Tax Program For Mac 2014
What a year it's been for the IRS! The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act triggered many changes in the tax code, as well as the issuance of several new forms. The 1040A and 1040EZ are gone, and the new 1040-for-all form is much abbreviated. There are six new schedules. All these changes for 2018 returns have kept accounting professionals and tax preparation software providers busy, to say the least.
Start tax preparation and filing taxes for 2014 with H&R Block 2014 Back Editions. Get H&R Block 2014 Back Editions tax software, federal or state editions for 2014. Open the site navigation H&R Block home page.
Now it's your turn. Personal tax preparation websites are up and running, and the IRS is finally accepting returns (barring further government shutdowns). It's time to think about gathering up all your tax documents and plugging your numbers into a tax site, which thirty-seven pecent of you do for yourselves, according to a recent PCMag survey.
If you're still doing your taxes manually—using paper forms, calculator, and pencil—you should really consider moving the process online. Our survey showed that (at least among people with enough computer savvy to take an online survey) only 10 percent of you were doing your taxes manually, and only half of those people were sending your taxes in via snail mail (the rest e-filing with the IRS directly). For those holdouts among you, new laws and new forms are complicating what was already a complex activity. They might even help you get a bigger tax refund!
A Smooth Transition
With all the changes that have occurred, what will you find when you log into H&R Block, TurboTax, TaxAct, or any of the other websites whose developers have been planning for the end of January 2019 for 13 months?
If you've used a personal tax preparation website or desktop software before and you go back to that same product this year, you're not going to notice much of a difference. Every site we reviewed this year has made improvements, some more than others. But they're the usual modifications—user interface tweaks and enhancements to support resources and changes to prices and product lineups.
For the most part, this year's crop of contenders looks and works much as it did for the 2017 tax year. What's going on in the background as your tax data is calculated and rerouted to accommodate the new laws and forms, though, is very different. The companies that make today's leading tax sites worked extra hard in 2018—so that you don't have to in 2019.
What the New Tax Law Means for You
You've probably heard about at least some of the changes you'll be seeing for the 2018 tax year resulting from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. There are two that are likely to affect you the most. First is the lowering of individual tax rates. There are still seven brackets, but they've all been reduced. You'll be taxed at rates of 10, 12, 22, 24 32, 35, or 37 percent. Second, the standard deduction has been nearly doubled to $12,000 for single filers; $18,000 for heads of household; and $24,000 for joint filers.
Congress did eliminate the personal exemption, but positive changes to the Child Tax Credit may make up for at least part of this loss. If your medical and dental expenses made up more than 7.5 percent of your AGI (adjusted gross income) in tax year 2018, you'll be able to deduct them (the minimum was previously 10 percent).
It's not all good news for individual taxpayers, though. The tax reform law has placed a new limit on the deduction for state and local taxes. If you're paying home mortgage interest, you'll no longer be able to deduct it if your home is worth more than $750,000. Interest on home equity loans and lines of credit isn't deductible anymore, either, unless they're used to, '…buy, build, or substantially approve the taxpayer's home that secures the loan,' according to the IRS.
Those are just a few of the highlights of the new tax law. For more details on what it means for your tax-preparation and filing procedures, read Filing Your Taxes Isn't Simpler This Year: Here's What You Need to Know.
How Online Tax Software Works
When you prepare your income taxes using paper forms, you spend a lot of time shuttling back and forth between them. You come to a line on the 1040 that requires a supporting form or schedule, so you go there and complete it, and then transfer the number back to the 1040. Sometimes you'll need to fill out a worksheet or chase down a document you got in the mail or double-check your calculations because things just don't look right. You may have to do this many times if your return has any complexity.
Tax websites work much differently. Once you create an account and comply with the site's security requirements, you can stop worrying about which forms you need and whether your calculations are correct. You also won't need to worry about how the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is going to affect your return. That's all taken care of for you in the background.
When you use a digital tax preparation solution, you're really just filling out a giant questionnaire. These sites work like giant wizards: They ask questions on every page, and you respond by providing answers. You enter information in blank fields, select the correct option from a list, or click a button. When you've satisfied all the requirements of a screen, you move on to the next and complete that. You never have to see an actual IRS form or schedule (though in some cases, you can if you want to).
