TaxCut 2005 Standard [Old Version]

I like the way the program goes through the tax forms as if you are interviewing with a tax preparer. However, I think it needs to do a better job of explaining why a tax form cannot be emailed and how to address that issue.

TaxCut did not warn me that I needed to fill out additional forms required for taking the exemption for a qualified child, nor did it lead me through the Schedule C like TurboTax does. TurboTax may be more expensive, but it's well worth it to save the headaches that this program caused. If you have complicated tax forms or unusual tax situations (or prefer an intuitive program, rather than something that makes you say "What am I supposed to do next???") stick with TurboTax.

TaxCut's website (their telephone customer service was non-existent on this date - hung-up on me twice without every getting a person)is not helpful with this problem. While telephone customer service might be expected to be inundated with calls on the last day for filing - you'd think installation problems would be thorougly documented by the end of tax season for PC's running Windows XP. NOT the case. And if you're encountering this on the last day, try rebooting your Windows XP system, pressing F8 while it's booting to restart in Safe Mode with Networking Option and then proceed with the install. I found this tip on another site and it worked for me. The font and Flash upgrades mentioned with this problem in other threads hear on Amazon - didn't help me.

Also after you've completed the return - you won't be able to submit it or print other than in draft form until you upgrade Taxcut - which I wasn't able to do within the program. I had to exit, go to the website, and download directly from their website. I found the website using Google and searching by Taxcut upgrade. Once the install upgrade was run and I reopened Taxcut it allowed me to print the final version of my tax return. I didn't want to attempt the online return and the print out was manageable for both federal and state and a lot cheaper mailing even at the two ounce rate than paying $15.95.

Hope this helps someone today.

This program has a bug in processing 1099-R data that makes the whole software package useless to me. After filling in the data from my 2005 1099-R form, the program informed me that these monies were taxable in 2003 not 2005, and that these data would not be included in my 2005 return. I could not find a way overide this problem. Also, there was no apparent way to directly contact H&R Block to find out how to fix it. After wasting a couple of hours I now have to trash the taxcut software and spend more money to purchase turbo-tax, which from prior years experience is relatively bug free.

This hang happened everytime I tried to install the program. I went to Taxcut.com for customer support and they had a link that said the problem was with fonts used on the program. They gave me a patch that did nothing. The problem still happened. So I read the reviews on this site and one person had the very correct idea of installing or updating your shock wave flash player. After thinking about it, this made perfect sense, look at the extension that hangs: swf. This worked perfectly. Thank you to that person. But why on earth would taxcut try to give people a font patch that doesn't even solve the real problem. Don't bother with that patch and just update your flash player.