[Old Version] TurboTax Deluxe Federal + e-file 2009 [Download]

All Turbotax advertisement and even the intital start-up of the program makes you think that you need the Premier Version to do investments. Wrong. The Premier version provides guidance on the investments, but if you already know the basics you don't need the upgrade. I just don't like be con'ed into buying more than I need.Other than that the program appears to be great and would have gotten 4 or 5 stars. It imports all the dividends and stock sales from my 6 different investment accounts.I am using TurboTax because I had to switch from the H&R Block program because it could not handle master limited partnerships traded on the stock market. The problem wa none of there liturature tells you that until you answer the question about what type of investments do you have. I will see if their 100% satifaction guarantee is valid.

I purchased the downloable version of TurboTax, because I like to get my stuff quick. First, let me address the issue of cost. I paid $35 for the Deluxe version. That's cheaper than buying the software on CD from a retail store, and Amazon for that matter. The previous reviewer makes a valid observation, that it doesn't seem to make sense that a downloadable would be more expensive than a CD. The biggest cost for producing software like this is the design. Once the program is written, putting it on a CD is simple. CD's are cheap and can be reproduced quickly. Therefore, my question would be, why is it so much more expensive to get it on a CD? Furthermore, the cost of the software is tax deductible, so you get a little kickback there.Second, the process of downloading was fairly seamless. Amazon wanted me to download a program to facilitate downloading the software. No complications there. I lost my internet connection briefly during the download, but as soon as it was reestablished, the download automatically resumed. It took several minutes on my DSL, but the executable was around 85 megabytes. In the future, if I download any other software from Amazon, I've already got their download managerFinally, the program itself works well. In fairness, I have used only one other electronic tax program, TaxACT, which is done online. TurboTax is easier as far as saving, and going back and forth to edit the information you put in. TaxACT was free online, but that was when I was in college, had very little income, and no itemized deductions. TaxACT charges a fee for doing this. TurboTax imported my personal info from last year, which saved a few steps. The basic edition is cheaper, but won't let you itemize deductions. I make several charitable donations, and I have student loans, mortgage interest, and several other deductions. NOTE: This is the Federal version only. If you need to file state income tax, but the Federal+State version. Otherwise, this program will want to charge you $39.95 to do the state. I live in Texas, so there's no state income tax, so this is not an issue. I'm also impressed with the level of online assistance that TurboTax provides, although I have not used it much. I know there are a lot of other programs out there, like Tax Cut by H&R Block. I had a friend that worked for HRB, and said the software is great. I've just been using TurboTax for the last 4 years, so I stick with them.

I usually do not take time to review a product, however, after spending SEVEN HOURS (yes SEVEN) attempting to and not succeeding at getting TurboTax Deluxe Edition to install I am done trying. I kept getting an error message saying my system did not meet requirements because I did not have MS .Net Framework 3.5 SP1 on my computer though in programs it ** showed it to be installed **. Not to worry though, Intuit / TurboTax included the required .Net Framework in the install package. Upon installing .Net Framework my problems began as an error code said the setup could not complete installation. Hey just contact support and they'll take care of it. Well, support walked me through fixes which were readily available on their TurboTax site without the help of a live person! Hey TurboTax, I can read and follow instructions, OK? I don't need a live person to walk me through what your site promotes as the "fixes". Well, it was to no avail as NO install was ever achieved, though we did verify MS .Net Framework 3.5 SP 1 was on my computer and. . . they said they would contact me when a "fix became available." Yes, that was their answer. So, I decided to fix this thing myself as I have used TurboTax for several years. Three other years had glitches also. Now during my attempting a fix I was stunned to find blogs and blogs of people with the EXACT issue I was having who never achieved a successful install either!! You think when I called, TurboTax already KNEW of the issue, or did it just happen "en masse" and everybody overloaded the blogs in the time I was having an issue? Hmmm. Fact is Intuit / TurboTax doesn't care, it's as simple as that. They have enough successful installs and yearly repeat business on an overpriced download to worry about those of us with issues. Anyway, after 7 determined hours of attempts, I gave up and downloaded H&R Block at Home (less money also) and wow!! 15 minutes at most to download and install without a hiccup. So you decide, but if you download TurboTax I hope you are a lucky one because from the blogs I read, a successful TT install is about same odds as the lottery!

I had used TurboTax in the past, and I found that this time the help was better and I was able to handle a complicated situation that wasn't handled well (or not well documented) before, namely depreciation on foreign rental real estate.It was also great to be able to buy a deeply discounted copy in October. Having filed a roughly calculated extension (without TurboTax) in April, the final return was due on October 15, and the product fit perfectly with that need at a very inexpensive price.