Hey guys, it's Robert from the College Investor here and I am excited to dive into Turbo Tax
2017. We are going to dive in and do a mock tax return today and talk about a little bit
about Turbo Tax and why we like it so much. Honestly, Turbo Tax is always a standout when
it comes to tax filing software, and this year is no different. The big thing with Turbo
Tax though, is that if you qualify for the free version, they do put some limitations
on what you can do and that's the only reason why we actually rank Turbo Tax as our number
two favorite tax software this year. H & R Block does edge them out and you can read,
or see more about that, read more about that in our H & R Block video and our H & R Block
review, but we're talking about Turbo Tax today and how awesome it is.
Here we are on their home screen, and you can see that Turbo Tax has four different
versions. They have their Absolute Zero version right here, which, honestly, is free, but
it's for simple returns so 1040EZ or 1040A. Where people get into problems with this Absolute
Zero addition is a lot of low-income filers might qualify for the earned income tax credit,
child care tax credit, things like that, you're going to have to move to this Deluxe version
to get deductions and credits. You're not going to get that in the Absolute Zero version.
You can see your prices start moving up. Now if you have any investments or rental
property, you're going to be needing to use the Premiere version, and if you're self-employed,
or a side hustler, freelancers, small business owners, independent contractors, you need
to use this Self-employed version. Now as you can see, I've been to the Turbo Tax website
a couple times, so I'm getting a discounted price showing on my screen here. If you go
to the link below the video here or if you're watching this on my review page, we have a
link to a special. Amazon always runs a special every year, and honestly, I think the Amazon
pricing is usually the best, but Turbo Tax does run sales and stuff, so keep that in
mind that you might get a better deal not coming directly to their website.
How do you get started? How does it look this year? Let's dive in and file our taxes for
free. I've used Turbo Tax, I'm going to come in, I'm going to login, it's going to just
ask me for all my stuff here, let's sign in. Boom. Super easy, it's going to pull all my
information up, and let's get to know me. Who am I going to be this year? Man, I always
like making a fun name. I want to be John Wick, because I just watched John Wick and
it's a pretty cool movie. All right, I'm going to be a New Year's baby, and I live in 1902.
Great to meet you, John. Boom. How do you feel about doing your taxes? I feel good,
but I've done this a few times. The cool thing I like about Turbo Tax every year is that
they make their interfaces cute, but also really easy to navigate.
Should I be single or should I be married this year? I am going to be single just to
keep it ... It's complicated. Got it. Later in the personal information we'll gather more
details. That's cool. All right, I'm just going to be single though. I am a ... I do
have children. I've owned a home. We're going to go for that. Then I had a job, I paid student
loan interest, I paid vehicle registration fees, I made donations to charity, and I had
a bank account interest. Why not? Cool. There's some information about me. Let's rock and
roll. Loading. Loading. Loading. All right. Cool. Let's run through, get some personal
information here, John Wick we're going to make ... It might get mad. Yeah, it always
gets mad, it's like they know. I'm just going to still making that one up. They might get
mad. Occupation? Amazing person. All right. Am
I a member of the armed services? No. I lived in California? Yes. Then they just have a
couple random questions here that are slightly out of the screen, but nothing out of the
ordinary. It asks if I am preparing this on John's behalf, because he died. He did not
die, he's right here. Yes, I have children to support. My child. I'm going to call this
Jane Wick. Why not? She was born on New Year's day this year. Why not? Boom. My daughter
and there we go. Boom. How many months did Jane live with me? The whole year. [inaudible
00:05:09] US. Do any of these apply? No. Okay, we know Jane is a baby, but we have to ask,
did she pay for most of her living expenses? No. Do you have an agreement with Jane's other
parents? No. Where did Jane did spend most of its time? My home. No, I'm not letting
her other parents claim her. No, no other relative didn't live in my home.
All right. Jane qualifies me for a tax break. Cool. What's Jane social? There we go. Cool.
There we go. It's entering my mailing address, 1555 [Wilsonian 00:16:15] Diego Avenue. Perfect.
That's great. No, I did not make money in any other states. Did you pay more than half
the cost to keep your home? Yes, I did pay half the cost to keep my home. I'm going to
be a head of household this year. See, this is what I like, this software picks it out
for you based on all your different things. If you go to some of the other tax software
options, you have to pick whether you're single or head of household, and you might not know.
