The Web Works Wonders for Tax Filing

The Front-Runner

A mirror image of its venerable desktop counterpart, Intuit's TurboTax Online Premier Investments soothes headaches for tax dunces. I loved its comprehensive, detailed interview even though it posed lots of questions that did not apply. Tax terms were clearly defined, and "Guide Me" buttons also provided assistance.

The service linked our data to other relevant documents so that we wouldn't have to enter it again: For example, after we input the registration fee for an automobile used partly for the freelance business, TurboTax entered the nonbusiness portion on our itemized deductions.

New this year are the Deduction Maximizer Center, which let us scan more than 350 deduction and credit opportunities, and BasisPro, which eased the hassle involved in determining historical cost bases of multiple stock transactions. Our federal summary showed the results of what we entered compared with what we would get in deductions, and explained the difference.

But at $76 for federal and one state filing, TurboTax is pricey, and it's still not perfect. We couldn't view specific tax forms, and there's no progress indicator to show where you are in the process.

We could import personal-finance data only from Quicken 2005 or later.

TurboTax Premier includes a thorough Schedule C interview for sole proprietors; most of them can save the $25 premium for the Home and Business version and stick with the Premier version.