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The attached photo shows the group from the Feb 10 Computer Club presentation on Intuit's TurboTax.
This group could probably best be described as an "intimate" group.
But once again Jeff Breon -- the presenter -- demonstrated his ability to both clearly present complicated information , AND make it interesting.
Susquehanna SeniorNet wishes to Thank Jeff for taking time out of his busy personal schedule to organize this presentation, and regrets we did not have more attenders to benefit from all his efforts.
Network Challenges ~~~~~~
Jeff was additionally challenged by the Library's "hit and miss" internet connection -- which when used with an encryped web page (the https: secure connection type), causes you to be completely disconnected from the TurboTax page. This situation resulted in Jeff having to re-login about four different times.
{{Jeff noted that with an non-encrypted web page, you have the option to just sit there and stare at the "spinning wheel", and wait until the data starts flowing again. But with an encrypted connection, the connection "times out", and you completely lose your connection -- which is what was happening with the TurboTax web page. Rudy Wacek remarked, "Now you can see what we have to put up with every week, when we're trying to conduct the Internet Class".}}
Note that if you're running this program on your own computer at home, you should not encounter these network problems.
Different TurboTax Versions Available ~~~~~~
Jeff demonstrated the free version of Intuit's TurboTax, that you can run right from their website. All the data is stored on Intuit's computers. Jeff noted that the free version does NOT do the Pa state tax, but you can use the Pennsylvania Government's tax page to do the state tax, as long as your return is not too complicated. Jeff also demonstrated this Pennsylvania page.
Intuit also offers several upgrade versions at varying costs. Jeff said there is a $30 version gives you the same results, but has a slightly more straight-forward interface. But Jeff noted that the free version gives the same results. Jeff also said there is a $15 version, that is almost the same as the free version, but also calculates your percentage odds of being audited.
Jeff WARNED US that once you click the button to use any of the "paid" versions, you can never go backward to the free version. I.e. your data is forever trapped in the paid version. He said, for this reason, to be very cautious about selecting any of the options, that cause you to be "upgraded" to a paid version.
The Deluxe Version ~~~~~~
Jeff also noted there is also a $90 version which will do the Pa state taxes. Someone with a lot of stock transactions might want this version. For someone with a lot of stocks, there is an option to automatically download data from your stock brokers directly to Intuit, which saves you the trouble of typing-in all the stock data manually. (I think this version comes in a box, on a CD, and you install it on your computer, rather than running from the web page.)
Rudy Wacek mentioned that he had obtained the $90 version, but not for $90. He said he did some searching on the Internet, and using the PriceGrabber.com "shopping bot", he was able to find it for about $50 -- far lower than at any of the "brick and mortar" stores, or other online sources, that he also had checked.
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Thanks. - Jim Ingram VMS/Land 570.322.7597
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