TurboTax Archives - 2009 Taxes to 2024 Taxes

Turbotax Max Benefits

MAX is an optional add-on package for paid versions of TurboTax Online that offers a variety of benefits and personalized assistance after you file your taxes. Turbotax MAX benefits include Live Review, where a certified tax expert reviews your return and answers your questions about it or anything else related to taxes. You can also get detailed guidance from our CPA on how to maximize your tax savings with personalized advice based on your unique situation.

Audit Protection

Protect yourself from potential audits by the IRS. During tax time, TurboTax provides you with a dedicated expert who will represent you and communicate with the IRS on your behalf. With audit representation included with TurboTax, you can rest easy knowing your taxes are in good hands.

Identity Proof

Protect your identity and get help fast if it’s ever stolen with the maximum benefits of full identity restoration. If you or your taxes are ever the victim of identity fraud, we’re here to help. Max Identity Protection covers both the primary and secondary filer, their spouses and dependents in addition to other tax-related services like live tax advice from our experts.

Identity Monitor

With TurboTax Max’s Identity Theft Monitoring, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that if suspicious activity involving your personal identity is detected online, you’ll be notified right away, and a Dedicated Restoration Specialist will be able to assist you in responding quickly to protect your identity. Monitoring covers both the primary and secondary filer (if filing jointly).

Now you can receive alerts to help protect your identity and safeguard your file. If suspicious activity related to your personal identity is detected online, you’ll be notified promptly and a Dedicated Restoration Specialist can help you quickly react to restore your identity.

Theft Insurance

Identity theft is one of the country’s fastest-growing crimes. Protect yourself and your family from it with our Identity Theft Insurance, which reimburses you for stolen funds and pays for legal fees and expenses caused by identity theft. Both the primary and secondary filer are covered if you file jointly.

TurboTax Max Protection keeps you covered with identity theft insurance and gives you peace of mind while you file your taxes. You’re covered if someone steals your identity and files fraudulent tax returns or uses your personal information to commit other financial crimes. You can recover stolen funds and pay for legal fees and expenses.

TurboTax MAX Top Care

Priority Care is an exclusive benefit for customers who file a federal return through the TurboTax desktop product. If you need help with your taxes, TurboTax will connect you to a TurboTax product specialist by phone or video chat. They will draw on your screen to explain how to handle issues that come up while you’re filing.

2022 Step by Step EASY TurboTax Tutorial: How To File Your Own Taxes This Year!

Do You Qualify For An Obamacare Penalty Exemption?

TurboTax: Around 70 percent of uninsured Americans requested to be exempted from getting Obamacare insurance, getting an Obamacare Penalty Exemption.

According to TurboTax, a majority of Americans are not paying the tax penalties that are mandated for refusing Obamacare health insurance. It appears that the Obama administration still has plenty of problems when it comes to Obamacare.

TurboTax claims that 70 percent of its customers express that all Obamacare healthcare plans cost too much. This is even for the least expensive ones. As a result, they file their taxes and take advantage of a financial burden exemption offered by the IRS. This means that they refuse Obamacare health coverage.

Claiming the Obamacare Penalty Exemption

Some claimed Obamacare penalty exemption because of other reasons. For instance, they were evicted, had a death in the family or endured some other type of hardship that caused them them to deny Obamacare coverage. The number of Obamacare exemptions for this year is the same as that of the 2014 tax season. The 2014 tax season was the first time that taxpayers were subjected to Obamacare penalties.

In addition, the Health and Human Services Department released a report that claims that Obama’s administration got 18 warnings or complaints about HealthCare.gov. Supposedly, the website was a total failure when Americans used it for the first time in October 2013.

The biggest complaint was that the site was disorganized, and that the decision making process was less than successful. Instructions were unclear, and no one anticipated the large number of problems associated with Obamacare.

The Obamacare website is working fine these days, but Americans are still not knowledgeable about its mandates and penalties. This is beginning to negatively impact a lot of people.

