TurboTax Deluxe 2021 Tax Software, Federal and State Tax Return with Federal E-file [Yakibest Exclusive] [PC Download]

I choose to be tax payment illiterate.. And thank goodness turbo tax is there to lean on. I had a longtime family lawyer doing my taxes and then he retired. He recommended a local financial service to do my taxes and i tried them out.. Only to pay twice the fee amount. Yikes! A friend advised that she uses turbo tax and if she can do it then so could i. So for the last 3 years i’ve done turbo tax. I get all sweaty and disturbed before sitting down to do them. I make a big production out of it fueled by ignorance and fear. Then i settle down and just to them. The federal version is swift and painless, the state version.. A little foggy. I admit each year that – state tax wise – i don’t know what i’m doing. Each year the state sends me a little note that a) i’ve paid too much or b) i’ve not paid enough. I think turbo tax does a pretty good job of holding my hand through the whole process. I’m the problem, not turbo tax.

I first got cd edition. I could not install on my computer. I had return it! Then, i got the download edition! It work! The problem when went to file my state tax, i was force to buy the state i needed. It was supposed be included one state. I ended paying for my state. Then, it would not except my state filing. I did get hold of a turbo tax representative. She help me over hour, it still would not accept my filing. She could see in her computer. I did just brought the state i needed. She gave me the confirmation number. It would not accept my filing. I thank her and hang up. Next day, i kept trying messing around with it. The filing was accepted. The year before i same problem with state filing part of turbo tax. I had file at my state free site. I did my result of 2021 state file with turbo tax. I had a error. I had pay additional twenty-seven dollar for filing errors! I hope they fix state proportion better for 2023!

This review is for turbotax deluxe 2021 tax software, federal and state tax return with federal e-file. Purchasing was a breeze using amazon. The download was available instantly and after installing on windows 10 based laptop the product was activated using the activation code available in my amazon account.

E-filing was super easy both with federal and state tax return (although you will have to play extra for state e-file) you get instant confirmation of your e-file and depending on when you e-filed both federal return and state refund was processed in a timely manner.

I have been using turbo-tax for many years and used to file my return the old school method (that is by filing using paper and mailing it in using usps with certified mail) this year it was done using e-file which was faster, more secure and faster refund.

I do recommend using this tax preparing software. Five stars product.

Updated apr 10, 2022 review
i finished my taxes earlier this past week on windows 8.1 and re-installed the program on windows 10 21h2 and redid my taxes as the worksheets from trying different things were still pre-populated on windows 8.1. By doing a clean install and only filling out the worksheets i actually needed i got a better more accurate return.

The earlier you start using turbotax i.e. In nov/dec of the prior year the more forms will not be complete but the program should put you in the ballpark if you need to make another estimated tax payment or pay another mortgage payment before the calendar year is up. By the time jan rolls around more updates make the program more usable. I think qc is lacking as the jan 20 update shut me down completely and i had to wait for the jan 27 update to have a working program again.

Lucky for me i run windows in virtual machines so its really easy to backup/restore the entire virtual machine from the command line in linux using the tar command i.e. 30 minute top. This works great for the few times that a windows 10 update has bricked my machine hence the reason for wanting to stay in windows 8.1 for as long as i can but ultimately it’s going to be the win 10/11 show and that’s were those backups come in handy.

I changed my stars from 1 to 4 to 5

updated jan 31, 2022 review
i checked daily for a solution to the problem mentioned in the original review and there were none. On january 27th, i tried the newest weekly update and surprise turbotax is working again. What a scare. It used to be that the product was tested better but in this day and we all are also in the quality control business and problems can take longer to solve. Glad this one only caused me to be down for a week, it could have been worse. I am raising my review to 4 stars. If i get to file my taxes w/o issues i’ll review the star rating later

original jan 24, 2022 review (1 star)
usually i run into very few problems installing the software and using it. This year was going well until the january 20th update. Turbotax tech support states there is no solution to this problem. So i may not be able to use turbo tax to do my taxes this year since they are at a loss. What’s next? Finger pointing: i.e. It’s my hardware, it’s microsoft’s fault, it’s turbotax’s fault …

Hopefully turbotax is monitoring the reviews and lights a fire under the problem and gets it resolved

I’ve done my taxes using turbotax for more than 20 years and never had a problem. All calculations are done by the program and i like being able to submit the forms electronically to the irs and state revenue agency.

