It’s downright spooky. A miniaturized Marshall Loeb is talking to me from my computer, offering tax tips. He is very patient. So is tax expert Mary Sprouse. They are in there, like the boy and his dog who lived in a shoe.
They do not scold or cajole. But I do wish they exhibited more humor.
I have loaded the Turbo-Tax Deluxe CD-rom onto my computer, surrendered in excess of 20 megabytes of storage space, and started a dry run on my 1996 tax return by plugging in the numbers from my 1995 return.
Two hours and six minutes later, pages of a fresh return are rolling out of the printer. Marshall and Mary are still willing to talk to me, my blood pressure appears to be normal, and I am wondering if I should buy shares of Intuit. The company, in addition to being the source of this lovely example of multi-media programming, is also responsible for the Cult of Quicken, the personal finance program that will run your entire life. ( Last year I proposed to my editors that I do a column based on the Top Ten Restaurants Quicken would find in my itemized charge card purchases but they declined, not wanting to reveal my obsessive nature.)
Maybe at the same time, I muse, it would be a good idea to short H&R Block, the tax preparation people. The Age of Accountant in a Box has arrived. Active computer users can say goodbye to their accountants, watching them dematerialize with travel agents who have been supplanted by interactive web sites.
In those two hours we ( definitely a “we”) have completed the front two pages of the form 1040 return, the ones that summarize everything and tell you how much you owe or will get back; schedule A for itemized deductions; schedule B for interest and dividend income; schedule C for my income from syndication and speaking; schedule D for capital gains and losses; Schedule E for an inactive sub-chapter S corporation that I keep forgetting to bury; a schedule SE for self-employment, necessitated by the schedule C; a form 8283 for non cash Charitable Contributions to support the itemized deductions on Schedule B; and a form 4562 for Depreciation and Amortization, also to support the schedule C. Since this is a joint return the program has recorded our names, Social Security numbers, W-2 form contents, and all the other pieces of information that go into the final computation of how much is owed. Yes, I wrote all that with a big smile on my face.
That’s right. Two hours and the whole thing is linked, plugged together, computed and ready to print… If you’ve ever sat speechless in frustration, rendered impotent by the implacable literal mindedness of IRS literature, forms, and personnel, this program could save your mind, your life… and the lives of your innocent victims.
The process would be a lot shorter for someone who didn’t have a small business and didn’t have any taxable investments, provided only that their financial life was organized beyond the level of an annually emptied shoe box of receipts and papers. As it is, the time required will probably be cut in half on the next go-round.
Does all this mean you should say goodbye to your accountant?
Give it serious thought, but look before you jump. Here’s my list of non-candidates and candidates:
Basket Cases. If you are among the multitudes who are still allergic to computers and stumble from year to year carrying plastic bags filled with important pieces of paper, Turbotax won’t help you because you’ll never get beyond GIGO— “garbage in, garbage out.” Take your plastic bags to an accountant and beg for mercy.
Fast Trackers. If you spend your life counting Aadvantage miles and wondering if your cell phone bill will be over $500 this month, you haven’t got time to do this and it’s basically against the grain of your character. Have one of your people do it.
Worry Warts. I have known for years that by the time I gather all the information and fill out the multi-page questionaire from my accountant, I might as well do the return myself. But I don’t do it because I crave my accountants approval. I also hunger for his signature on my return, believing it will reduce chances of audit. Better still, I know that if I am audited, I can pay him to go and represent me. Marshall and Mary aren’t available.
TMO Members. You ARE a candidate for Turbo-Tax or one of its competitors if your accountant treats you like a cipher in a Tax Maintenance Organization and your only contact is through an automated process. Sadly, many accountants are putting themselves in line for such obsolescence.
Bottom Line: With TurboTax Deluxe from Intuit, tax software has come of age. If you own a computer with CD rom, sound card, and speakers, it’s worth the $50 street price ( before $10 rebate) just to see if you like it.
This information is distributed for education purposes, and it is not to be construed as an offer, solicitation, recommendation, or endorsement of any particular security, product, or service.
Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich
(c) A.M. Universal, 1997