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H&R Block TaxCut 2008 Premium Federal + State + e-file
From H&R Block
List Price: $49.99
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Customer Reviews

Update issues with Vista for a 2nd year straight
For the second year in a row, TaxCut updates are failing on my Windows Vista machine. I am not the only one to have this problem. Some have blamed Antivirus software:

http://forum.kaspersky.com/index.php?showtopic=60138

But I do not think this is the issue. Last year I had a totally different AV software and I had the same failures.

I have worked out a manual work around, although it is ridiculous. The updater that TaxCut uses seems unable to acquire “create” permissions for its own directories, regardless of the fact that the permissions are set OK. I have verified this by the log files which generate installer error 1321 (The installer has insufficient priveleges…) Apparently, the installer has no problem updating existing files, it just cannot create new ones.

To work around this, do as follows:
- In TaxCut, choose “Update after I close the program”.
- Close TaxCut and when Vista UAC asks permission to run the installer, click “Cancel”.
- Locate the installer (should be in C:\ProgramData\TaxCut\2008\Update)
- Right click the file and choose “Run as administrator”
- When you encounter the first error, note the filename and location
- Go to the Start Menu and find Notepad. Right-click on the program icon and choose “Run as administrator”
- Put some text in the Notepad file. I put ” “.
- Choose “File -> Save As” and save the file with the exact name and path that the installer complained about
- Choose “Retry” or “Continue” in the installer (I can’t remember the exact wording)
- Repeat the last two steps for each file that needs to be created. I think there were 10-20 of them.

Eventually, once you have created all the files, the installer will succeed.

It does not matter what text you put in the file as long as you get the filename and path right. TaxCut will overwrite the file anyway.

This is a ridiculous work around, but I already paid for TaxCut and got a good deal on my AV software because of it. If I can make it through this year, I am going back to TaxAct in 2009.

TaxCut Premium Federal + State + E-file – No change in State e-file
I have been using Taxcut for at least 5-6 years now.

My first comment is in response to all the 1-stars on this product – all of which seem to be complaints about the state e-file charge. As I remember, the state e-file has never been included in the price. Federal e-file is always included but I always have to suck it up and pay for state. I suspect the people with these negative reviews have short memories.

I find it useful that information transfers from year to year with minimal changes. The interface is pretty good – not perfect – I find that little changes from year to year, which makes me wonder why I can’t pay an upgrade charge rather than buying a new product each year.

Otherwise, no big complaints here – software works for me and is cheaper than going to an accountant. Plus, I can take my time and complete the paperwork over a week-or-so rather than trying to pull everything together at once.

One of these days, I will try an accountant to see if they can find any differences; but, I haven’t found the time to try it yet.

Perfect for ex turbotax users
TaxCut is substantially less expensive compared to turbotax; and there are no deceptive practices to deal with such as spyware, “print” charges and new upgrade charges for forms previously included [e.g. TT deluxe does not support Shedule C filers such as 1099 recipients, upgrade to "premier" is required]. TaxCut is a very effective tax preparation software comparable to tt. I give this product a 4 star rating because I prefer the interview questions contained in tt, however, that is the only downside and well worth the satisfaction of firing Intuit for its deceptive practices [again] with turbotax.