How To Do Your Taxes for the First Time: An Intro Guide Intuit TurboTax Blog

Is this all sounding a little too technical or overwhelming? You may want to invest instead in the TurboTax CD/download, which allows you to install the software on your computer. The cost of the Deluxe (and more) CD includes the tax preparation fee for one state and five federal e-filings. All features, services, support, prices, offers, terms and conditions are subject to change without notice.

• There are two kinds of deductions that you will ultimately file for.
• Once you’re connected with your pro, you’ll also get to see their credentials.
• I indicated that I made student loan payments during the year, which triggered on the next screen a button where I could “start” telling TurboTax about the student loan interest I paid during the year.
• If you have other types of income, such as from real estate or trusts, gather up the documentation you have for how much you received during the year.
• If you file your taxes by hand, the amount owed on your return can be submitted online directly to the IRS through its Direct Pay web portal.
• According to TurboTax, its pros are either tax experts or TurboTax employees who have gone through vetting and internal training.

Choosing Your Edition

Now, I’m not talking about some billionaire’s tax return with hundreds of K-1s, foreign transactions, and all kinds of disclosures that need to be made. Frankly, people like that shouldn’t be using TurboTax; they should probably be working with a tax professional. Most of the information you need for your state tax returns will be transferred over from the previous inputs you made for your federal return. The next few screens will ask you various questions to see if your tax situation requires any additional forms. TurboTax is a top-of-the-line tax software, but it doesn’t come cheap and tends to upsell users on various services. Remember, the TurboTax Free Edition is for people with incredibly simple tax situations, so I don’t really Coffee Shop Accounting think they need this kind of support.

Important:Article Summary

After your W-2 information is how does turbotax work complete, you move on to your other income. Really the only slightly annoying part of my TurboTax user experience was the ubiquitous upsells, so I’m going to talk about this up-front to get it out of the way. Finally we have the Self-Employed Edition, which accommodates even the most complicated self-employment situations reported on Schedule C.

New to TurboTax? Just curious?Here are some helpful answers for you.

The first option is self-explanatory but may not be the most helpful since you’re just taken to an input screen. Underneath the graphic, you can click a dropdown that says, “Show bookkeeping me the breakdown of my itemized deductions,” to see the details here. I indicated that I made student loan payments during the year, which triggered on the next screen a button where I could “start” telling TurboTax about the student loan interest I paid during the year.

That said, in my experience, the answers are helpful more often than not, but please don’t take them as professional tax advice. Another thing I look at when assessing a tax software is its ability to handle complex returns. You will also be asked if you have certain kinds of income or deductions treated differently for state tax purposes than federal tax purposes. In this TurboTax review I will give a general overview of the TurboTax software as well as the pros and cons of using it so you can decide for yourself whether TurboTax is the tax software for you. Many of you know that TurboTax is generally viewed as the “cream of the crop” of do-it-yourself tax software — with the price point to prove it.

• Here are some of the various ways you can find answers and guidance when filing your return with TurboTax.
• We’ll beat your tax pro’s price from last year when you switch to a TurboTax Full Service expert.
• Once you give TurboTax your information, it’s securely stored on the company’s servers.
• Many of you know that TurboTax is generally viewed as the “cream of the crop” of do-it-yourself tax software — with the price point to prove it.
• Pricing will vary based on your tax situation and the forms your expert needs to file as part of your return.
• TurboTax originated the wizard-based approach to tax preparation over 30 years ago.