expired Posted by Red_Liz | Staff • Nov 29, 2023
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expired Posted by Red_Liz | Staff • Nov 29, 2023
H&R Block 2023 Deluxe + State Tax (PC Digital) + $20 eGift Card (Select Stores)
$38
$60
36% offNewegg
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This is a silly "deal" for a net $20 cost assuming GC=Cash. I just bought from Amazon for $25 last week and had some digital credits bringing it down to under $20 and be done with deal hunting for a better deal which this isnt one...
Shahhere
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Original person was saying (poorly worded) that the merchant should sell the gift cards themselves and sell the software to us for the listed price (minus the value of the gift cards). Which is just dumb because obviously they are compensating the discount they are offering by giving promotional gift cards (that they are able to get at a discount, increasing their margins on the discount they gave).
But everyone is (rightfully so) thinking they are saying to buy this and sell the software and keep the gift cards. Something we would have the power to do, but which there is literally advantage in doing.
First time I read it, I was in the 2nd camp, thinking it made absolutely no sense. Then I reread it and realized they at least kinda have a point, it's just not one based in reality.
Still amazing that that post is top thumbs in the thread. #Merica
Last year was no exception. I got the free version of TT Premier from Fidelity but had already paid for H&R Block via SD deal. There was a discrepancy at first in how I reported my backdoor Roth IRA contribution due to language of TT being less explicit than H&R Block for the conversion (got confused with rollover language- was my bad). But once I entered correctly in TT, both ended up exactly the same.
I'd bet that outside of update timing issues (shouldn't be an issue if you don't file before say mid-February when all forms are final), and user input errors, that's 99% the typical experience. The marketing of one of them being able to get you a bigger refund is overblown in my experience. They rarely miss deductions/credits outside of extremely rare cases at this stage of maturity of their products. Maybe in a year when there are significant changes to tax laws, you could see more differences but for 2023 I doubt it.
The only exception in my experience is Cash App which was wholly inadequate for handling my tax return last year. Credit Karma tax was borderline but decent for its costs before but its transition to Cash App made it a lot worse in my specific experience.
I used TaxAct for a decade, H&R Block for the past four years and TurboTax twice from a friend to test it. Here's my take....they all spit out the same number. If not, then user error of missing a question or checkbox somewhere. If anyone tried two, like one user, and got two different numbers, curiosity would make you look at what caused the difference on the actual forms to spot WHERE which leads to WHY it's different and find where in the Q&A wizard to correct it. When switching to HR Block initially, for example, I missed a checkbox that one of my investments were non-taxed. This is another reason to stick to one software as you'll fly through it knowing the usual things to check off.
To me HR Block and TaxAct looks and behave very similar. This made it quite easy for me to switch when TaxAct nearly 2x-3x up their price as they came popular.
TurboTax looks nicer designed. But that's it, and why pay over 2x the price for a software you'll use for an hour or two only and then delete. You're temporarily renting these softwares. If tax software was buy once use every year, I would say sure go with TurboTax, but this an annual costs and you're on SD so it's not even a consideration.
Given you'll need to buy this annually, go with one as it makes it easy to import previous years taxes to avoid re-entering you and your family's names, address, employer's info, bank info, investment info, etc. Of course some you can import other brands, but stick to one and for me that's HR Block as it can be purchased for under $20 each year easily.
Also some states, like NY, has free e-filing the state returns. And if you reallly want to avoid paying for e-filing fees, consider taking the numbers from the software and manually filling it out onto your states PDF to mail in. NY's fillable PDF even does the math and lookup for you. One last bonus tip if you made it this far, this is a digital product so shipping address doesn't matter so a tax-free state provide an extra saving.
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