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Comment by esturk | Hacker News Reader

I often do my taxes twice with a cheaper competitor and then use Turbo Tax to double check my results.

Let me tell you, Turbo Tax often gets a worse off final result. For example, I changed jobs in Q2 and exceeded my Social Security contribution last year. For some reason, the cheaper competitor actually caught that and got me a better result than Turbo Tax.

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I did this with freetaxusa.com and turbotax on 2019 and ended up ditching turbotax for a better return with lower fees.

I now have to copy fields, but I double checked them anyways, so I think it's faser to input them myself. It's just triple clicking on a pdf and middle clicking on the browser

I did the same comparison with the opposite results. Turbotax correctly handled a situation that freetax usa didn't (how much of a state income tax return was refundable from the previous year when my state refund was based on SALT taxes beyond the $10,000 maximum that the feds allow you to deduct). Technically my own fault because I incorrectly answered a question in freetaxusa that contained a double or triple negative, but Turbotax got it automatically without me having to answer any questions

My wife, an employee of freetaxusa.com, said that you can write in to them with more details (I showed her your comment, and she wanted more details), and they will fix the problem. Usability is super important to them; I am the one that has to do taxes every year, and the company asks my wife to watch me do it to learn what trips people up.

Why don't you disclose the cheaper competitor's name? Are you trying to be respectful to Turbotax?

who is the cheaper competitor?

I don't know who the cheaper competitor that the GP refers to, but I use freetaxusa.com, and they are great.

(Disclaimer: my wife is an employee, and they are great as employers too.)

Just want to stop by and say that I love FreeTaxUsa too. They have exceeded my expectations these last three years. No gimmicks or upselling, just straightforward forms with labelled boxes matching those on the government forms. Free federal filing, $13 for my state filing. Remembers my AGI and other relevant info (i.e. employer's address) from year to year. Less than an hour to file everything this year. They do also offer a deluxe product which includes assistance in case of an audit.

I have no formal connection to them, just a very satisfied customer.

I let my wife know. Thank you. :)

That's like the most obvious thing in the world to catch and TT definitely checks for it. So this seems weird

Myself and my accountant find they are off by laughable errors and stir government accepts intuit errors. It is somewhat hilarious. After a disastrous 24k error I hired a real tax professional. Money well spent.

Any tips on how to identify a good tax professional?

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