Tools to make taxes less taxing

Of the two packages, best-selling TurboTax retains the slicker interface. Everything works predictably and smoothly. The standard package on CD-ROM costs $19.95 and comes with a free federal filing (after mail-in rebate). The deluxe package, which costs $29.95 (after rebate), includes helpful videos and lots of tax help as well as the state program.

Turbo Tax's Macintosh version costs $49.95 on CD-ROM. TurboTax's online versions cost the same as the packaged software, except that Mac users don't pay an extra premium.

This year, Intuit has introduced an even more feature-packed program called TurboTax Premier. At $39.95 (after rebate) in both its software and online forms, the program includes planning tools that show users how to invest their refunds in their 401(k) plans and let them pick a strategy for maximizing their deductions for the next 10 years.

Such features, along with the changes in H&R Block's TaxCut this year, mark the programs' migration from tax tool to financial-planning tool.

TaxCut presents a friendlier face from its opening screen to the various aids along the way. H&R Block has packed five new financial-advice features into this year's edition. Users can learn whether an individual retirement account is right for them, and even open an IRA online and fund it with their federal refund. They can also plan their retirement, figure out how to save for their children's education, and decide whether it makes sense to refinance their home mortgage.

For a fee, both TaxCut and TurboTax give users the option of having a professional adviser look over their returns before filing them.

TaxCut costs less than TurboTax (after mail-in rebates): $9.95 for the basic Windows edition, $19.95 for the deluxe Windows or Macintosh version. The company also offers a $49.95 home-and-business-tax package.

In my view, the software versions of the program worked better than the $19.95 online offering, which at times presented incomplete screens or posed questions without displaying an answer box.

These Internet-related problems were quickly solved by rebooting the computer and logging back on, but such quirks can be annoying.

On the other hand, the online part of the tax-preparation business is growing faster than the software segment.

"We're seeing triple-digit growth," says Aaron Horvath, director of online products for H&R Block, based in Kansas City, Mo. "We expect to catch up with software in terms of number of returns filed in the next couple of years."

Three years ago, in its first year online, H&R Block suffered a security breach that potentially affected a small handful of online users. Since then, however, security measures and monitoring have improved so much that the company has not experienced a breach since, Mr. Horvath says.

The Internet, it seems, is fast becoming the playground for accountant types - and many novice number-crunchers, too.

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