TaxSlayer.com Premium Edition (2011)

I know that Dale Earnhardt Jr. likes TaxSlayer?there's a picture of him wearing a bright red TaxSlayer.com jacket on the home page of the website, and it says that he drives the TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet. But there's no information about the company itself, not so much as a phone number. I learned through a search that TaxSlayer.com sponsored the 2012 Gator Bowl, but not much else.

This is a problem.

I can't recommend a tax-prep service from a company so secretive that it provides no information about itself on a website. Worse, when I finally reached the company, all they would say was that they were a subsidiary of a larger financial services company. When you're giving your Social Security number and numerous other excruciatingly personal details to these people?you need to know who they are and if they're trustworthy.

Even so, I decided to examine the company's software. Three versions are available; each contains everything in the version before it and adds more:

• TaxSlayer Free Edition. 1040EZ only. Free email support and deduction finder. State return, $17.90 for the first, $7.95 each additional. Free federal e-file included.
• TaxSlayer Classic. Supports major forms and schedules. Free live phone support; lets you pull prior year information. Federal, $9.95; state, $7.95.
• TaxSlayer Premium. Priority support and free tax advice via phone. Free tax audit assistance (not representation). Federal, $19.95; state, $7.95.
• TaxSlayer Military Edition. Active military can file federal and state for free.

You can also toggle between Spanish and English versions of TaxSlayer, a unique trait among the tax-preparation services I reviewed this year.

Dicey navigation
TaxSlayer.com is a well-designed site. It's simple, clean, and attractive. The site follows some of the same conventions used by its competitors, but its navigational tools fall short. It uses a question-and-answer format like other tax-prep services do, providing data entry fields and checkboxes in lists to solicit your responses. Then it takes your input and distributes it among the various forms and schedules in your tax return. For some topics, though, you'll have to fill out a form directly on a graphical representation of the real form, like the 1099-R and the W-2.

Like H&R Block At Home Deluxe Online ($20.93 - $40.00, 4 stars), the site doesn't let you advance until you've responded to the text on the current page. Not a problem, because there's no navigational tool to help you jump forward or back. Your only option to return to previously-visited sections is to click on the section tabs and sub-tabs at the top of the page (Basic Information, Federal Section, etc.).

The Back button makes an occasional appearance, but usually your only option is to Continue to Next Step, Delete, or Cancel. Occasionally, there are Yes and No buttons. You'll have to use the Cancel button a lot if you have a habit of trying to switch pages before completing the one you're on, even if you've already entered the correct data and are just revisiting the screen.

The interview process is choppy in some areas?it doesn't always complete every element of a topic smoothly like competitors do. For example, it didn't ask for the names of names of charities when I entered a donation. To provide the required information on larger donations, you have to click on another button in that section.

Like its competitors, TaxSlayer uses what it calls a Guide Me tool that breaks down topics into smaller chunks and helps less-confident taxpayers better understand what's being asked. If you choose to fill in the blanks on your own, you'll get a list of sub-topics for that topic (i.e., Schedule C: Cost of Goods Sold, Car and Truck Expenses) with buttons next to each allowing you to begin or edit that section.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/sq84_nfu_80/0,2817,2380364,00.asp

leymah gbowee austin rivers austin rivers ows kindle fire review community matt schaub