
100% Accurate Calculations Guarantee: If you pay an IRS or state penalty or interest because. (The average refund as of April 3 is $2,815. Both programs generated a $574 federal tax refund for this couple. While the prices for the software were different, the federal tax refunds produced were the same. The couple had $8,000 in child-care expenses for their two children and made $12,000 in charitable contributions. They had paid $10,000 in property taxes and $15,000 in mortgage interest on their main house and second home. One spouse earned $160,000 and the other earned an income of $100,000, and they both made an additional $25,000 in income from renting their second home. The test couple was well off and generous. TurboTax charges $39.99 per state for its software and TaxCut charges four cents less, $39.95 per state. ) Versions of the software that let users file state tax returns can add to tax prep costs. ( Fidelity and Vanguard customers and AAA members can get up to $20 off the list price of TurboTax products by going to those sites. TurboTax Deluxe retails on its website for $54.99 and TaxCut Deluxe costs $54.95 on H&R Block's website, but you can buy TaxCut Deluxe for more than $20 less than TurboTax Deluxe at Amazon and other online retailers. We used the deluxe versions of Intuit's TurboTax and H&R Block's TaxCut for the PC.
But to see how the programs handled more complex returns, we filed federal tax returns for a hypothetical couple of high-earners with two children. TurboTax and TaxCut offer free versions of their software for taxpayers who have simple returns and don't itemize deductions.