I just finished reading the article on tax preparation software, "The Taxman
Cometh" (March 2000). Great article. You did a lot of good research. My question
is: Can I really use TurboTax to file both state and federal tax returns for my
Sub S. corporation, including all the necessary forms? I have been using a CPA at
$1,000 per year for a long time. I hope you will be able to answer in the
affirmative. Also, please tell me the negatives of using the software as opposed
to using my CPA.
David E. Lavine
primuscorp@juno.com
David: Thanks for your note. About TurboTax: I know from talking to a source
within the IRS (sorry to be so shadowy about it, but he's a friend of mine) that
the TurboTax version that ordinary humans use is the same one accountants are
using. My accountant (now ex-accountant) tried to tell me that he had an
accountants-only version--something my friend and the folks at TurboTax said
doesn't exist.
Could you strike a deal with your accountant to charge you a much lower fee to
review the returns you create with TurboTax? I can't say I'd suggest dumping your
accountant altogether since I have no clue what your business is, but you might
be able to pay him or her to talk to you about changes in the tax law that you
should know about as you prepare your return.
Hope this helps!
Molly Joss, contributing editor
mwjoss@worldnet.att.net
Nice job on your March issue. I just wanted to drop a line saying that the
magazine keeps getting better--and I'm looking forward to the April format
change. You folks manage to provide a lot of content in a readable format.
In particular, I wanted to commend Cynthia Kurkowski on her "Myths of the New
Economy" piece. There's a lot to be said on this subject, and I'm looking forward
to hearing more.
I just got back from CeBIT in Hanover, Germany, and the biggest buzz was about
WAP, which stands to change the face of e-commerce. I went wondering who needed
WAP, and came back wishing WAP was here already. I think there's an article
there.
As a digital photographer, naturally I took an interest in Joe Farace's pieces on
the Stylus Pro and "Graphics Software on a Budget."
I may have missed it, but I don't think the price of the printer was mentioned,
although the tag line of the article was that it was all about price--unless the
point was that if you have to ask, you can't afford it. I always wonder what the
consumable costs are on items like this as well. I wish Joe had gone back to
explain why he thought pros and consumers had different takes on the output.
That's an interesting subject.
Lastly (before you throw me out), another great piece of cheap imaging software I
use all the time is ThumbsPlus from Cerious.com.
Ernest Lilley
Editor, SFRevu
Ernest,
Thanks for the praise. We checked with several dealers and the average street
price for the Stylus Pro 5000 proofing printer is $7,500 with the external Fiery
RIP server, and $3,000 without. Cost per copy varies from $0.12 to $7.00
depending on the medium.
James Mathewson, editorial director
james@computeruser.com
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