TurboTax Premium Review

TurboTax has become one of the most popular tax preparation services on the market today. Owned by Intuit, the makers of QuickBooks, TurboTax offers a variety of plans to choose from.

In 2019, 40 million taxpayers used TurboTax to file their tax returns.

Developed more than 30 years ago, TurboTax has evolved from personal tax return software to now offer a Premium plan designed for freelancers, sole proprietors, and self-employed. TurboTax online offers the Premium plan, but if you prefer a desktop solution, TurboTax Home & Business is basically the same application in downloadable or CD format.

TurboTax also offers a corporate version designed for C and S corporations.

Who is TurboTax Premium for?

TurboTax Premium is designed for freelancers, independent contractors, consultants, and small business owners who currently operate without corporate status.

Along with handling your personal tax information including homeowner expenses such as interest and property taxes, education credits, and charitable contributions, TurboTax Premium includes Schedule C preparation, the form that all business owners, sole-proprietors, and freelancers need to include in their tax return.

TurboTax Premium features

TurboTax offers excellent tax return preparation for small business owners, with numerous features designed to benefit both personal and business tax preparation. Here are some of the features that are included in TurboTax Premium:

• Asset depreciation
• Unlimited employee tax forms
• Mileage tracking for rideshare drivers
• Bitcoin and cryptocurrency gains and losses
• Employee stock purchase plans
• Rental income
• Donation deductions
• Homeowner deductions
• Education tax credits
• Automatic importing of W-2s
• Mobile app for both iOS and Android devices
• Comprehensive review of return prior to filing

TurboTax Premium includes numerous stand-out features. Here are some of the more important ones.

Schedule C preparation

As a small business owner, perhaps the most important form you will need to complete is Schedule C: Profit or Loss From Business (Sole Proprietorship). Schedule C is part of your tax return, and reports how much money your small business made or lost throughout the year.

If you receive 1099s for your work, you will need to file a Schedule C. Schedule C is used for any business that is not set up as a separate legal business entity such as a partnership or corporation.

You will need to set up your business in TurboTax Premium. Once this is completed, you can begin to enter 1099 information, as well as any related business expenses, with TurboTax guiding you through the entire interview-style process.

Deductions

If your business is brand new and this is the first year that you'll be filing a combined (personal/business) return, TurboTax will help you take advantage of any deductions available to you. In addition, TurboTax looks for both industry-specific deductions as well as self-employed tax deductions.

It will search more than 450 tax deductions in a variety of areas including qualified retirement plans, home office deductions, automobile expenses, and depreciation expenses. It quickly identifies common business expenses such as advertising expenses, bank service fees, travel, and meals and entertainment.

Integration with QuickBooks Self-Employed

TurboTax Premium offers seamless integration with QuickBooks Self-Employed, which tracks invoices, helps separate personal expenses from business expenses, tracks mileage automatically, and helps track any quarterly taxes due.

Any information tracked in QuickBooks Self-Employed can be easily exported into TurboTax, eliminating the need to re-enter the information.

Employee tax forms

One of the nice features in TurboTax Premium is the ability to prepare an unlimited number of W-2 and 1099 forms if you have employees or use contractors.

Using the Quick Employer Forms option, you can click on the Create W-2s and 1099s link, which will start the creation process. All created forms can be printed as a PDF and mailed to recipients by the deadline.

All created forms are stored for easy future access, though you will have to purchase the most recent version of TurboTax Premium in order to access forms created in a prior year.

Rental management features

For those who own and manage rental properties, TurboTax allows you to easily set up new rentals, report rental income, and even help you determine the fair market value of your properties.

In addition, TurboTax helps to simplify the depreciation process on any rentals that you currently own, allowing you to calculate and take a depreciation deduction on your rentals.

TurboTax Premium ease of use

Once you're set up in TurboTax Home & Business, you can complete your personal details. The navigation screen to the left offers quick access to the Tax Home screen, as well as access to each part of the tax return process, which includes My Info, Federal, State, Review, and File options.

TurboTax recently enhanced their navigation system, making it easier to navigate than ever before.

Those new to TurboTax will be guided through an interview process, which lets you choose from a variety of displayed tiles that apply to your particular situation.

TurboTax lets you choose the life events that apply to your tax situation.

You can choose to follow the guided method of entering your financial and business details, or jump ahead to specific sections, and then navigate back to those you missed.

Most of the entry screens offer detailed information that explains exactly what the program is asking for and more importantly, why it's necessary. An excellent knowledge base is also available to further explain any details that you may not understand.

One downside to TurboTax is their attempts at upselling, though upselling is more prevalent in the Free and Deluxe plans.

TurboTax Premium pricing

From the beginning, TurboTax makes it easy to determine which plan is right for you. TurboTax options include the TurboTax Free plan, which is only suitable for simple tax returns.

TurboTax offers a variety of plans, including the online Premium plan for small businesses. Image source: Author

The TurboTax Premium plan offers more extensive features for small business owners, sole proprietors, freelancers, or contractors.

Remember to check with TurboTax at the beginning of each year for updated pricing, as their pricing changes frequently.

Working with TurboTax Premium support

If you're okay with tutorials, an online community, and a comprehensive knowledge base to serve as your support network, TurboTax Premium will work for you. However, if you prefer to talk to a live person, you'll have to pay up to $90 extra by subscribing to TurboTax Premium Live, which provides real-time access to a tax expert throughout the preparation process.

A subscription to TurboTax Premium Live also provides you with a review of business income by a tax expert before you file. With the Live subscription, you can also set an appointment or just contact them when you need some expert advice.

TurboTax Self-Employed support options include access to common tax questions. Image source: Author

There is also a special Premium Support Center, where you can access a variety of topics directly related to your business.

In addition, links to numerous tax tools and informational articles are available from the community forums page.

Benefits of TurboTax Premium

If you are a new TurboTax subscriber, you'll also receive a free one-year subscription to QuickBooks Self-Employed accounting software which allows you to track expenses in real-time, including the ability to snap a photo of a receipt and later export the image directly into TurboTax Premium.

If you are a rideshare driver, you can log each trip using your mobile device, and later upload the information to TurboTax Premium.

Final thoughts on TurboTax Premium

While preparing your taxes may not be the most enjoyable activity, there's no reason why it can't be easy. Believe it or not, TurboTax really does make the process easy, particularly for small business owners who may be struggling with completing a Schedule C for the first time.

Not only does TurboTax Premium make it easy to complete the necessary forms and schedules, but it also helps to locate deductions you may not even know about.

Though pricier than the competition, TurboTax Premium offers easy navigation, solid in-product help, and all the information you need to prepare your personal and business taxes for the year.