Tax Preparation Software: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The medium is the message, it's sometimes said. Think of Franklin D Roosevelt and his "fireside chats" to the nation. In a pre-TV era, the radio was the perfect medium to "have a conversation with the American people". He could get his reassuring message right into folks' homes, and become a part of the family. A different medium, for example a grandstanding speech, wouldn't have got the message across as effectively as an intimate radio chat. The medium most surely was the message. But let's come back to the 21st.century and something close to all our hearts: tax preparation, or, to be exact, tax preparation software. Unfortunately, this particular medium seems to be giving out mixed messages, although software programmers and vendors would reassure us that we can complete tax programs quickly and accurately, click "print" and produce a tax return destined to meet the IRS's requirements. Seems clear enough, so why the mixed messages? One of the main criticisms levelled at tax preparation software is its "one-size-fits-all" approach. Its critics, businessmen in the main, ask how it's possible to condense an extraordinary number of codes and regulations into a half-hour interview process. Irrespective of the claims made by software programmers, critics point out that only the most general set of credits and deductions can be incorporated into tax software, which means that you'll be the loser. It's these sins of omission, or the questions they don't ask, which work to your detriment and the advantage of the IRS. Imagine this scene for a moment. A medium is holding a s