Turbo Tax really does make it easy to do this. They do have these up-sales, you could speak
with somebody and you can pay for things. We're not going to do it, we're just going
to keep with the free addition. Let's just get going here so you can see what
it looks like. No, no, no. We'll start my W-2. Working on my W-2's. You can import on
Turbo Tax, which is super easy, which is awesome, but I don't have an import because I'm just
making this up as we go. My employer name is Super Awesome Company, and they're going
to be at 500 San Diego Avenue, San Diego, California, 911 ... All right. Then how much
did I make in wages? Always a good question. I made 62714. Why not? My federal tax withheld
was do, do do. I paid 10126 and then 62714, and social security tax withheld is ... Man,
I should have planned this out a little better when I started prepping. We're going to do
5461, I'm going to carry 62714. We're going to do 2229. Boom. They're going to get mad
at me because something's probably wrong here. State wages is going to be 62714, and how
much do we pay in state tax? 3397. Perfect. Great. I get a refund of 5,000 bucks so far.
388 ... All right. Now I'll have Turbo Tax fixes it for me. Medicare. All right. Do I
have any of these uncommon situations? No. None of these. Cool. Glad we got that fixed.
Do I have another W-2 to enter? No. Done. Then I'm going to say I got some interest.
Did you receive any interest income? Yes. You can connect your banks here, which is
super awesome. I'm just going to do USAA. All right. I'm going to type it in myself.
I'm going to receive from USAA and I'm going to say I received $102 in interest. Why not?
None of these situations apply. Did you have any interest from a bank or brokerage? No.
Done. Wrap up income. Do you own or control a foreign bank? I don't. All right, let's
dig into my tax breaks, see if I get saved. Did I have any medical expense deductions,
tax preparation fees? I did not, but you could deduct your tax preparation fees if you need
to. Now, it's time for the fun part. Did I pay any mortgage interest? Yes, I did. Yes,
I did pay on a home loan. I'm going to say Wells Fargo. And I co-own this loan with somebody
else? None of these apply. How much mortgage interest did I pay? $8,800. How much property
tax did I pay? $6,200. Perfect. Nope. Great. I get to save even more money, I think, maybe.
Yep. Bam. Look at my refund going up there. Property taxes, this needs review. Okay. Congratulations,
you get a tax break. Okay. I get 1,000 bucks there. Donations to charity? I did donate.
Who did you donate to? I'm going to say Red Cross. I gave $20. Done. I wonder what that
changes? Okay. Gave me another dollar off my taxes. That's great.
Car registration fees? I did pay a car registration fee. I don't have a car anymore. Acura TL.
I paid $158. I'm at 6352. My $158 raises that to 6375. I made another 25 bucks. All right.
Student loan interest. Did I make my student loan interest? Yes. My name of my lender?
Who should my lender be? We'll say Navient because no one likes Navient right now. I
paid them $1,200 in interest. Perfect. That's going to jack my refund up too. Bam. Look
at that thing go up. All right. I am done. Wrap up tax breaks. Continue. They're checking,
checking, checking for every possible tax break. No, I didn't pay for any child care.
Let's find out if for the future ... No, I'm not going to do that. That seems like a lot.
All right. Here's where they get you. This is what I
want to show you guys. If your current refund with the standard deduction would be 5167,
but if you itemize with Turbo Tax Deluxe, you go up to 6555, so, of course, I want to
get a bigger tax refund, but they charge you. I have to upgrade to Deluxe if I want to get
my tax refund and do everything the right way on here. That's what my big drawback is
with Turbo Tax and why H & R Block is our current favorite this year because they allow
a lot of these deductions and tax credits to take place on their free version, so keep
that in mind. Yes, I was covered. Let me just finish this up. No. No. No. I was not. Cool.
Other tax situations, I shouldn't have any of this stuff. I'm just going to be done with
other. All right, now we can skip AMT. Then we're pretty much done. We just go right into
the state. It transfers everything over, and we're pretty much done.
Yes, I filed in California. No, a different name was not used last year. Did you make
a tax payment? No. No. Continue. All right. Anything special? Nothing really. Did you
pay rent for at least ... Nope. No. No. Skip that. Continue. Nope, I don't. Cool. Done.
Done. All right. Let's check it over. Cool. We're just a little early. You can start e-filing
here at the beginning of January. You can see how quick and easy Turbo Tax is. They
make this thing really easy to file. They make it super easy to figure out what you
need. The big drawback though, is that pricing of the free plan to the Deluxe plan. Now,
is it super expensive on their Deluxe? No, but it's more expensive than other options
for the same prices and it just really grinds my gears that they don't have as much free
stuff as they should and H & R Block online does.
If you have your choice between the two and you're not sold on one, and you're on a free
file, take advantage of H & R Block's free filing, zero dollar returns. Turbo Tax is
great. They have the best interface. They make their tax filing super easy, so we do
love them. They're our number two favorite, but you will get more value of free on H & R
Block for your taxes this year. All right. I hope you found that valuable. Please leave
a comment, subscribe to my YouTube channel, or leave a comment on the review, if you're
reading this on the blog, let us know your thoughts. All right, guys. Thank you very
much.