TurboTax Online Vs. TurboTax Desktop: What Are the Differences?
Preparing tax returns at home typically means purchasing a CD-ROM from a retail store or downloading the software directly. TurboTax, a leading provider of tax preparation software, also offers an online product that could make doing your tax returns even easier than before. There are some notable differences between TurboTax Online and TurboTax Desktop that must be considered, though.
TurboTax Online Doesn't Take up Valuable Disk Space
TurboTax Desktop software is installed on your computer's hard drive, but TurboTax Online is accessible from any computer with Internet access. No installation is necessary and you always have access to the most up-to-date version of the software. TurboTax Online also stores your tax return securely on the TurboTax servers and allows access to those records anytime. TurboTax Desktop, on the other hand, requires you to save those returns on your computer or an external hard drive.
Importing Financial Information
While TurboTax Online easily imports tax data from a previous version of TurboTax, the Desktop product can import financial information from such competing tax preparation programs as TaxCut and TaxAct. TurboTax Desktop also imports financial data from applications (Microsoft Money, QuickBooks, etc.) that create data files with an extension of ".txf", but TurboTax Online's import capabilities are limited to Quicken 2007, 2008 and 2009 and the program called ItsDeductible.
E-Filing and Printing
While both TurboTax products allow you to print multiple copies of your return, TurboTax Online offers unlimited e-filing of your tax returns while TurboTax Desktop offers only five. Both do offer the option of filing up to three state returns with each federal return, but TurboTax Desktop requires payment for each state filed; the cost of e-filing is included with the purchase of TurboTax Online.
Don't Pay Until You're Satisfied
Unlike TurboTax Desktop, TurboTax Online doesn't cost anything until you are happy with your tax return and ready to electronically file it. This gives you a chance to try all the online versions to find the right one for your tax needs.
As you can see, there are some important differences between TurboTax Desktop and TurboTax Online, so it's a good idea to take some time and take the online product for a free test drive to ensure that it meets all your financial needs.