Buy TurboTax, or just use a website?

[jzunic]

For the past 2 years, we've used esmarttax.com for our taxes. However, we just had the standard deduction and nothing complicated. It worked very well for us, and the price was reasonable.

In 2006, we purchased a home, so we'll have to itemize our deductions for the first time. We also exercised some stock options from one company, and purchased some vested stock options from another company - I don't think we'll be affected by AMT, but we'll have to calculate that in case.

And in 2007, we'll be having a child, and my income may end if I stop working. So it would be nice to be able to calculate different scenarios throughout the year to make sure we're on track for our 2007 taxes.

Anyways, is it worth it to purchase TurboTax, to help with our (slightly) more complicated return for 2006, and to help us plan for 2007? I've never used the program before (although we use Quicken), so I don't know what it offers. However, it looks like we would still have to pay additional money to efile, so the prices starts adding up...

Also, do you know which version I'd need, since we have to consider the AMT?

Thanks for your help!

[scfr]

Here's a link to a recent thread on Turbo Tax: Turbo Tax: Online or Desktop

Be sure to see the notes on how you can file online for free if your income qualifies.

I have only ever used the Home & Business version of Turbo Tax, and the program always considers the AMT. I think it's fairly safe to assume all of the versions of Turbo Tax do the same, but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.