TurboTax

Looking to complete my taxes this week.  In the past I've used TaxAct but had difficulty with it over the weekend.  Many people on the board mentioned TurboTax is a good option for Expats.  Are the any areas I should look out for when filing on TurboTax that might trip me up?

I thought it was quite easy, however I've used the software for many years while in the US.

Turbo Tax has been excellent for me, I've been filing from here in UK for about past 9 years without any problems.  They ask about all the details like foreign income exclusion, tax credits, foreign housing deductions, etc.  Also, they do the TDF 90-22.1 form which is declare foreign bank accounts/assets, etc you own or can sign for.

They've incorporated e-filing just this year for foreign residents however, only a handful of States allow foreign e-filing (I have to file a Virginia return and they don't accept e-filing) so I just decided to file by mail as usual.

We've used Turbotax for years.  I think there is a bug in how they deal with Foreign Tax Credit but after a few hours/days of trial and error, we seem to solve it.  We just fail to record the fix each year, just being relieved to have finished the return, that we go through the same process each year.

My husband uses Turbotax for our taxes and says it works fine. We have a fairly complex tax situation and it takes him a while to complete the program, so I make my excuses and go out to spend any refund we might be expecting!

Hi,

I used to work for the company that makes TurboTax and it is a very well known and solid product in the US. No software is perfect so the thing I'd mention is to definitely call or email into Intuit US for support based on your individual tax affairs/scenario. Over here in the UK, the equivalent program was also well known and used when Intuit owned it (it was sold off in 2005'ish) and on the team were qualified and experienced tax specialists with many years experience between them. I worked in that team as well but in a more technical role so didn't have to delve so deep into the tax knowledge.

I'd also recommend finding a good tax specialist/lawyer in order to best analyse your tax situation so that you can use the program the best way.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Hello,

I think you might find this discussion of the topic relevant - http://bit.ly/RPZbsq. Basically - TurboTax may not be the best tool for preparing expat tax returns, especially when Form 8938 is concerned.

Now - you are certainly welcome to give it a try for yourself. If you would like a professional to analyze what you do, we have a service you might find useful: http://www.taxesforexpats.com/services/check-return.html

In my experience, expat tax self-preparation is similar to advertising - 50% of people who do it, do it correctly. We just don't know which 50%