The penalty for denying Obamacare coverage increased from $95 in 2014 to $325 in 2015. This can also be calculated to be one percent of your income in 2014 or two percent in 2015.

For anyone who has unpaid penalties in 2015, the penalty will increase to $695 or 2.5 percent of their income during the next tax season, if they fail to have healthcare coverage.

However, there are those that will qualify for an Obamacare exemption due to the following:

They are in prison.
They are illegal immigrants.
They have insurance via a religious ministry.
They can claim hardship exemptions due to things such as domestic violence.
They have a low income

According to the IRS, last year there were about 300,000 people who paid a penalty for not having insurance, but they met the requirements to get an Obamacare exemption. These penalties are more than likely to double during the upcoming tax season. This is why TurboTax recommends that you should determine if you quality for an Obamacare extension this tax season.

Minnesota Republican Governor Decries Obamacare

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton refuses to continue to defend Barack Obama’s health care plan in the future. This is curious because of the fact that he is a Democrat. He has gone as far as to say that the Affordable Care Act is not affordable. This comments didn’t just come out of nowhere. They came on the heels of residents of his state’s premiums doubling in the last year.

The ACA has caused many different insurance providers to withdraw from the market. Many large companies have claimed that they are losing a lot of money by participating in Obamacare. If too many of these big companies exit the market the law itself could be deemed ineffective and changed. Some of the more notable companies that have opted out are Blue Cross, UnitedHealth, and Aetna.

At first, mostly Republicans were critical of Obamacare. Some Democrats have taken up against it more recently. Former president Bill Clinton has been quoted as saying that it is the “craziest plan in the world.”

Critics of the plan think that older people should be able to buy into public options. The most common public option is Medicare. Clinton also thinks that people should be able to opt into Medicare at a younger age.

Claims that TurboTax Fraud May also Affect Federal Returns

Now that the tax season is here, the fears about TurboTax fraud is more punctuated than ever before. Taxpayers were shocked when they heard about TurboTax suspending state tax filings over fraud concerns. Imagine getting the news that someone else filed your tax returns and claimed your hefty tax refund. Fortunately, this problem only affected the state filings, not federal taxes.

Well, this has changed. The details may be sketchy, but the FBI is now investigating claims that federal tax returns may also be affected by this fraud, putting your tax refund in jeopardy. The bureau interviewed taxpayers who claimed that IRS data was compromised, leaving room for fraudulent activities.

Imagine getting a message from the IRS acknowledging receipt of your federal returns even before you do your taxes. Given that all tax filings are done electronically, fraud has become a big threat.

While TurboTax 2015 free version allows taxpayers to make free tax filings, a rival, H&R Block, took advantage of the fraud cases surrounding TurboTax to attract taxpayers who did not want to fall victim to identity theft, among other types of fraudulent activities.

However, it is important to note that no system is perfect, especially when you consider the fact that both the IRS and most states had already put in place sophisticated systems to detect and help prevent theft.

The Rising Demand For TurboTax Software

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TurboTax Software Demand Increases Intuit Profit

Intuit Incorporated announced a twenty percent rise in quarterly profits, as demand for their TurboTax Software grows. However,the firm appeared to show a loss on it’s fourth-quarter profit income and profit outlook. Intuit states it expects an overall loss of ten to twelve cents a share on an estimated income of between $683 million to $713 million for the fourth quarter.

The company initially forecast an estimated loss of between two and four cents a share on an income between $710 million to $720 million.

The company is based in Mountain View, California and the majority of its revenue is earned in the second and third quarters, when people invest in TurboTax Software during the run-up to the tax season.

The tax-filing season was later this year, hence the demand for TurboTax Software was delayed. Intuit relied on the third quarter to boost their yearly income.

Intuit’s net income amounted to $984 million or $3.39 a share, during the third quarter ending April 30, in comparison to $822 million and $2.71 a share in the previous financial year. Overall, income rose by around fourteen percent to $2.39 billion.