You'll probably recognize the path you're taking. It's patterned after the order of the IRS Form 1040. You provide contact information first, including Social Security number(s) and birthdate(s), and then move on to your income, deductions, credits, health insurance status, and taxes paid. When you've exhausted all the topics that apply to you and seen a summary of your entries, these sites review your return and highlight errors or omissions you might have made.
Software Programs For Mac
After you've cleaned them all up, the software transfers your tax data to any state returns you must file. Once you've answered miscellaneous questions there and checked your entire return, you're asked to pay the service's fees (if there are any). Finally, you can file your return electronically and print it out. After that's done, don't forget to use a good shredder on those documents once you're done.
The Tax Software Interface and Process
Along the way, personal tax preparation websites provide a lot of support for you. After all, how helpful would they be if they just displayed replicas of the actual IRS forms and schedules on the screen and asked you to fill them in using the IRS instructions?
Instead, some of these solutions, such as H&R Block and TurboTax, provide state-of-the-art user experiences. They're designed to makes what is an unpleasant task more palatable. They use color, graphics, design, and layout to present screens that are lively and attractive, rather than dull and lifeless like the actual forms.
Turbo Tax 2014 Program
The step-by-step data entry path that they provide generally works quite well—as long as you work your way through your whole return without a lot of backing up or lurching forward. Jackson Hewitt Online asks whether you'd like to complete your 1040 by using its comprehensive interview; this option takes you through the entire process in one long Q&A session. It asks you about every tax topic that might possibly apply to you.
Mac Programs List
The other alternative, one that every online service offers, involves selecting the topics that apply to you. You choose these from the lists they provide for income, deductions, credits, and taxes. When you select one, these sites walk you through mini-interviews to get the information they need. Then they return you to the main list to choose another topic, and so on, until you're finished.
All of the sites we reviewed are a hybrid of these two approaches. The point is, all you have to do is read what's on the screen and follow its instructions. You spend most of your time responding to questions and clicking links to advance to the next screen or using the site-wide navigation tool. These sites are good guides, most of the time.
Speaking Your Language
If you've ever filed a tax return, you know it can be a challenge to understand the IRS's language on its forms and schedules. Turning to the written instructions sometimes doesn't help much. They're quite comprehensive—so comprehensive, in fact, that it's often hard to find the answer to your exact question. When you do find it, the language, again, can be difficult to decipher.
From their earliest days, personal tax software developers have sought to interpret IRS-ese and make it more understandable to the non-accountant. They've written and rewritten their content so that the average taxpayer can understand what's being requested. Further, sites like TaxAct do more. For example, they provide hyperlinks to small help windows that further explain a term or phrase. They anticipate questions you might ask and post Q&As on especially complex topics. They try to ensure that you understand the question being asked so that you'll provide the correct answer.
More Tax Help Needed?
Sometimes, though, a friendly, understandable user experience and clarification of the content displayed on screens isn't enough. So tax websites provide online assistance. Some, including H&R Block, provide context-sensitive explanations in panes attached to the main working area.
In some cases, this guidance isn't available until you click a Help link. And sometimes when you do that, you have access to a giant database of questions and answers. You may be directed to IRS instructions and publications on a few sites, but usually the technical content has been rewritten to make it understandable.
What do you do if your efforts to find help on the site itself fail? You might have one of several types of questions: The first goes something like, 'Where do I enter the information that's on this paper form I got?' Or, 'The site won't let me advance to the next page. What did I do wrong?' Or, simply, 'I'm stuck. I can't find my way back to the screen where I enter mortgage interest information.'
All sites offer at least one of three ways to contact the company's technical support representatives: by email, phone, and or chat. TaxSlayer, for example, offers all three. Some, like H&R Block, offer online communities where you can see if your problem has already been addressed by someone else.
These technical support representatives cannot advise you on points of tax law, though. So some offer to hook you up with an accounting professional. Though you'll pay extra fees, you'll get the most innovative, most comprehensive guidance if you use TurboTax. Its TurboTax Live offering connects you with a CPA or EA (Enrolled Analyst) via live video chat, not just during tax season but year-round. H&R Block users can add unlimited, on-demand screen-sharing and chat sessions with a tax expert for an added fee that starts at $39.99, and customers of TaxAct Deluxe and above receive unlimited phone support from tax specialists.
