BenchRacer
02-20-2001, 10:55 AM
From PCworld.com
Bugs and Fixes: Don't Let Bugs Scramble Your Taxes
Benjamin Franklin wrote that nothing is certain in life except death and taxes. If he were around today, Old Ben might add buggy tax software to that list.
The companies behind the two leading tax preparation packages--Intuit, which puts out TurboTax, and Block Financial, publisher of Kiplinger TaxCut--recently posted lists of bugs that you'll want to squash before you file your federal tax forms.
If you use TurboTax, the program may overstate your income, incorrectly depreciate the sale of a business vehicle, or simply make printing errors. Kiplinger TaxCut miscalculates such figures as earned income credits, the child tax credit, and job-related moving expenses.
Both Intuit and Block Financial diligently post fixes and workarounds as soon as they're discovered. Before you whisk off your return to Uncle Sam, get the lowdown on the types of filing situations affected--and the updates themselves--by visiting the Web site of the company whose tax software you use.
A word of warning: Other glitches might surface before the April deadline, so make sure you visit the site again just before you file.
TurboTax users can get full details about the calculation snarls at Intuit's support site (http://intuit.com/support/turbotax/updates/ty2000/ttax_updates_alerts00.html). To use the live update feature when TurboTax is running, select Online, One-click Updates.
TaxCut users can get alerts too. To update the program while you're connected to the Web, open TaxCut and choose Tools, Update TaxCut. http://www.taxcut.com/updates/00fedwinup.html#calc_alerts
Bugs and Fixes: Don't Let Bugs Scramble Your Taxes
Benjamin Franklin wrote that nothing is certain in life except death and taxes. If he were around today, Old Ben might add buggy tax software to that list.
The companies behind the two leading tax preparation packages--Intuit, which puts out TurboTax, and Block Financial, publisher of Kiplinger TaxCut--recently posted lists of bugs that you'll want to squash before you file your federal tax forms.
If you use TurboTax, the program may overstate your income, incorrectly depreciate the sale of a business vehicle, or simply make printing errors. Kiplinger TaxCut miscalculates such figures as earned income credits, the child tax credit, and job-related moving expenses.
Both Intuit and Block Financial diligently post fixes and workarounds as soon as they're discovered. Before you whisk off your return to Uncle Sam, get the lowdown on the types of filing situations affected--and the updates themselves--by visiting the Web site of the company whose tax software you use.
A word of warning: Other glitches might surface before the April deadline, so make sure you visit the site again just before you file.
TurboTax users can get full details about the calculation snarls at Intuit's support site (http://intuit.com/support/turbotax/updates/ty2000/ttax_updates_alerts00.html). To use the live update feature when TurboTax is running, select Online, One-click Updates.
TaxCut users can get alerts too. To update the program while you're connected to the Web, open TaxCut and choose Tools, Update TaxCut. http://www.taxcut.com/updates/00fedwinup.html#calc_alerts