Where can I find the best TurboTax deals for real estate and Schedule C filings?

Do you know if the self-employed version has any specific features for real estate? I have 3 rentals and wanna make sure it handles depreciation and stuff correctly. Also, does buying from Costco give you the download or is it just an activation code?

Yes, the Self-Employed version includes all the real estate investment features you'll need. It handles property depreciation, expense tracking for each property, and even walks you through potential deductions specific to rental properties. It's quite thorough for real estate investors. When you buy from Costco, you typically get a download code that lets you download the software and activate it. It's essentially the same product you'd get directly from TurboTax, just at a better price.

Does it actually extract info accurately? I've tried scanner apps before and they always mess up the numbers, especially on those faded receipts from gas stations lol. How much time did it really save you?

I'm curious about this too. Does it handle quarterly estimated tax payments and track them across multiple rental properties? My biggest issue is keeping everything organized by property when I enter it into TurboTax.

It's surprisingly accurate with the document extraction - way better than general scanner apps. It's specifically trained on tax documents so it knows exactly where to look for important information. Even worked on some of my barely legible receipts. I'd say it saved me at least 3-4 hours of manual data entry. Yes, it actually does track quarterly payments and can organize expenses by property! That was one of my favorite features. You can tag everything by property name when you upload documents, and it keeps a running total for each property. Made it super easy to enter everything correctly in TurboTax without mixing up which expense went with which property.

Wait so you pay money to talk to TurboTax support?? That seems crazy when their software already costs so much. How is this even legal? TurboTax should provide decent customer service without making us jump through hoops.

How exactly does this work though? Does it literally just wait on hold for you? I'm confused how a third party service can get you through faster than if you called yourself.

I totally get your frustration - TurboTax should definitely have better support considering what we pay. The way I see it though, my time is worth something too. I spent literally 3 hours on hold last year and finally gave up. This year I paid a small fee but got my issue resolved in minutes. It does exactly that - their system navigates all the phone menus automatically and then waits on hold for you. Their tech seems to know exactly which options to select to get to a real person faster. When an agent finally picks up, Claimyr calls your phone and connects you. The magic is that you don't have to be actively waiting - you can go about your day until they call you.

I'm open to alternatives for sure! Did TaxAct handle all the rental property stuff well? Like depreciation and splitting expenses between properties? I've just been using TurboTax for so long I'm kinda afraid to switch and miss deductions.

TaxAct definitely handled all the rental property features well. The depreciation calculator is actually more detailed than TurboTax's in my opinion, and I was able to track expenses separately for each property without any issues. You won't miss deductions - if anything, I found TaxAct was more thorough in asking about potential deductions specific to rental properties. The interview process asks about things like travel to inspect properties, home office use for property management, and even partial business use of vehicles for property maintenance. The learning curve isn't bad at all if you're already familiar with tax concepts.

Also check your employee benefits portal if you work for a medium-large company! My employer offers a corporate discount code for TurboTax that saved me like $40 last year, and I had no idea until I randomly checked our benefits site.