so that you can DIY your tax returns for the 2019/2020 year,

you're probably considering TurboTax.

We've all heard of turbo Tax.

In this video, I am covering a review

for the 2019/2020 software and what you need to know

in terms of pricing to get your taxes done with TurboTax.

(slow music)

Hey guys, welcome back to The College Investor,

Investing and Personal Finance for Millennials.

We're talking about TurboTax today

and we all know that this is a major player

in the tax software industry

and so I was wondering,

what exactly are you getting with TurboTax

and is it really free?

You may be able to file your taxes for free with TurboTax

under a very specific condition and that is

if you are a W-2 income earner

and if you qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit

or the child tax credit.

So, if you have those one of those two things

plus the W-2, you could file at your federal

and your state return for $0.

However, you can't take any other deductions.

So, if you have things like paying on student loan interest

or you have a health savings account,

you wouldn't be able to qualify for that free plan,

you'd have to upgrade to the deluxe or the premier plan.

And let's go over those pricing packages

on TurboTax's website.

Okay so, TurboTax has a couple of different plans

for you depending on your situation.

So, I've covered the free edition but I think most people

are probably going to align with the deluxe edition

or the premier edition.

So, deluxe is $40 and then you'll get to add

some homeowner tax breaks,

it looks like you can get some one-on-one help

from a TurboTax specialist, all these different things.

And then I like how it has a breakdown of okay,

I could get tax deductions here,

mortgage of property deductions and so on.

You may even end up falling under the premier plan

which is $70 in which you can auto import

your investment info and tax data which is a big time-saver.

I definitely appreciate being able to import forms

rather than typing them in manually,

it leaves less room for error.

And if you are self-employed,

then you'll be looking at the $90 self-employed plan.

What I like about this one is it also includes

one year of QuickBooks.

In fact, if you are a QuickBooks user now,

you can import your data directly in a TurboTax

which saves time.

However, if you are just getting started

and you want to add QuickBooks to your business plan,

you can get that if you've not been a QuickBooks user

in the past.

And it's true that TurboTax often has high prices.

In fact, we've found that they are at the top of the market

when we compared these to other

software companies out there.

So, you'll wanna do your due diligence.

I wouldn't recommend the deluxe or the premier plans

if price is a deciding factor for you.

Also, a side note,

TurboTax, it tends to adjust their prices

throughout the tax season so you'll wanna lock in

your rate early on.

That's typically in December and January

when the prices will be offered at its lowest.

So, if you plan on doing deluxe, premier or self-employed,

you'll wanna lock in those rates as soon as possible.

Once you have aligned with the right plan for you,

you can go ahead and jump into the tax software.

Let me show you a complete walkthrough

of what the TurboTax software looks like once you're inside.

When you first get started with TurboTax,

you'll need to obviously sign up.

If you have been a previous QuickBooks user or a Mint user,

you can use the same login information to log into TurboTax.

I'll go ahead and use new information

so you can see exactly what it looks like

when you sign up for the first time.

When you first log in, there'll be a screen to point you

in the right direction.

So, you can click on any of these little boxes

and then it'll take you to the right step.

So, I'm going to select that I have a job at W-2

and if I click on anything else,

it's going to recommend the right package for me.

So, when I clicked I'm self-employed

then it's going to recommend the self-employed plan.

So, for a simple W-2 return, it's going to stick us

into the free edition.

So, let's go ahead and click file for $0

then you'll consent to providing your information

through the software

and then it'll just prompt you

through the different questions.

I really like how simplified the dashboard is.

There's not a whole lot of areas to click out of

and I think the questions are really straightforward,

I don't feel like this is confusing at all.

This is cool.

It says if you have a PDF copy of last year's return

then you can upload it and start pulling info

which is really nice.

For the sake of this tutorial, I'll just go ahead

and type my info.

I really like this screen too.

Let's get an idea of your financial picture.

So, there's a lot of different things

that could've occurred throughout the year

so you're just going to click on the box

that makes sense for you

and then it'll walk you through the right forms to fill out.

