Setting aside my opinion that the IRS is nothing but pure overhead and that income tax should be abolished, the IRS sucks.

I filed my tax return on the morning of Feb. 2, and it was accepted by the IRS on the same day at 9:36 AM. According to the refund cycle schedule, this puts me at the very beginning of the Feb. 15 cycle, meaning my refund should have been direct deposited into my bank account today.

It wasn’t. Surprise, surprise. Furthermore, the “where’s my refund” page shows that they have no record of my refund. Apparently, this is a known issue, and I should receive my refund in “10 to 21 days.” Seriously? How hard can it be to process returns and display their status online? Why is the government so afraid of streamlining stuff like this, and so afraid to actually utilize technology? Another great example of this is the absolutely horrid tracking provided for packages mailed via USPS. Until recently, the site wouldn’t show you much of anything until after the package had been delivered.

My tax return this year was very basic. So basic, in fact, that I don’t see why their computers can’t automatically process it and give me my money within a day or two. It really needs to take 3 weeks? They can’t even keep to their refund cycle? Ugh.

I wonder what would happen if I sent the IRS a bill with late fees and interest charges, and made threats to them over the phone. That’s what they do to you when you owe them money…

Let me preface this rant by stating that I have no affiliation whatsoever with any of the companies listed. I just felt like writing a blog post on why I’m no longer using TurboTax.

So, let’s begin by rewinding to 2010 (dealing with tax year 2009). I was a college student, had just scored an internship, and was actually earning enough money where I had to worry about filing a tax return. I tried out several sites at that point, including TurboTax, to see who would find me the biggest refund. I had a fairly simple tax return, I was just dealing with marginal income and education credits. Turns out that TurboTax, at that time, gave me the biggest refund and a decent cost. No issues, I was a happy customer.

Fast forward to 2011. I had to file my 2010 taxes. One of my credit card companies emailed me a 25% off coupon for TurboTax, so naturally, I returned there. They had saved my information from the previous year, automatically imported it where appropriate, and made the process nice and easy. Paying for the service, on the other hand, was a whole other nightmare.

First of all, I qualified for the free federal filing. Apparently at some point, I upgraded to the ‘deluxe’ version of TurboTax, which started racking up the charges. Of course, they only give you ‘upgrade’ options, with no way to downgrade short of contacting them. Oh, and the 25% off coupon I had from my credit card company wasn’t applying properly either - swell. So I contacted them and complained. They did some weird set of discount claim codes on my account (which still didn’t bring it to the correct total cost). The customer service representative assured me that I would be contacted within 24 hours to get a refund, and just to pay and file. Stupid me - I paid and moved ahead.

Surprise, surprise - I never was contacted and never did receive my refund. I never pursued it, as it was under a $10 difference and I deemed it not worth the hassle, but the bottom line is that I was lied to. Their website is predatory, always trying to rope you into higher cost services, and there is no way of removing additional features/costs (even if you don’t need them/aren’t using them). The only two options if you wish to go to a lower price tier are calling them and arguing for a while, or signing up for a new account and totally starting over. Not very user friendly, and, quite frankly, an underhanded approach to earning money.

Move ahead to today, when I’m starting to deal with my 2011 taxes. 2011 was my first full year of working full time, so I’ve got a bit more at stake in dealing with my taxes now. It’s still fairly straightforward - a W-2, a 1098-E for student loan interest, and some interest statements for savings accounts. I was originally willing to overlook my issues with overpaying for TurboTax last year, so I started the process. I got to a page where it asked me what product I wanted to use, and by the time I realized I could have started with the free option (and upgrade if necessary), it was too late. There’s no way to go back and downgrade whatsoever. I was partially attached because they have all of my tax history, making it easy when values from previous years are needed, but the site seems shady and, here I was, a year later, and they’re still trying to milk every cent they can out of me. I decided I was sick of dealing with their crap. I finished going through my tax return just to get some baseline figures (recall that they provided me the biggest refund for 2009).

I did some research, and decided to check out TaxSlayer. Nice and cheap, with only a few different options. I signed up and entered my tax information, and they came up with the same federal refund, and $2 for my New York state return. Nice.

So, unless TaxSlayer does something to make me feel cheated, I’ll be a happy customer with them. It’s much cheaper than TurboTax, and does the job just as well. TurboTax is a little better organized, and the website is more responsive, but I can deal with a little bit of slowness and a confusing-at-times interface. At least they aren’t trying to upsell me at every corner, offering no way to roll back once you accept an option that costs more money (even if your needs are fulfilled by a cheaper option).

Sure, TurboTax is kind of like a GPS unit, guiding you through your taxes (as they advertise). But using the service is kind of like going to Best Buy and…. buying a GPS unit. Only, while you’re talking with the salesperson, if you even show the slightest interest in ANY upsell/extended warranty/whatever that is offered, you are immediately locked in and cannot say no.

Bottom line? I’d stay away from TurboTax.