If you’ve been following along Allison’s Tax Series, you may have decided that doing your own taxes is right for you. For many people that means buying a personal tax software to guide you through the maze.

As someone who has used TurboTax in the past and is now using it again this year, I often wonder how accurate my return is. I mean, I’m sure the software is pretty accurate or it certainly wouldn’t be selling or be around for so long. Yet, I never “really” know if it is right or if I am missing out on some tax savings. While I have a fundamental knowledge of how taxes work, I am far from current or expert in the area. If I liked it, I would’ve done something with my accounting degree. But, since that is not the case, I am always left choosing between self-preparation using software or hiring a tax professional.

SmartMoney has a great article called “How Do TaxCut and TurboTax Match Up Head-to-Head?” in which they prepare a real live tax return for a recently married couple in both programs. While the results are far from conclusive, and married filing jointly doesn’t exist in our world, it is an interesting read. At the very least it is fascinating to see how each program handles certain items differently.

For example:

The good thing about tax software is it calculates which deduction makes more sense, so you don’t have to deal with complicated tables.

But that’s where I ran into a snag. What exactly qualifies as a big-ticket item? According to TurboTax, that’s cars and a variety of other vehicles, aircraft, boats, mobile homes, and building materials for home improvements. We had paid sales tax on none of that, so the software went on to deduct our state and local income taxes.

Using TaxCut, I was left with a different impression. It listed “cars, other motor vehicles, boats, and homes (including major home additions and renovations)” as qualifying for the sales tax deduction. And, hey, we bought a home last year, and because it was new construction we paid the developer’s costs, including $6,300 in city and state taxes. I punched that in and the software went ahead to deduct our sales rather than income taxes. The result: $835 more in our tax refund.

I don’t know about you, but $835 is worth sneezing at. And, I am certain this is only one example. The article goes on to tackle the state tax return morass which is even more confusing.

After reading all this, I guess I shouldn’t be too concerned if I am off a small dollar amount as I calculate cost basis on a mutual fund sale from 2006 then. The brokerage form sent me a 1099-B with only the words “UNKNOWN” where cost basis and capital gain/loss should be. Swell, unknown. After much searching and even more cursing, I wanted to send the IRS a big fat UNKNOWN message.

If you’re up for several hours or more of tax time fun preparing it yourself, you might want to delve even deeper as you compare the leading tax preparation software. After reading this article and my personal struggles with my return this year, I certainly see the value in hiring a professional. Unfortunately, the last few years I had a professional prepare it as part of my financial planning package. And, while I’m sure he did a fine job, I never had any real communications with him other than a return phonecall when I kept hounding him with questions. What I really wanted were suggestions to make it easier and more advantageous in the future, especially with respect to my business, but what I got was a plain in – out – thank you ma’am approach. This extra service was yanked from my financial planning package this year, so I’m back to flying solo. But, I must say, I am certainly considering working with a professional in the future provided the follow a collaborative approach (not just – garbage in/garbage out).

How about you – our savvy Queercents readers? What has been your experiences good, bag, or ugly with TaxCut or TurboTax? Share in the comments below….