Easier this year than last years when it comes to Federal and state comingled deductions. I live in the state of Iowa and found that I had to do quite a few forms. This time I just entered what I had and only had to do one form on the state side (vehicle taxes) and it was entered to my federal side once I entered the state numbers. Much better!! Now if they can get rid of all the forms and just use the data, I'll give them 5 stars!!
I've used H&R Block software to prepare my Federal and State tax returns since 2012. I have always found the program to be easy to use, accurate and complete.
Pros: Easy to prepare, Maximizes refund, Easy to import documents, Fast
Royalty income on the Sch E is a mess. I worked for 18 years as a tax preparer so pretty well know what I am doing. Had to take a calculator, add all the royalties by hand and plug them in as one item even though they were from 4 different companies.
Year to year data compare report does a poor job matching and especially poor when one year has additional entries. Interview questions can be confusing or misleading unless you view actual forms. Printing is not very intelligent when attempting to print all forms to be filed in one submission with 2 sided printing. Output should print first page of forms on front of the printed page. Not able to deselect instruction pages when selections forms for filing to be printed. Lacks a tool to plan for next years taxes and withholdings. Product is could be priced a bit lower given some of the shortcomings.
Pros: Easy to prepare
Cons: Doesn't maximize refund, Hard to import documents