Author Topic: 2 tax software, 2 results?  (Read 2203 times)

Maplestache

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2 tax software, 2 results?
« on: May 03, 2014, 11:59:42 PM »
Hello,

Help, I'm confused.

I always file my taxes online, and have never had any trouble doing so. This year my boyfriend  doubted the results of his return, and so I entered in our details to three different software. His return stayed within a dollar no matter which software we used.
However, I got several different results. I am self employed and expected to owe a bit less than 6000... Basic calculations told me to expect the 6k, but then I have some deductions that were too complex to include in that rough guess. . My results from the tax software are as follows(approx) ... 6600, 6900, 4400. I feel pretty confident I entered everything in correctly, so what gives with the radical differences and none close to my expectation?

More important - How to resolve? Obviously I want  to keep my 2 grand if I can, but it's such a large amount of money I don't trust it, and I don't want to be audited. Should I stick with the value in between? Should I risk the lower value and possible audit down the road? Should I accept a 5% late fee and an accountant' fee (combined, around a $500 hit)  and have a pro review it?

MDM

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Re: 2 tax software, 2 results?
« Reply #1 on: May 04, 2014, 12:54:30 AM »
Have you looked at the IRS forms (e.g., 1040, Schedule C, etc.) generated by each software package and compared line item differences?

Tracking the ~$2000 difference to individual line items, and exploring the reason(s) why, would likely be the most productive way to resolve your question.

teen persuasion

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Re: 2 tax software, 2 results?
« Reply #2 on: May 04, 2014, 07:18:55 PM »
I got different results from different tax software.  I knew what result I should have, I just use the SW to efile.  I've been eligible to freefile using TurboTax for a few years, but this year my state threw me a curveball and dropped TT, so when TT wanted to charge me $15 to efile my state return, I caved and started over with one of the mystery companies ok with the state.  It turned out to be a front for H&R Block, but they couldn't seem to figure out that my DD3 was eligible for college tax credits, no matter how I entered the relevant information.  TT got it correct.

Interestingly, when I returned to the TT in frustration a few days later, TT suddenly let me efile my state return for free!  No idea why.