Comment on H&R Block At Home Deluxe + State 2012 [Download] by Ali Julia.
Everything I needed worked well. My pet peeve from past years is fixed,
I’ve used H&R Block’s tax software (formerly called TaxCut) every year since 1995. Several times when I saw a promotional deal I purchased both TaxCut and TurboTax to compare. I found that TurboTax did not do anything better than TaxCut while costing consistently more. In addition, I like the option of being able to file 5 free Federal e-files as I do taxes for other relatives who are less computer savvy.
If you encounter issues with display, such as not seeing selection boxes, check your screen resolution. Both Windows and Mac minimum requirement for the screen resolution is 1024 x 768 pixels or higher. At a lower resolution H&R Block software will have problem with display such as not properly displaying selection boxes. Screen resolution can be changed on your control panel by change PC’s display settings.
I just finished a preliminary tax return and below are my observations. Note: the forms are not final until January 10, 2013.
1. H&R Block starts the interview process with an annoying up-sell pitch, recommending an upgrade from Deluxe to Premium even when it is not necessary.
It would have better if they waited until the financial information is entered and offered the Premium version only to those for whom it might make sense.
What is the difference between Premium and Deluxe? The Premium version offers advanced tools for self-employed and rental property owners: cost basis of home sales, dividents, gifts, and inheritance assets. It has advanced schedule C guidance to maximize deductions for self-employment income. And finally it has guidance for rental property income and expenses. The rest of the Premium package is the same as Deluxe.
Note that the Deluxe package has support for self-employed income as well as stock sale cost basis calculations. This year I had to do both, and I found the guidance to be sufficient to complete the forms.
I am a including a photo (under customer photos) of a table which shows what is included in each package of H&R At Home (Basic vs Deluxe vs Premium).
2. As of 11/19/2012 videos for tax law changes were not available yet (the prompt said coming soon).
3. Minor pet peeve: Help is not context sensitive. For example, when you click on “learn more” about a particular topic the general help window opens but it does not show help topics for the specific topic that you were working on. Instead you need to search and know which words to use locate the relevant topics.
4. Good news: DeductionPro 2012 is now integrated into H&R Block, you no longer need to go to H&R web site.
5. H&R Block provides you some guidance for completing Form 1116 (foreign tax credit, for example from mutual funds). However, you need to keep switching between whole-form view to enter data and then back to interview to read the instructions. Even though the form where you can enter data is visible at the same time as instructions you cannot enter data into it until you switch into whole-form view. This is cumbersome, but at least there is some guidance for this form.
6. Copy and Paste from Interview screens is not possible. Sometimes I wish to do it for some issue as a reminder to myself. My solution is to do PrintScreen (holding ctl key, shift key, and PrintScreen key at the same time). This generates an image of the screen, which I paste into paint or photo editing software which I can print or save for later.
7. I don’t use the default location for the tax returns due to how I set up my backup software. The H&R Block software does not initially remember this new location on the second start of the application, it told me I have no returns. I needed to pick the return manually from the File menu, as it did remember recently used files. The third time I started the software, it finally knew the location of the tax return file.
8. I use large font option on my monitor display and in the past had display issues (some things were displayed on top of each other). This year all forms displayed properly with this option. Nice!
9. I purchased H&R Block Deluxe plus State. This version entitles you to 5 free federal e-files. There is no free e-file for the state return. If you want to e-file you will need to pay a fee of $19.95 to e-file each state return. This charge can be avoided by printing the forms and mailing them in via post office.
SPECIAL NOTE for NY state residents: NY state residents can e-file state returns for free.
10. The price on this package changes day to day. I found a nice tools that shows history of Amazon prices. If you enter “price history alert” in Google it will come up at the top, it has the word camel in the name. I find this tool very helpful. I just looked up that the price last year during the tax preparation season the price hit the $20 mark on three different dates. You can set up an alert tool to email…
Read more
Comments (28)Recent Comments by Ali Julia
Worth It,
I upgraded from a Samsung MX-100…I only use a camcorder occasionally to capture candid moments and family events. So far…completely impressed. I originally was going to get the R300 for $350, but once I found out that Canon ships that camera with the smallest of its 3 batteries (BP-709, BP-718, BP-727) and that other users were getting about 20-30 minutes of video recording with the BP-709, I knew I would have to purchase a second battery. The medium size battery (BP-718) was $75 and the large battery (BP-727) was $110.
Factor a second battery into the equation and your price point is no longer $350, but about $450.
Given that the M500 comes with the medium size battery (BP-718), for an extra $100 it was a no brainer to upgrade from the R300 to the M500. I get incredibly awesome low light performance (the video, at least for someone who just wants to capture occasional indoor scenes, is 1000% usable…very low noise and grain and the colors are true); I get a much better lens and sensor; and I get an shoe accessory (mini).
Also, with respect to the maximum record time on the battery:
I just fully charged my M500, put it in auto mode, set it on the counter and zoomed to the widest setting, then pushed record.
Initially, the M500 display stated I had 1 hour 24 min of battery.
Result, I recorded a full 2 hour and 6 min video clip at full AVCHD MXP quality and the battery displayed 4 min left.
Please note: the zoom never changed, the camera never had to refocus…it was simply stationary on a counter. I would assume constant zooming (and the new IS system having to work) and focusing would decrease the battery life…probably why initially the display stated 1 hour and 24 minutes because it included those factors in its estimated battery life.
Also…you can turn the camera on, push record, then close the LCD screen into the camera (as if you are going to storing it) and the camera keeps recording. The purposes of recording this way are limited, but it is an option, which I would assume would let you record way more than 2 hours and 6 min.