The company announced TurboTax Software sales were up, as many citizens opted to file TurboTax online.

Easy Online Tax Filing With Free Turbo Tax 2013 Software

Need Free Tax Filing? Choose Turbo Tax Free File For Your Tax Returns

Filing your taxes over the internet can be tedious. However, Turbo Tax Free file enables you to do your taxes absolutely free over the internet. It is equipped with tons of features that will make you go through the process easily either from your house or office. Moreover, it is ideal for businesses, professionals and even those who are self-employed. Each user can file for their simple tax returns and it avails form 1040EZ that you can fill based on your marital status and availability of dependents. Although the free version can help you, it, may not be able to handle emerging complexities in the process making it important to invest in the paid version of the software.

As much as the free online version may not offer you all the exquisite features that you need, you are guaranteed of around the clock customer support. You can reach the department through a dedicated chat platform or make a call in order to talk to an agent who will be able to serve you and resolve your problem. Moreover, there is an online community where you can post your queries and receive answers that you seek. In fact, this forum even allows you to scroll through posts by other users; you can be lucky to find someone who had the same problem as yours, with replies of course.

How to Access Turbo Tax Free
To be able to access Turbo Tax Free, you have to create an account from the Turbo Tax website. Once the account is generated, you can then sign in. The software is only one step away from you. Due to the simplicity of the application’s interface, you do not have to be computer savvy to be able to use it. Furthermore, you can browse through all the sections systematically through very easy to follow steps. Each section comprises of a few questions whose answers are the building blocks of your tax returns and contains definitions of terminologies that may be a little difficult to comprehend. One main feature of Turbo Tax Free file for your taxes is the ability to import data from various sources. This eliminates the tedious data entry work. Upon completion of all the sections, the last page will reveal to you the amount of money you are entitled to as your refund. From there, you can choose to complete the process and file your returns or save what you have prepared so that you can finish at a later time. Federal filling may be free, but you will incur some charges for the state returns.

Day 56 - Tax Time — Day 56 – Tax Time (Photo credit: absoblogginlutely)

Other Key Features of Turbo Tax Free
Whenever you have a refund, Turbo Tax Free enables you to choose a bank product. For example, if you have a state tax return of $500, you can choose a bank product that suits you. This way, the process is transparent. Nevertheless, it is critical to understand that any bank product will have processing and handling charges from the bank. Therefore, deductions will be made for the bank charges and the application process. You can decide to collect the remaining amount through check, direct deposit or a prepaid Visa card.

Turbo Tax Free offers you precise calculations and smart scans for error detection. Furthermore, you are assured of compensation in case of any errors. Lastly, your transaction is always safe with Turbo Tax Free file for your taxes.

TurboTax ItsDeductible Is Going Mobile

On December 3, 2013, Intuit Inc announced that its’ new TurboTax ItsDeductible app for iPhone had become available. This app is aimed at helping the estimated seventy-five percent of US citizens who donate to charity, convert their goodwill into sizable tax deductions. This app is free of charge and offered on the iPhone with iOS7 app store.

The Turbo Tax online program itself is very popular. When combined with the portability and convenience of a mobile device, the TurboTax ItsDeductible app allows people to easily monitor their charitable donations. This app features valuations for over ten thousand commonly donated items, like toys, clothing, sporting goods, games, appliances, household products and more.

Although most taxpayers are aware that non cash donations might be tax deductible, they do not always value the goods they donate to charity correctly. Usually, this is because they have just guessed the value randomly. For example, sometimes, bags of clothes are donated with $50.00 valuations, when the real value is over $300.00.

Prior to leaving a donation facility, people can easily and quickly input their donated goods into TurboTax ItsDeductible. Then, the app will automatically make a fair market valuation, based on guidelines by the Internal Revenue Service. This ensures that users receive the full deductions they are entitled to on their tax returns. The app uses location sensitive technology to quickly capture the address of the charity, for tax record keeping. All philanthropists should monitor their donations with this app, to be properly rewarded for their generosity.