Are There Any Free Tax Services?
Prices for this year's tax websites range from free to over $100. It turns out that you can get a lot for free. According to our tax survey, seventeen percent of you use free services, in fact. Twenty percent of you use paid software. Every company whose website we reviewed (except Liberty Tax Online) offers a version that costs nothing to prepare and file your federal taxes. All support the new Form 1040 and assume you'll be taking the standard deduction. You can record—or import, in some cases—your W-2 data in all of them.
Each goes even further than that in some ways. H&R Block is the most generous in its free offerings among the normally paid services. Block supports retirement plan and Social Security income, child care expenses and child tax credit, the Earned Income Credit (EIC), and student loan interest. TaxAct, too, allows retirement income, while TurboTax lets you report limited interest and dividend income, the EIC, and child tax credits. Using TaxSlayer, you can enter your student loan interest and education credits. And Jackson Hewitt's free edition will prepare and file the EIC, unemployment, interest income, and up to $100,000 taxable income.
Two of the online tax services we reviewed are free (or nearly free): Credit Karma Tax and FreeTaxUSA. Both support all major IRS forms and schedules. FreeTaxUSA costs nothing unless you need to file a state return; that will cost $12.95. You can also buy enhanced support for $6.99. Credit Karma Tax is the only personal tax preparation website that is totally free, for both federal and state.
Not for Everyone
The eight personal tax preparation websites we reviewed are capable of producing very complex tax returns. You'll pay more if you need more forms and schedules to complete (we reviewed the most popular versions, which in some cases were not the most robust), but the tools are there for advanced topics like self-employment, depreciation, rental income, and capital gains.
If you're not comfortable with your own ability to complete a complicated tax return but still want to give it a shot, you can go with a site like H&R Block. The company offers DIY preparation and filing, of course. But if you get partway through and realize you're not sure of some tax issues, you can have an H&R Block tax professional review your return, complete it, and sign it.
If you're so uncomfortable with taxes that you've procrastinated a bit too much, we have some suggestions for you. Our article Tax Tips for Last-Minute E-Filers is for the one in seven of you who wait till the tax deadline has nearly arrived.
Stay Safe, Protect Your Privacy
Whenever you're going to be sending sensitive information over a network you don't control, you should be concerned. Since taxes are nothing but sensitive data, you ought to be doubly concerned if you're filing from a coffee shop, say, or the airport. About half of you get this, it seems, as our tax survey shows that 47 percent of those who use online tax software are concerned about their data being compromised.
Fortunately, protecting your traffic is as simple as using a VPN. A VPN can create a secure tunnel that encrypts your data, ensuring that anyone who manages to intercept it sees only gibberish.
No amount of security software can keep you safe if you fall for a telephone, email, or in-person tax scam, however. Scammers often rely on you to simply tell them what they want to know, instead of by getting it out of your computer with malware. Instead, they simply pretend to be someone, say the IRS, who you'd likely believe might have a reason to be inquiring, and ask you for your secret information or for payments on imaginary fees you supposedly owe. Read our piece on how to protect yourself from tax-season scams and save yourself money and heartache.
What Is the Easiest Tax Software to Use?
If this is the first time you've ever considered tackling this project yourself, we recommend H&R Block, our Editor's Choice, this year. TurboTax has won this award numerous times in the past, and it also remains an exceptional family of digital tax products. H&R Block, though, has improved its website in numerous ways since last year. It offers a more state-of-the-art user experience, with exceptionally accessible, understandable guidance. That support and guidance makes a complex process easy—or at least easier. It's fast, it's a great value, it's built on decades of tax knowledge, and it's the best for the 2018 tax year.
Note that H&R Block wins for the best desktop software. If you're going to fill out your taxes on your mobile device—yes, that's right, you can do your taxes on your phone—you'll want to try out Intuit's TurboTax Return App, which is our number one choice for mobile tax filing thanks to its excellent interface and accessible, innovative help options.
While you're thinking about your financial situation and you have all your documents about you, we suggest that you also take a look at our roundup of the best personal finance services. The best day to start a budget is yesterday, but today isn't bad, either. If you're a business owner, it's also a good time to make sure your books are in order. Our overview of small business accounting software is an excellent place to get started.
