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Thu Dec 20 20:53:45 MST 2007

(Jan. 30) - The top two software packages for tax preparation have been                
largely static in their core features and user interfaces for years, but               
you'll notice a new attitude toward customers from one of the publishers               
this time around.                                                                      

The programs are nearly identical, and in my annual reviews of H&R Block's             
TaxCut and TurboTax by Intuit I have mainly noted changes in ancillary                 
features, and in the proliferation of various editions and versions that               
seem inspired more by marketing than by functionality.                                 

This year, both publishers have thrown in planning features for retirees and           
investors, and TurboTax now comes in special editions for these groups.                
Still, the core tax functionality is the same in all these products.                   

However, Intuit, in an effort to curb piracy, now is forcing folks who buy             
TurboTax to jump through hoops to use it. Users must contact Intuit to                 
"activate" the software, a process that limits full use of TurboTax to a               
single PC.. To enforce this system, Intuit secretly installs third-party               
monitoring software on users' PCs.                                                     

By contrast, H&R Block is adding a "family license" to its top-of-the-line             
version of TaxCut, which explicitly allows the software to be shared with              
family members and to be used to prepare the returns of multiple people, all           
legally.                                                                               

You can install the full-function TaxCut product on multiple PCs as long as            
they aren't used simultaneously. There are no activation requirements.                 
TaxCut also costs less than TurboTax and offers free phone support, while              
TurboTax users pay for most such service.  

So, this year I emphatically recommend H&R Block's TaxCut over Intuit's                
TurboTax. They both do the job of preparing any straightforward tax return.            
But Intuit has decided to treat all its TurboTax customers like potential              
criminals, and to limit the ways that even honest people can use the                   
product. Why subject yourself to that?                                                 

For my tests, I chose the top Windows versions of both products, TurboTax              
Premier and TaxCut Platinum. TurboTax Premier costs $49.95 after a $10                 
mail-in rebate. TaxCut Platinum is just $29.95 after a $10 rebate.                     
(Stripped-down versions can be bought for as little as $10 for TaxCut and              
$20 for TurboTax, after rebates.)                                                      

These software products aren't a substitute for an accountant or other tax             
preparer. If you have any serious legal questions about your taxes, you                
shouldn't rely on these programs.                                                      

I ran a simple sample tax situation through both programs and both handled             
it fine. Both allow you to automate some of the data entry by downloading              
W-2 information, which saves a few minutes of typing. TurboTax was better at           
this, with information from more payroll providers.                                    

I also tested a feature where, for $19.95, you can ask a tax expert a                  
question. I e-mailed the same question through each program. TaxCut did                
better. The TaxCut expert e-mailed me back within an hour with a good                  
answer. The TurboTax adviser insisted I phone her and when I reached her,              
her answer seemed too simplistic. During our conversation, I was interrupted           
by an operator demanding more money for a longer call.                                 

Installation of TaxCut was easy and straightforward. By contrast, installing           
TurboTax was a pain, due to the new antipiracy requirements. I had to type             
in an 18-digit product key, then activate the product over the Internet, a             
process that generates a hidden code that mates each copy of TurboTax to one           
PC. I was informed that while my copy of TurboTax would run on multiple PCs,           
I could print or electronically file a tax form only on the PC on which it             
had been activated.       

The TurboTax installation process never revealed that Intuit was also                  
installing on my PC an antipiracy product called SafeCast, from a company              
called Macrovision. This software includes a hidden folder called C-Dilla,             
the former name for SafeCast, and a hidden program that runs in the                    
background all the time, monitoring your PC for the use of TurboTax. When              
TurboTax runs, the SafeCast product checks to see if the program matches the           
activation code on the PC. It also periodically checks to see that the code            
hasn't been tampered with.                                                             

I have no evidence that SafeCast damages PCs or spies on users, and Intuit             
and Macrovision emphatically deny rumors that SafeCast sends reports on                
software use back to the company over the Internet. Macrovision even denies            
SafeCast can be called "monitoring" software, but the term fits because the            
product constantly watches for TurboTax activity.                                      

Once SafeCast is on your PC, it remains there even when you uninstall                  
TurboTax. Intuit said it adopted this policy because users might have other            
programs that rely on SafeCast that would be disabled if it were removed.              
But after a storm of criticism, Intuit posted on the Web a program to                  
uninstall SafeCast.                                                                    

I agree with Intuit that piracy is a problem, and I condemn it. But I don't            
think the answer is to treat all consumers like criminals by adding                    
restrictions and hidden software to an inexpensive product used for a week             
or two each year. I also believe that the licensing of software to one PC or           
one person, while cherished in the technology industry, makes little sense             
in a world where honest families have multiple PCs and users.                          

If you'd rather be treated with respect than suspicion, shun TurboTax and              
buy TaxCut.                                                                            

Updated January 30, 2003                                                               

-- 
Sean LeBlanc:seanleblanc at americanisp.net  
http://users.americanisp.net/~seanleblanc/
Get MLAC at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/mlac/
You really have to experience the feeling of being with the president in the 
oval office... It's a disease I came to call Ovalitis. 
-John Dean 