@Critter, thank you for all the information you provide in your responses. Yet I'm still really at sea trying to figure out how to even evaluate TurboTax. Maybe it's just not possible. Maybe I just have to bite the bullet and buy.
But if so, which one? Do I buy a CD/download? Or online? Which ones work for the "partnership" and which for us personally? How do I choose? When can I buy it?
The "Tell us about you" page says the online TT SE is the one, but I've learned here that it won't work for multi-member LLCs. The "which product is right for you" page says that TT Business is the one, but I've also learned here that's wrong: TT Business won't do my personal returns.
As best as I can tell, I'm supposed to buy a CD/Download of TT Business and then also buy either a CD/download or subscription to TT SE.
I've been doing my own taxes, with several businesses, for years now. This year I was hoping TT would help me run different scenarios, mainly on how we allocate revenues and contributions among various tax-advantaged options. I was also hoping for a 21st Century solution that would automate things better than fumbling around with a bunch of filled-in PDFs. Everything else we do is cloud-based, so I was hoping to streamline my tax preparation process, too. But I can't wait until sometime in December. Some of those decisions need to be made sooner than that.
Frankly, using the IRS's forms and publications is infinitely easier than shopping and evaluating TurboTax has been so far. At this point it's just really hard for me to imagine that my experience with TurboTax's tax preparation will be any less confusing and convoluted.
I really appreciate the information and help you folks here on the community forum have provided. It is concerning that, with TurboTax's own information about its products and services being incorrect, it has apparently outsourced its sales process to you all as the only source of reliable information. That's just not instilling confidence.
