Turbo Tax Online vs. Download / CD

Choose the right product to file taxes.

This was my first year filing taxes using the Online product. For many years, I would buy the CD or in recent years, download the software and complete both business and personal returns. What attracted me to try the online version this time was the pricing which was 20-30% lower than the CD/Download product. And via my preferred airline's shopping portal, I would also get 400 miles. I figured I had nothing to lose by going through the wizard as nothing would be charged until I was ready to file. The deal was sealed when TurboTax recognized my Intuit ID so that I was able to log in and I even had the ability to upload last year's personal return done on my computer via the downloaded product. I did not use TurboTax for my business return, as the cost is so much higher for this version, only available as a download, versus the ones for personal returns and I find it pretty easy to just manually fill out the 1120S form from the IRS. But I did use the Premier online edition so that I could bring in investment data from Fidelity. TurboTax made it very simple to suggest this upgrade based on my choices going through the wizard.

I was surprised at how fast the navigation was from section to section in the wizard, very similar to the downloaded product but it just seemed to be a whole lot faster. I was able to switch from section to section very easily and every time, TurboTax was really smart about double-checking with me to make sure that I wasn't missing any possible deductions when completing a section. The only "glitch" and I think this had more to do with Fidelity than with TurboTax, was that the imported stock information was bucketed to the wrong boxes in TurboTax. So, I still had to refer to the paper tax statement from Fidelity to add/change information. E-filing for both federal and state was breeze and worth the money since it didn't take long and I received confirmation from both agencies that my return was accepted (no errors). I think this was the fastest it ever took me to do my taxes and a lot of it had to do with the nice comparison in each section of what amounts I had for last year versus the previous year. Don't get me wrong, the online version is very similar to the downloaded product in many ways; it just seemed a lot faster since I didn't have to download, install program and get updates. 

Now if only TurboTax Business had an online version that would import my data from QuickBooks Online and it was priced lower, I would be golden.

QuickBooks Income Tax Reports And Filtering Options: Target The Right Output

April 15 is getting uncomfortably close.

QuickBooks, of course, can't do your taxes for you. But it helps you lay some of the groundwork. Following up on last month's column on customizing reports, we'll look at the program's tax-related reports and its powerful report-filtering options.

But first, you'll need to make sure that this output will be accurate.

Describe your company accurately

Your

tax entity

setting should have been established when you first set up QuickBooks, but verify that you've specified the correct one. Go to

Company | Company Information

. Your

Report Information

is in the lower left corner. Click the arrow next to

Income Tax For

m

Used

to see what's active.

Figure 1: Make sure that QuickBooks is set up for the correct tax entity.

QuickBooks automatically assigns some of your accounts to their matching lines on the 1040 and assorted forms and schedules; this is called

tax line mapping

. So when you create tax reports, related transactions will be grouped by these designations.

This can be a real time-saver –

as long as you've specified the correct entity.

If:

·

was selected

·

This setting is incorrect

·

You're starting a business and don't know which to choose…

…

please contact us

. If you switch entities, your existing tax line mapping

will disappear and will have to be reassigned.

Dedicated tax reports

Many of QuickBooks' general financial reports provide tax-related information. But there are some that specifically relate to the numbers that will go on your return. Go to

Reports | Accounting & Taxes | Income Tax Preparation

. Here's an excerpt of what you'll see:

Figure 2: QuickBooks automatically assigns many accounts to the appropriate tax form lines, based on your specified tax entity.

Here, QuickBooks shows you which tax lines have been pre-assigned to your accounts.  You

can

specify a tax form line for unassigned accounts, but

this is something you should not attempt on your own.

This report, though, will give you an idea of how useful your report output will be and where you'll need our assistance.

Other reports provide tax-related data. You can access them by going again to

Reports | Accountant & Taxes

and clicking:

·

Income Tax Summary.

This displays totals for each tax line that's relevant to your particular tax entity. Double-click on any number, and the

Tax Line By Account

report appears, detailing every transaction related to every tax-related account (you could add a column for

Tax Line

in

Display

options and make this quite a useful report).

·

Income Tax Detail.

This lists all individual transactions by tax form/schedule line assignment.

Paring it down

Some tax reports can be very lengthy; you may want to filter them to look at various "slices."

Click

Customize Report | Filters

:

Figure 3: This window displays a powerful set of filtering options.

The options listed under

Choose Filter

are available on other reports; they help you set up incredibly complex searches using multiple filters.

Let's say you want a report that displays your installation labor costs on new residential construction from the last year (you could also throw other variables in). You'd simply choose the filters from the left pane and then select related options in the next pane (usually a list). You'd want to also click on the

Display

tab to make sure that the appropriate columns appear.

Figure 4: You can apply multiple filters to your reports.

QuickBooks reports can shave time off of tax preparation, and filtered views help you scrutinize your data in quite creative – and very useful – ways. The program's boilerplate reports have their place in simple examinations of your financial status, but filters are potent tools. They can facilitate the kind of deep analysis that helps you make critical business decisions.

If you have questions on this or any other QuickBooks feature, call or email us. We’re your partner and we’re here to make your business better.