Tax Web Sites: Interviews and Advice
Did TaxAct design its interview to drive a taxpayer nuts? You enter so little information on each screen, it's easy to get frustrated waiting for the next screen to load. The most extreme examples are screens that contain only two buttons labeled Yes and No. Does it really take an entire screen to say we're blind?
TaxAct also has a problem with dates. I entered 12/14/46 for my birth date, and the program changed it to 12/14/2004. Perhaps I should always enter four digits for a year, but shouldn't the program know a birth date is unlikely to be in the future? At least when TaxBrain made the same change, the software informed me the date could not be in the future. CompleteTax, H&R Block, and TurboTax handled dates correctly.
Sometimes, the software simply doesn't provide enough choices. For example, H&R Block 's selection for medical expenses is much too small. Even the IRS Schedule A offers more categories.
TaxAct is only slightly better. Its details are few, but still not as good as the IRS Schedule A Part I. At least CompleteTax provides the actual Schedule A form as the IRS prints it.
In contrast to the interview-style form completion, TaxBrain provides a condensed version of IRS Schedule A. This is adequate only for taxpayers with very few itemized deductions. For example, TaxBrain will be useful if you have only mortgage interest paid to a single lender and property taxes on a single residence.
Striking a balance is tough. If anything, TurboTax includes too much detail. For example, a ten-screen questionnaire covers medical deductions, leading you through the amounts paid for professional services, transportation costs by type, and other elements.
Navigating the Tax Seas
Ease of use is, of course, directly related to navigation. And navigation really differentiates these products.
TurboTax and CompleteTax link to a navigation screen on each page. That screen shows where you are in the return, which parts are complete, and which are still ahead. You can click on a link to move to any part of the return.
CompleteTax does this especially well, providing links within complicated forms and links to move among forms.
The TurboTax EasyStep navigation screen is also clear, although unfortunately it only lets you move to points in the interview defined by that navigation screen. For example, once you select Schedule C expenses, you must go through the entire interview until you find what you want.
TaxAct takes a unique approach to navigation. Hovering the mouse over one of the major tabs opens a menu. Mousing over one of those menu items opens a submenu. For example, the navigation around Schedule C is awkward. TaxAct forces you to go through each expense screen to find the item you want to change.
TaxBrain starts with a questionnaire designed to determine which forms and schedules you need. You can return to the questionnaire and change your answers anytime.
However, navigation is limited to individual forms and schedules. Clicking on a link opens that form or schedule. Since TaxBrain offers only simplified versions of each form, the navigation scheme is appropriate.
The main problem with H&R Block's navigation screen is finding it. You have to drill down to get there, but then the navigation links are pretty good.
Primary Features
Each of the five programs tries to narrow the number of screens you see by asking a series of questions about your tax situation.
TaxBrain does a particularly good job of this initial screening, with its readable but thorough questionnaire. TaxBrain is also nagware. It constantly provides--and updates--a little reminder in the lower left corner of your browser, ticking off the days until April 15.
H&R Block simplifies things by displaying a series of check boxes at the start of each section. Then it displays only the questions related to the items you checked.
However, the site also displays a progress bar in the lower left corner of the screen. It's suspicious: While I entered data, that bar stayed between 70 and 75 percent filled for about 80 percent of the interview. Be warned that the gauge is probably wrong; how could the software possibly know how much you have left? You haven't told it everything yet!
Customer Support
All sites except TurboTax offer asynchronous customer support when you complete an on-site form. TaxBrain and H&R Block send e-mail when they post a reply on the site. TaxAct and CompleteTax do even better, sending the reply by e-mail (along with the question, in case you've forgotten what you asked).
H&R Block offers online support as part of its Premium service, which costs $40. Intuit provides only telephone or live chat support for $20 per session. Keep track of your questions and ask them all at once to save a few bucks.
I asked each site how to change my password and also posed a tax question. Only support for TurboTax and TaxAct gave the right answer to the tax question; they all replied satisfactorily to the password query.
Intuit's adviser took a minute to check IRS regulations and cited the three necessary qualifying items. 2nd Story Software did even better, summarizing the answer and pointing to and quoting the relevant IRS regulations.
Petz Enterprises let my tax question sit on the server for a week. I posted a reminder and got a lengthy answer within a day.
H&R Block promises to answer online support questions in ten minutes or less. On a Monday morning, it took about one and a half hours to get an answer that was, basically, wrong. CCH responded in less than a day with an answer for CompleteTax, but declined to give an opinion on the tax question.
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