Best Tax Preparation Software Featured in This Roundup:
H&R Block Deluxe 2019 (Tax Year 2018) Review
MSRP: $29.99Pros: Excellent user experience. Clear navigation. Comprehensive coverage of tax topics. Top help tools. Thorough return review.
Cons: Lacks linear navigation wizard and all-in-one step-through of topics.
Bottom Line: H&R Block Deluxe is a comprehensive, easy-to-use tax service that helps e-filers claim relevant deductions and credits. The site is much improved, both in terms of the user experience and help options. It's our top choice for online tax preparation.
Read ReviewIntuit TurboTax Deluxe 2019 (Tax Year 2018) Review
MSRP: $59.99Pros: Excellent user experience and selection of tax topics. Thorough interview and final review. TurboTax Live provides year-round live video support from experts.
Cons: Some answers in help database supplied by nonexpert users. Location of help topics uneven; help pane usually not context-sensitive.
Bottom Line: TurboTax Deluxe offers thorough explorations of tax forms and schedules, and an exceptional user experience to both new and returning taxpayers, but it's help system could be better.
Read ReviewTaxSlayer Classic 2019 (Tax Year 2018) Review
MSRP: $17.00Pros: Inexpensive. Supports all major IRS forms and schedules. W-2 import from providers. Email and phone help. Good knowledge base.
Cons: Weak context-sensitive help. Unrefined user experience. Tax-return review not effective in testing. Mobile apps are incomplete.
Bottom Line: TaxSlayer Classic is an affordable tax preparation service that gets a little better every year, but its context-sensitive help is still subpar and its user interface lacks polish.
Read ReviewFreeTaxUSA Deluxe 2019 (Tax Year 2018) Review
MSRP: $6.99Pros: Fast. Free federal e-filing. Inexpensive state filing. Comprehensive site outline. Flexible navigation. Context-sensitive help. Excellent mobile experience.
Cons: No start-to-finish interview option. No Life Events feature. Can't import W-2s or 1099s.
Bottom Line: FreeTaxUSA is a robust online personal tax preparation service that lets you e-file federal tax returns for free, though you have to pay modest fees for state filing and extra support.
Read ReviewTaxAct Deluxe Plus 2019 (Tax Year 2018) Review
MSRP: $47.95Pros: Good navigation tools. Solid user interface. Phone and email help. Thorough review process. Price guarantee. Good mobile experience.
Cons: Some help links lead directly to IRS documents. Expensive per-state filing. Some tax topics moved into pricier tiers.
Bottom Line: TaxAct competently supports online tax preparation for both new and experienced users. Though its interface is vastly improved this year, H&R Block and TurboTax are still easier to use.
Read ReviewCredit Karma Tax 2019 (Tax Year 2018) Review
MSRP: $0.00Pros: Free. Supports most IRS and state forms and schedules. Clean, simple interface. New guidance options. Much improved mobile access. Context-sensitive FAQs and chat help.
Cons: Missing some important forms. Search tool not always accurate, and overall support still sketchy. No site navigation tool.
Bottom Line: The completely free Credit Karma Tax supports most IRS forms and schedules for federal and state returns, though it lacks some common ones. Support and mobile access have improved, but it has a ways to go to catch the leaders.
Read ReviewLiberty Tax Online Basic 2019 (Tax Year 2018) Review
MSRP: $29.95Pros: Simple user experience. Innovative navigation pane. Excellent review process. Smart credit finder.
Cons: No consistent context-sensitive help. No hyperlinked terms in Q&A. Expensive state returns. Awkward mobile versions.
Bottom Line: Liberty Tax is a decent service from the well-known brick-and-mortar tax preparers. It's easy enough to use but lacks well-integrated, accessible guidance and its interface is dated.
Read ReviewJackson Hewitt Online 2019 (Tax Year 2018) Review
MSRP: $109.95Pros: Good coverage of tax topics. Comprehensive interview option. Background bookkeeping. Good error-checking. Good mobile version.
Cons: Amount and quality of context-sensitive help is lacking. User experience not on a par with competitors. Some navigation quirks. Expensive.
Bottom Line: Online tax service Jackson Hewitt can get the job done, but it's expensive, especially considering its subpar user interface and help system. There are better choices, for less money.
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