TaxAct customer for 6 years. Last year I purchased their Deluxe version for $23. The Deluxe worked well and included Schedule C and D as a matter of course.

This year TaxAct split their product line into 4 products, the Plus version, at $34, appearing to be the rough equivalent of last year's Deluxe.

Was it equivalent? No way.

When you get to the section covering Schedule C up pops a screen prompting you to purchase their Premium upgrade for $10 more!

That doubles the cost of TaxAct for folks needing Schedule C's. Shame on TaxAct. Did they learn nothing from Intuit's gaff?

They added things I never typed in. Here is a partial conversation by email.

Glenda,
I review all client's tax returns with the alerts, twice. It did not appear as you show it. Period.
He never had a 1099 B to enter, so how did it appear?
The missing sold date on the sale, should of been a no brainer rejection of the return by TaxAct!

I appreciate you looking into this but I will have to take next year's tax business to another site because I feel this mess deserves a phone call but I have been wasting my time typing.

Thank you, Jack

Filled out the forms and got to the the filing part and it asked a question that was not specific enough to answer. So i called and they said I have to pay for delux to talk to assistant. So i did. Then no one ever answered the phone. I called over and over for 6 hours. I went back and worked out the problem. But it wanted me to pay for delux again. I did that as well thinking they would fix the problem. So I paid to talk to assistant that does not answer the phone. Used them for many years. Looks like its time to move to another company for my taxes.

2012 Software made calculation errors (adding when should have subtracted, failed to copy numbers from one form to another). After they finally fixed it, I e-filed my return -- and then received a "late filing" penalty from the state because they didn't receive one of the forms even though I had a confirmation from TaxAct that they were sent. TaxAct said, "our accuracy guarantee covers only bad calculations, not e-file problems" and then stopped returning my phone calls. Use other software or even paper and a calculator -- this company is a joke!

Just did my 2013 taxes here.

I felt like I got scammed $14. I wasn't clearly notified that I was switching over to their "premium service". Did not give me a notification or a warning. They made me pay for it at the end of the filing. I paid because I didn't want the hassle of calling them and possibly start the whole thing over.

I will use another service next year.

2 stars because the usability of the website was decent, but no better than others I've tried such as TurboTax.

EDIT 2015 05 07: I used TurboTax last year and it was a breeze. I think they updated their site for this year and it's so much easier. I will go to them in the future.

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.

This is the 5th year i used taxact.com to file but also the 2nd year they won't file it and won't tell me why. Last year i called in and they made me re-do it not answers as to what was wrong. This year same thing but when i emailed the online support team they only sent me a step by step video. So i went over it and saw i did it all right. So i emailed back and said so and i got a rude email back from the team support guy ryan that said i need to learn out to do my own taxes because its not his job. When all i said in the email was im confused everything is right what do i do

I've been using this site to file my tax returns for six years and it keeps getting easier and easier to use Granted my taxes are pretty simple to begin with, but with TaxAct, I am able to reliably file both my federal and state taxes in under 30 minutes for just $18. There are no hidden charges and the interface is super easy to use.

Among the features I really like:
- automatic importing of information from your previous return, which basically fills out 90% of the return for you
- system of automated checks, flags, and alerts to catch any possible errors
- comparison of this year's returns with previous year's returns
- ability to print or save your forms via PDF
- ability to immediately file forms and pay taxes electronically

One thing to watch out for -- TaxAct partners with third parties to offer certain services, such as paying your taxes via credit card. If you choose to use those services, there are usually steep transaction costs which are not disclosed by either TaxAct or the partner. I find this borderline unethical, but believe it to be more the responsibility of the third party.

Overall, I've been very happy with TaxAct and will continue to use them in the future. I've actually seen the interface and features get better every year, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a convenient affordable online service to file their taxes.

I have used TaxAct products since 1999. A couple years ago, after my Windows PC died, I went to an Apple with Mac OS and had to do tax returns online. It was just as easy to navigate between windows and easy to understand along the way as the software products I had downloaded in previous years.
Help pages helped with passages from latest "J. K. Lasser" tax prep guide as well as well written passages from the IRS own tax prep guide. Importing previous tax returns was a simple process that quickly updated current forms.
Costs were just as reasonable as working on Desktop, about $20 for complete 1040+ state and e-file federal form(s) on a Windows Desktop and about $18 to complete federal 1040 + state AND e-file of 1040, all in a secure online account accessible by most updated browsers.
One feature I like is the program's testing of a completed tax return prior to printing/ e-file to ensure no "red flags" will cause the IRS to question accuracy of the forms submitted. Any "red" or "yellow" lights in the testing mode indicate the user needs to make the appropriate adjustments in easy reach back to the forms in doubt.
A subsidiary of Second Story Software, TaxAct.com is affiliated with the IRS "Free File" program which make e-filing federal 1040s a snap. All in all TaxAct.com has been a very good choice for our family and our small business tax returns.

Much health and happiness to you and yours.
L. Nowak
Boulder, Co.

Tax ACT. COM - I have been trying to use taxact.com to start my tax returns I used them in 2006 and 2007. In 2006 I used the free service. In 2007 I paid extra to have the availability to recall and import 2007 tax information and now for 2008 I can not get into my account. I have been filing the assistance need request and following the information while on the phone with the tech support and still I can not get the inforamtion or availability I paid for already in Jan. 2008. I have sent the request for the past two weeks and can not get a response from the owners of the site Tax act. Com I would advise to use the free service but not the paid service because you do not get the support and service promised after they receive your money. That part of the company is a fraud. The company is good with free only to set the consumer up for fraudualant guarentee in order to recieve a higher payment.

Very disappointed consumer DE mccutcheon