Intuit TurboTax Online Premier Investments

TurboTax was definitely our favorite online tax service, but at $76 for both one federal and one state return, it's pricey--and it still has room for improvement. We couldn't view specific tax forms, as we could on the desktop version of TurboTax (although the online version did line up our tax data in the same order as they appeared on our finished 1040). Also, it provided no indicator to help us gauge how far along we were in the process, so we weren't sure if the 18th question about income was at the end or just midway through the section.

As with the desktop version of TurboTax, we could transfer financial data only from Quicken 2005 or later, making our three-year-old Quicken obsolete for tax-prep purposes.

The service does have one more point in its favor: Even though Intuit says Online Premier Investments is not for small-business users, it includes a thorough Schedule C interview for sole proprietors. Unless you're an entrepreneur with a heavy-duty tax situation, you can save the $25 premium for the Home and Business version and stick with Premier.

Vanessa Richardson