I love turbotax! It is as easy as doing taxes can be. You can import some info, and it asks all the important questions along the way. Some i would not think of! I’ve had to ask for more information occasionally, and it’s not hard to get answers. The question/chat box pops up occasionally, asking if i need to speak to a specialist, so help is easily accessible. I haven’t had any accuracy issues at all.
Turbotax leads you through each catagory, and though it seems repetitive in the finishing, i appreciate that it slows me down. I’ve had to go back through to add info i’d forgotten, or edit or delete. I have to use forms for itemized deductions. I like being able to begin, and take 2 or 3 weeks to finish. I don’t have 8-10 hours straight to work on gathering data and fill out on my forms. Life doesn’t allow me that. I can save my input and come back later, in a couple hours or a few days, or weeks.
Once i’ve gathered my deductions data, it’s very easy to input. I’ve appreciated the upgrades since the earlier years. The only thing i dislike is paying my state’s $25 fee for e-filing. I do appreciate that the state forms are available as part of turbotax. Following the same format & having my same info filled in is a time & headache saver. God bless the turbotax folks!

Easy to install in a download, easy to use, excellent guide to take you through the process. Have purchased each year for past 3 year.

Easy to install/download and easy to maneuver through the various menus.

Worked as advertised

We have used turbotax advantage and paid $70 per year since forever. We e-file the federal tax and paper-file the state tax. We would have to pay extra to e-file the state tax. I feel that turbotax is deceitful in its marketing. I canceled turbotax advantage last year and opted to buy turbotax from amazon this year for $50. It says that it includes state filing, but it is not e-filing, it’s paper-filing. I looked at hr block software briefly and saw that turbotax imports don’t work well.

If you were to buy from the turbotax website right now, you’d pay $60 for federal tax filing and $50 per state filing. Who knows if it’s e-file? Costco is selling turbotax for $50 too, but they use a third party it company named synnex to fulfill your digital download order. I’m not sure how well it works.

I had no issues installing turbotax despite other users complaining about installation problems. They most likely have bad hard drives. I have a samsung ssd and it installed in about 30 seconds. When you register the software, you don’t have to tell them how you prepared your taxes last year and where you bought turbotax this year. It found my previous turbotax info without needing any input from me.

I would prefer that our government calculate the taxes for most citizens like european countries, however the irs would need more funding to do this. Our underfunded irs is also unable to extract taxes from the wealthy. Until then, turbotax works for this average american family.

Let’s face it, taxes are just difficult. Because i have used turbo tax for years, i am getting more use to the program. Some questions can be confusing though.

Don’t we all just love doing taxes? That said, turbotax has been the easiest to use in my experience. Walks you through everything and, so far, no issues with last years return. Pretty convenient and gets the job done. Not much else you can ask for here…other than a bigger refund.

More a comment on purchasing turbotax thru amazon. Got a new laptop. Want to add a copy of turbotax to it. No way to do it thru amazon. Can only get the add-on state program thru turbotax. Useless without the federal. So i now have no way to access earlier files. Worse, just be aware it could be a huge hassle if your computer craps out before you finish filing. Looks like you just have to buy the program all over again.

I think turbo tax was a bit behind the 8 ball with the 2021 tax season, but perhaps that was more due to the irs. Lots of updates that do not seem to help. I will continue to use it, but this past year seemed kind of a pain to use.

I had no problem downloading the turbotax application using the amazon link. Installation was also a breeze on my windows 10 computer using the license key provided. Once i downloaded the program, it automatically informed me that there was an update and i updated the program without any issue.

The tax software was able to pull in my previous year’s turbotax information. Just like the prior year’s version, turbotax starts off with interview questions that step you through income, deductions, credits, and all kinds of tax situations. I liked it that i can jump back and forth between the step by step mode and the forms mode. I liked to look at where the numbers where going into the form as i entered the information via the step by step mode. While in forms mode, i can right-click and see the data source of where a computed value was derived from.

I also appreciated that i was able to easily download my investment 1099 data from my brokerage firms and from my banks.

Not all the forms were finalized in the application yet, and there were a couple of updates during the past couple of weeks which fixed some of the forms. However, i am still waiting on a few forms that were not quite ready as of mid-february.

