Quickbooks or TurboTax?

[magicman]

I understand that Turbotax is tax software that will fill out your tax forms.

Quickbooks is an accounting program that manages invoices, expenses, etc. Does that also do taxes?

Which one should I get, or should I get both? I know which TurboTax version I would use, but which Quickbooks version? I see that the pro version is most popular, but what about Simple Start and Simple Start Free?

I also see that Microsoft has a free Accounting program, has anyone used that one?

[Evan]

TurboTax is used for the preparation of your income tax return. It will not keep records for you, and the software is only as good as the user.

Quickbooks will manage your business and accounting, but will not do taxes. TurboTax, as it is an Intuit product as well, does generally support importing your QuickBooks file. This is NOT foolproof though, and doesn't mean that whatever is on your income statement is in fact deductible.

Simple Start has limited features, and the Free version is limited to 20 customers. The website provides a general comparison. For most people, the Pro version will suffice. Simple Start is a bit more run down.