This is my review of the 2018 IRS-Authorized tax e-filer, TurboTax. My original article, Review of IRS FreeFile Companies, became too big to keep as one article. Go there for all the details of my test of the 12 providers, and links to the reviews of each.

IRS FreeFile - Should I Use It? - Plus Earned Income & Child Credits is the prologue to this series - you may want to start there. It includes a chart based on both what the IRS reported about each provider and a few changes I made based on what I discovered, as well as other info about e-filing, including the Earned Income and Child Tax Credits, and my explanation of the criteria I used to test each provider.

I figured I wouldn't have any luck but most people probably won't encounter the problems I did. In any event, I suggest that you do the 1040 paper version (or you can edit the PDFs on your computer, which I think is easier) to make sure the provider you choose doesn't screw up before you e-file. Also, again, remember that I used special circumstances to test these providers - many people will not encounter these problems!

Note: "Option to donate to Presidential Election Campaign Fund:" refers to the opportunity to have $3 contributed to the election campaign, but doesn't cost you anything. It appears to come out of the taxes paid. It also pays for pediatric medical research.

Note: Customer Service Support types are those that are offered free-of-charge for free e-filing. Certain companies offer phone support for paying customers.

Note: The word "responsive" below is a programming word that means that the program changes what you see on the same page and ensuing pages. For example, if you answered "yes" to having gotten married this year, it would show you fields to enter info about your new spouse, but if you answered "no", that wouldn't appear or - if shown already - would disappear. Responsiveness is programming that is designed to make your experience more pleasing, easier and it adjusts to your screen-size (which is called "mobile first").

Given the complexity of tax laws these days, and the peculiarities of the scenario I set up, I am not surprised that every company had a problem helping me, and some either refused to or couldn't because of site limitations. All companies offered some sort of FAQ/written help section, but they varied in quality, completeness and accuracy.

THIS TEST SCENARIO DOES NOT TEST ALL POSSIBLE SPECIAL SITUATIONS, AND SOME ASPECTS OF IT ARE UNUSUAL, SO WHEN MAKING DECISIONS BASED ON THE REVIEWS I'VE PROVIDED, MAKE SURE TO TAKE THIS INTO CONSIDERATION BEFORE CHOOSING YOUR E-FILER.

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TurboTax

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Intuit
Mountain View, CA
Summary: Recommended. Easy to use, suitable for most filers, one of the few with virtually no errors.

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Security & Confidence

Security: Phone number & email verification, two-step verification (phone, text or app), emailed notifications, and it'll log you out if you're inactive for several minutes (but saves progress).
Claimed Security certificates: nResult, C-level Security, TRUSTe (Not a member of TRUSTe. I confirmed both of the other 2.)
BBB Accredited: No
BBB Rating: A+
BBB consumer rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 (370 reviews)
Trust Pilot consumer rating: 🌟 🌟 (16 reviews)
Consumer Affairs consumer rating: 1.5 (441 reviews)
Glassdoor employee rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟.5 (69 reviews)
Indeed employee rating: 🌟 (32 reviews)
Google Safe Browsing: ok

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User Experience

Completion mode: You can use their guided or independent modes, although the guided mode didn't really seem to work.
Forms: Lists all income forms, sometimes guides you, but other times you'll need to choose an area to see if you qualify. It handles IRS, then state. It fills in dashes and slashes in dates and numbers.
Navigation: Tabs, section buttons (start/update)
Interface: Comfortable, sophisticated, responsive, lots of help
Helpful links to info: Often, but a few were not functioning. You can give "yes/no" rating, but no way to give feedback - it just tells you to search for info without suggesting links. Their help file system isn't searchable.
Guarantee: 100% Accurate Calculations Guarantee, Maximum Refund Guarantee or Your
Money Back, 100% Accurate, Expert Approved Guarantee, Audit Support Guarantee & Satisfaction Guaranteed. TurboTax Guarantees

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Test Results

Filing status: It chose the best of 3 for me.
Option to donate to Presidential Election Campaign Fund: Yes
Salary correctly indicated as employment instead of consultant income: Allowed me to specify true status and show that I'd filed Form SS-8 to dispute this. However, I had to figure out for myself where to put the income my ex-employer didn't report at all (in the W-2 section), despite the fact that the site said it'd help with this, it never actually checked to see if there was a discrepancy that I needed to report.
Allowed me to report my full income easily: No
SS-8 filing acknowledged: Yes
Reporting missing SSI/Medicare taxes (Form 8919): Yes
Leave a note to the IRS: Yes
Reporting Interest/Dividends with no 1099-INT/DIV: Yes
Reporting healthcare: Confusing, but yes.
Taking Additional Child Tax Credit: Yes
Taking EITC: Automatic
Taking WI Homestead Tax Credit: Automatic
Errors: I had to call in to figure out how to correctly enter my wage issue. The man who helped me insisted that I had to file it as self-employed despite the IRS booklet saying to fill out Form 8919 and Schedule 4, which reduced my refunds (see below), although I'd already used a different option that used 8919 & 4, but I just couldn't find out where to put the missing income not reported by my employer. This resulted in various shortages on my refund.
IRS refund: $2,287, which was a miscalculation due to the salary issue. Then it became $2,759.
State refund: $239, then it increased to $905.
States supported: All
Fees: None
Customer Service: 🌟🌟🌟🌟Their web support form wasn't working, so I called in. You can use shift-enter to produce a code that will allow them to see your info on their website. It was a bit hit or miss, but everyone was nice. Tier 1 either referred me to experts or tried (unsuccessfully) to help me. One expert tried to help me but we got cut off. The second, a nice EA named Steven, gave me the wrong advice and insisted that his choice was the only choice (the wrong choice), and he took personal calls while helping me. The third, a nice CPA named Roger, was more knowledge about taxes but needed to refer to documentation about TurboTax, however he gave me 3 choices to choose from. All in all, it took several phone calls, including to the IRS to try to sort out conflicts between the IRS 1040 instructions and TurboTax, as well as a tax expert. That resulted in wasting half a day. All agents were pleasant, helpful and professional, but most didn't have the advanced knowledge necessary, nor did they display empathy, instead implying that I was to blame for the challenges. None of them were unpleasant in any way.
Support types: Email, phone (you can ask the system to call you back so you don't have to wait on hold)

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If you see any incorrect or incomplete, or you want to comment or give feedback, please leave a comment. I had a problem with the editor blitzing some of the content when I saved it. This series of articles took me 1.5 weeks of solid work for more than 12 hours on most days. Please show your appreciation!

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