Overall, the program is functional as expected and pretty easy to use.

I’ve used turbo tax for years and years … From back in the good old dos days. I’ve stuck with it even when there were serious glitches (the move to windows 3 for example, and the spyware debacle). The current version works well, and suggestions on some things (such as k-1 form) are improved.

The biggest problem i had was locating my license code after buying from amazon. It is not, contrary to some question responses by turbotax, in the order details; rather, it’s in the confirmation email amazon sent. Woe betide you you lose that email. Of course, that’s an amazon problem, but turbotax itself doesn’t proide a way out.

I’ve also had problems with the rita (local tax) forms for ohio. These can be very confusing if you live in one city and work in another. Even support had a hard time giving me correct instructions.

Also, beware … The free state does not include free filing. You might want to consider some competitors as some will give you any number of free states and free downloads. I haven’t switched just because i don’t want to learn another interface.

I agree with the comments i’ve seen that say this latest version has more ‘glitches than previous versions. I have used turbo tax exclusively for over 30 years and was always happy with it…but again, i agree that it has become glitchy over the years. This year it failed to prompt me that there was a form that i had not entered (the form wasn’t even listed in their form menu), and had i not manually discovered it, it would have cost me over $400….not cool, and has me tempted to try another brand of tax preparation software…despite having had great faith in turbo tax for many years…
Constantly refining your product is great when it brings about improvements, but in my opinion their tinkering caused it to be less dependable than older versions…

I got fed + state which included efile for what? 20$ more? So i pick efile for state but then it asks me how i want to pay the extra $40 for ‘refund processing’. Wait, isn’t that what i already paid the +20$ for? The flow sort of railroads you into paying. It was unclear what is the cost for turbotax state vs tt state efile vs ‘refund processing’. The only way to avoid a further $40 is back out of the efile.
I gather from some other reviews that the state (form logic) costs more (40?) if you didn’t get it on sale or as part of a package. So i guess i did get the right thing. Though might wonder if state is worth anything since nc is mainly a copy of fed with less options. 20$ to be sure that’s the case.. Maybe.
Seems a little underhanded not to allow you to see the returns until all this is settled.
In the end though, turbotax is a nice way to feel confident everything is right. Last few years without turbotax, irs caught a couple silly mistakes. So $42 to have turbotax do the filling in of stuff seems a decent deal. And did my daughter’s too.

The government keeps talking about a simplified tax system but it will never happen. Worse, the irs seems to be dragged down by its own tax law inertia.
Thankfully, turbotax helps me cut through the mess with a series of simple questions in small, easy to answer bites. I’ve been using it for decades when it was macintax for apple computers. I love how it looks for previous year’s information to help fill in this year’s tax forms. I could do my taxes without it but why should i add to my effort? With it, i’m 75% done with a day’s effort.
I love the fact that there are weekly updates to the software during tax season. Unfortunately, it can be unwise to submit a complex tax form early, even if the software says you’re fine. Updates that are closer to the tax due date can fix errors that may change your results; it’s best to wait for them. Upon review of my tax forms after running the questions, i always find at least one minor ‘error’ every year. (2020 taxes were especially bad. I suspect this was due to the pandemic.) i usually finish my taxes in mid- to late-february but submit them in mid- to late-march.
Nothing will make tax time pain free but this package is a must-have in my eyes!

In 10 years this is the first time we have had a serious problem with tt. The software has properly identified that the standard deduction is best for us. Per the irs for 2021, for a couple married filing jointly, we are allowed a $600 deduction for charitable contributions. (we have $1,100 in religious contributions alone.) the software is automatically entering a $300 deduction on line 12b but then calling it an error. I have tried changing it to $600 but when the software reviews for errors the $300 is back and highlighted as an error. I tried zero…same result. Last year the irs allowed a $300 deduction and the software handled it properly. There are some ‘work arounds’ identified in a couple of forums but should my wife and i have to use a ‘work around’ in a software program that touts itself as looking out for our best refund? At the moment…not a happy camper. ** update. Waited 48 hours and tried again, magically the software accepted my $600 deduction entry when i opened forms. Changed rating to 4 stars, could not give it 5 due to the hassle in getting the software to work properly. But i will use tt again next year.