Then remember that the free edition only counts

if you're a W-2 income earner or if you qualify

for the Earned Income Tax Credit or the child tax credit.

So, let's go ahead and keep going.

Then you'll just input your personal information.

I'll go ahead and just put in the dummy information for now.

Then we'll get to the filing status

which is single, in this example and click continue

and then it'll give you a nice summary.

I like how at the end of inputting my information

that it'll give me a quick summary

just to make sure everything was put in correctly.

Then TurboTax is going to try to upsell you here.

We're still in the free edition but it's also asking

if we'd like to get advice and specialist support.

I would go ahead and skip this for now,

especially if you are finally in a simple tax return

or you've had experience filing your taxes

on your own before as well.

So, you can see up at the top of the screen,

the tax return is broken into different sections.

So, you'll first start with wages and income,

followed by deductions and credits

and then other miscellaneous tax situations

and then you'll do a review

of your federal return before filing.

Once you get done filing your W-2 information,

it's going to show you your federal refund so far.

This number can change as you input new information

and TurboTax will give you the best estimate

of what your potential refund or the potential amount

that you'll owe.

And then they'll go ahead and check for more information

about your 2019 income by answering

a couple of simple questions.

The cool thing about this year is you can always

click the learn more button

and there's going to be a pop-up window

that explains why they're asking this information

and then sometimes what forms that you would need

in order to fill out everything correctly.

So, that's really nice.

So far, everything within the TurboTax software

is really easy and simple to use.

I like that everything is broken down into layman's terms.

I don't feel that I am confused by anything so far

and the questions that are asked throughout the process,

it seems very guided

so I don't have to go looking for things.

All right, now we're gonna jump into the second section

which is the deductions and credits.

Then once you get to the part

where you need to pick either standard or itemized,

I like how it gives you the visual of showing

you'll get the most out of your tax return

if you pick one or the other

and here it says the standard deduction is best for you.

So, you can always change that

but because I'm just inputting a simple W-2,

I'll stick with the standard deduction.

And then we'll hit section three,

any uncommon tax situations.

And I like how as you answer the questions,

it's just very simple.

Do you want to apply your refund to next year's return?

And it's it just makes it really simple to click yes or no

that I don't feel like this software's clunky at all.

If you have any questions, things are broken down for you

in these simple windows.

And then if you are, you feel like you're missing something,

you can always type in the search box for something

that may pertain to your financial situation.

I really like TurboTax

and the simplicity of their dashboard.

Then you can see up at the top

that they have this nice little bar of showing you

what your potential federal refund and state refund will be.

And then as you complete your federal return,

it's going to transfer your tax information

into your state return and that makes it really simple

and speeds up the process.

All right, so since I'm filing a state return in California,

it's going to ask if any of these situations apply

and then if they do, you can click the start button

and walk through those prompts.

If they don't apply to you,

you can actually just scroll to the bottom

and click done with adjustments.

And then you just follow the prompts and questions

as they pop up.

All right, so it looks like there's a couple of different

state credits that I could opt for.

So again, you would just click start

and then walk through those prompts.

If you don't qualify, they'll even cut you off

before you can even start clicking through the questions.

So, it says, it looks like you don't qualify

for a California Earned Income Tax Credit

and then you can click continue.

And then as you complete things,

it's going to pop up this gray button right here

where it says, revisit

so I know I've already looked into this area

and then I can continue down the line if I want to.

Otherwise, if it doesn't apply,

you can just scroll to the bottom again

and click done with credits and taxes.

All right, then it's going to do a quick check

of my California taxes before I'm ready to file.

If some of your tax forms aren't ready just yet,

they'll give you a quick list of those things

that you would need to look for.

Most forms will be available early to mid January.

So, once those forms are available,

you can log back into TurboTax and input that information.

All right and then one more time they're going to try

to upsell us again with this plus a help and support.

This just helps you if you were to ever go through an audit.

It's got a couple of different things here

that you could use but since I'm filing a simple return,

I don't think I need to spend $30 on help and support