Turbo Tax Home & Business 2009 Review

It’s that time of year again! Tax time! Some people do their calculations through splayed fingers, while others like me relish crunching numbers.

I have used TurboTax for the last 5 years, and once I have my paperwork gathered it only takes me about 1-2 hours total to enter everything in, double check all my entries, and file. I always include direct deposit info so our refund automatically goes into our account.

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to have a one hour call with TurboTax to walk me through all the features of Turbo Tax Home and Business. Since last year was my 1st year as a blogger I was nervous about doing my taxes on my own, but with the walk-through, and Turbo Tax Help available any time I needed it I found it easy to complete my taxes with TurboTax.

Some key features that I learned about TurboTax Home and Business 2009 (many of these are new for 2009):

Stimulus credits and deductions: such as energy efficiency credits, homebuyer credit, and more

Maximum Refund: TurboTax guarentees you will get the maximum refund

Live Help: You can find live help anytime via Popular ?s feature, moderators that are available 24/7, and LiveChat help.

Guide Me or Explore on My Own: You can choose to have TurboTax guide you through the process (recommended!), or Explore on your own if you are familiar with the interface and the info you need to enter.

Its Deductible is a unique feature to TurboTax that helps you maximize your charitable donations. One of my favorite features. It’s amazing how much I underestimate the amount of our donated goods.

Error Check: Based on feedback TurboTax now tells you at the end of each section when a field needs to be filled in or i s incorrect.

Bookmark pages: Don’t have your kid’s Social Security #s on hand? Bookmark the page and come back to it later.

To find out what TurboTax edition you should use this page at TurboTax.com. You may also be able to file for FREE on TurboTax, see here for more details.

If you have already filed your taxes, you can check to see when your refund will be available at the IRS’s “Where’s my Refund?” tool.

Kelly

Disclosure: TurboTax gave me a review copy to look at the product. My opinion is my own. I also gave away several copies for my Blogiversary in January. I’m also a guest poster for the TurboTax blog, you can find my post here. This post includes affiliate links.

About Kelly

Kelly Whalen is the founder of The Centsible Life, a blog where motherhood and money meet. Her goal is to help readers live well on less. Kelly is a mom to 4, and loves that she can stay at home with her kids, and still pursue her passions for writing, personal finance, and social media. You can often find her on twitter and Facebook talking money and motherhood.