You may not be thinking about April 15, 2004 yet, but 2nd Story Software is; the company is first out of the gate to tout its lineup of 2003 tax preparation software.
TaxAct 2003 is the sixth release of what 2nd Story wants to make clear is an inexpensive alternative to Intuit's TurboTax and H&R Block's TaxCut. As a matter of fact, the Standard edition of TaxAct, though limited to a single tax return, is available for free (electronic filing will cost you $8).
If your taxes are a little more complex, TaxAct Deluxe costs all of $10, including one electronic filing -- plus over 100 tax forms, what-if scenario and other tax calculators, joint-versus-separate filing comparisons, advice from tax guru J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax, password protection for your data files, and automated reports that can make Uncle Sam's annual demands a little less, well, taxing.
You can also import last year's tax-return data -- if you happened to use TaxAct last year, that is. There's no import option available to transfer financial information from other programs such as Intuit's Quicken or QuickBooks.
Change is Good
TaxAct got a facelift this year to provide a more user-friendly interface. The new design focuses on making the many steps involved in preparing a tax return easier to follow. Improved navigation allows easier access to helpful information, whether context-sensitive issues or line-by-line help with forms.
Like most tax preparation programs, TaxAct offers two ways to enter your data: an interview format that walks you through a series of questions about your finances, or direct access to the appropriate forms and schedules. The program alerts you, traffic-light-fashion, to information you've omitted while completing your return -- red alerts must be addressed before you can file, yellow alerts mean you've overlooked just a few details, and green alerts point out potential tax-saving tips.
Other helpful features include a series of tips about the tax effects of life changes such as retirement or a change in marital status. You can print IRS-approved returns on any inkjet or laser printer, and 2nd Story Software pledges to pay any penalty assessed by the IRS due to a calculation error.
New for small-business proprietors this year are two add-on programs, sharing the same simple interface and instructions: TaxAct 2003 Business 1065 and TaxAct 2003 Business 1120S provide forms and help for filing Form 1065 partnership and Form 1120S S Corporation returns, respectively. You can buy TaxAct 2003 Deluxe bundled with one state return for $20, or with one state return plus either of the two business packages for $45.
As usual for tax software, the first releases of TaxAct 2003 are getting-started kits subject to minor changes when the final version of the yearly tax law arrives. The official release date for TaxAct Standard and Deluxe editions is January 20, 2004, with state editions scheduled to ship between January 20 and January 31.
