BUSINESS
By Andrew Ratner and Andrew Ratner,SUN STAFF | March 9, 2003
Antonius Kusuma isn't a novice with computers. He maintains them for a living for the brokerage giant Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. So when he popped the tax-preparation software TurboTax into his computer at his Bordentown, N.J., home recently, he expected to complete his federal 2002 return without a problem. Three hours later, he abandoned the effort in exasperation -- and his choice words didn't even include the letters "IRS." "I was not able to activate my TurboTax even though it was the first time I installed it," Kusuma, 37, wrote in a complaint he posted to amazon.
BUSINESS
By Liz Pulliam Weston and Liz Pulliam Weston,SPECIAL TO THE SUN | April 21, 2002
My friend and I each have substantial amounts of cash. My balances are in the five digits, while my friend has more than $100,000. Our problem is that we owe substantial amounts to the IRS and other tax agencies. We want to park this cash someplace where it will be safe and we have access to it, but where the IRS can't find it. Please don't advise me to resolve my tax problems. I tried, and it's impossible! Baloney. Your issues - whatever they are - can be resolved, as soon as you abandon the idea that you can somehow hide your assets from the IRS. Find an attorney who specializes in solving tax problems and hire him or her. Your local bar association can offer referrals.
ENTERTAINMENT
By Michael Stroh and Michael Stroh,Sun Staff | February 14, 2000
So you think you have it bad this tax season? Don't cry on this shoulder, pal. I've had to do my returns three times this year, but such is the life of a software reviewer: Sometimes you play games, sometimes you do your taxes. Again, and again, and again. That's because this year the two heavyweights of personal tax software -- Intuit's TurboTax and Block Financial Corp.'s TaxCut -- finally have some competition. To round out its personal finance titles, Microsoft has launched TaxSaver, a surprisingly robust first effort from a company that usually doesn't get things right until Version 3.0. (Macintosh users still have only Intuit's MacInTax or Block Financial's TaxCut for Mac.)
ENTERTAINMENT
By James Coates and James Coates,Chicago Tribune | October 11, 1999
You'll love the latest version of Quicken. Known as Quicken 2000, the $90 package for Windows 95/98 is designed to take us across the great divide into the millennium with some major and quite appealing enhancements, particularly in the area of personal financial planning for today's bodacious bull market.Added to standard Quicken modules for tracking spending and investments are powerful Internet tools that bring such features as constant stock price updates, the ability to calculate "what if" scenarios about possible stock buys, asset-mix changes and a fascinating net worth module that lets you use Internet databases to find the market value of your home based on comparisons with your neighbors' properties.
BUSINESS
By PETER H. LEWIS | February 8, 1993
Groundhog Day, Tuesday, was also the unofficial start of income tax preparation season.The final versions of the major 1992 federal income tax preparation programs have arrived in the stores. (If the groundhog emerges from his burrow and sees the shadow of an Internal Revenue Service agent, winter will last until April 15.)Just as the groundhog's fame is fleeting (What does he do the other 364 days of the year?) so, too, is the attention brief for personal computer tax programs. Anonymous programmers race all year to add new features to make tax preparation easier, all for a program that has at most 10 weeks of optimum use.As in years past, the choice for most PC owners ultimately comes down to two packages: Turbotax, the perennial best-selling program, and Andrew Tobias' Taxcut, the challenger.
BUSINESS
By Rory J. O'Connor and Rory J. O'Connor,Knight-Ridder News Service | February 16, 1992
If you're tired of breaking pencils and running out of ink on your calculator ribbon at tax time, consider the electronic alternative: tax preparation software for your personal computer.The programs aren't a substitute for professional tax advice, and, although most can churn out a 1040A or a 1040EZ form, the programs aren't going to save too much time for people with simple returns. Instead, they are for taxpayers with modestly complex returns who want to do the job themselves or want to take a first cut at it before visiting their accountant.