TurboTax for iPad

This is the second year that Intuit has produced an iPad-optimized version of TurboTax. While you can still access TurboTax Online through your iPad browser, there's no reason not to go with the versions that were built specifically for Apple's tablet computer?unless you want to be able to access the return on another computing device, a desktop, or laptop. You can only work on your return on your iPad if you intend to complete it there. H&R Block lets you switch back and forth.

The other deficits I noted in the 2011 version are now absent. You can "bookmark" pages you want to revisit with a "Flag," and it's much more convenient to correct problems or omissions in the Error Check section.

TurboTax for iPad was very good last year, considering that it was Intuit's first tablet app effort. This year, it's better.

Much the Same
TurboTax Deluxe for the iPad, which I reviewed this year, has changed little internally. It still supports the most common tax situations as well as some obscure ones through forms and schedules like Schedule A, B, C, D, 1040-ES, 1098, 1099s, etc. If you live in a state that charges income tax, your relevant data can move automatically into your state's version.

Intuit pioneered a more user-friendly process for getting data onto IRS forms and schedules nearly 20 years ago, and all tax software and websites work the same way now. They recreate the experience of visiting a tax preparer's office by asking a lengthy series of questions in a wizard-like framework, performing the calculations required and entering your answers in the correct fields on actual tax returns. You don't see the forms until your return is completed; all you see are windows containing questions and ways for you to answer (blank fields, lists, Yes or No boxes, etc.).

When you've gone through all of the topics that you think apply to you, TurboTax analyzes your information, looking for deductions you might have missed and identifying errors and omissions. This year, it's much easier to fix mistakes, since the app provides a way for you to correct them right on the screen where they're identified. No going back into earlier screens and finding your way back out. H&R Block's approach is not as simple.

Commendable Support
All of the major tax preparation sites that compete for Editors' Choice do a commendable job of providing help for users (H&R Block was the weakest in my review of its online solution). TurboTax is consistently the best, and Intuit has carried that success over to the iPad version.

Unless a particular question is clear, like What is your name?, there's usually some text explaining the question succinctly right on the page with it. You can click on hyperlinked words and phrases?or "Learn More"?on the interview screens, and a smaller window containing a more thorough explanation appears. There's a link here to Intuit's Live Community, where taxpayers and experts meet to ask and answer questions.

And if you click on the question mark in the upper right corner, the TurboTax Help Center opens. Here, you can search through voluminous help files to learn more about a topic. Paid users of TurboTax can also email, chat online or actually talk on the phone to one of Intuit's tax professionals?as often as needed. No one else offers this for the iPad.

Almost a Carbon Copy
TurboTax for the iPad looks and works much like the online application. It follows the same interview process through the same topics, so you don't have to worry that you'll be missing a form or schedule. Anything you can download online (like W-2 data) is available for import on the iPad version.

As far as the user interface goes, it's practically identical. The only things missing are the excerpts from Live Community at the bottom of the screen and the Tools icon (gives you access to the topic search, topic list and fee informational utilities in the online version). There's no help query box, but you can get to the Help Center (and Live Community) by clicking the question mark in the upper right corner.

Navigation works similarly, too. You can jump back and forth among the site's primary sections by clicking on the outline in the left vertical pane (topic search is now located here). But you'll primarily move through the app by clicking buttons at the bottom of the screen, like Back/Continue and Yes/No, just like online.

Close, but TurboTax for the iPad Prevails
Both TurboTax for the iPad and H&R Block for the iPad are thorough, competent, comprehensive tax preparation apps. They don't support absolutely every personal tax situation, and neither is a good choice if you know little about taxes, are apprehensive about using an unfamiliar application and/or your financial situation in 2012 was quite complicated. In those situations, a visit to a tax professional may be in order.

But if you had a reasonably uncomplicated year with no major changes and you like the idea of preparing and filing your taxes using your iPad, TurboTax for the iPad is your best option. It offers more kinds of help at no cost, and you won't face what you can face when you've completed your return using H&R Block for the iPad: an expert solution telling you that you've done something wrong, but which makes it difficult to fix.

There's no Editor's Choice for the category of mobile tax preparation apps this year?just the recommendation that you go with Intuit's iPad and smartphone applications.

More Accounting and Tax Software Reviews:
??? TurboTax for iPad
??? H&R Block for iPad
??? TaxACT Deluxe Tablet App (for iPad)
??? TurboTax SnapTax (for iPhone)
??? eSmart Tax Premium
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