All posts by W. Sadowski

Hi! My name is Witold Sadowski and I am the founder of BlackerFriday.com. I have an MBA from California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), San Luis Obispo, CA and a BA in Business Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, CA. After many years as a Sr. Manager working in the online marketing industry for companies such as Adobe Systems, Commission Junction, and Coupons.com, responsible for direct revenues of up to $50+ million annually, I decided it was time to take a break from the corporate world and started Blacker Friday in 2012 to pursue my real passion — helping people save money. Ever since I was a little boy selling pencils in the playground to my kindergarden friends, later collecting aluminum cans from all my neighbors in elementary school to support my baseball card addiction, eventually becoming an eBay Power Seller in my older years to support my college education, I had an eye for spotting deals. I’ve taken what I have learned over the years and built Blacker Friday to bring you the best Black Friday rumors, predictions, and news website. Fortunately I'm not alone in this - We have a great team of dedicated folks helping make this site possible. If you would like to connect with me you can do so on my Linkedin page, on our site’s Facebook page, or write me an email. Thanks for checking us out and I look forward to hearing from you!

TurboTax Deluxe 2019 Service Codes & Discounts

April 15, 2019 W. Sadowski Leave a comment

Updated on Monday April 15, 2019: Can you believe that the April 15th tax filing deadline is tonight? It’s probably a good idea to get started your tax return if you haven’t done so already. And to help you file in time, we’re once again tracking all of best deals on TurboTax software you can find today — Here’s a look at all of our favorites:

Offer #1: Save $5.00 on the online edition of TurboTax Deluxe when ordered directly from intuit.com. Five bucks may not sound like a lot but considering that it retails for just $59.99, it’s a pretty good deal considering that today is April 15th your last day to file before the deadline. This discount is automatically applied when you visit their special offer page. Offer ends tonight at 11:59PM PST, April 15, 2019.

Offer #2: If you or your spouse/parter where in active military service in any part of 2018 then you may be able to take advantage of the TurboTax’s military discount. All E1-E5 ranked military personnel get the online version of TurboTax Deluxe for free. All E6 or above military personnel get $5.00 off or more, depending on the version chosen. TurboTax uses your military W-2 to verify rank and to apply the discount to your order. Only available for online versions as the desktop versions are excluded from the offer. This is an ongoing offer but only available to those who pre-qualify.

Offer #3: The next time you login to your online banking account be sure to take a look at see if they have a deals page (I have a link in my online Bank of America account). Although we’re seeing less of these deals lately, TurboTax has a history of partnering with credit unions, banks and credit card companies and offering a discount to their clients. Some worth looking into are Capital One, Citi Bank, Vanguard, Merrill Lynch, AAA, Nasa Federal Credit Union, PenFed, and Discover Card – All of which we’ve seen these partner deals before.

Offer #4: Is this the first time you’re thinking about completing and sending in your tax return on your own? Or maybe you just want to have a quick estimate on how much of a refund you can expect to see this year? Whatever the the reason, you can work on your tax return completely for free with TurboTax up until the point of filing. Based on the information you enter, you’ll see the expected tax refund or the extra amount you’ll need to pay.

Offer #5: If you’re a student then it’s likely you’re not making much money right now. If so, you may actually be able to file a simple tax return for free with TurboTax this year and not pay even a penny for it. Even better yet, TurboTax can help you get over $1,000 back in education credits and deductions if you qualify. Plus they will help you with FAFSA filing by letting you print a FAFSA-friendly view of your completed tax form.

Offer #6: A number of stores sell TurboTax, including our favorite go-to place — Amazon. They usually a few bucks off or so, however because their sale prices change so often (even up to several time a day on certain items) you’ll need to check out their site for today’s sale price.

TurboTax 2019 Service Codes & Discounts (April 2019)

April 15, 2019 W. Sadowski Leave a comment

Updated on Monday April 15, 2019: For most of us, it’s hard to recall what happened a few days ago, let alone last year. But it’s tax season and the deadline to file is TONIGHT!! Hopefully you’ll have a sweet, small fortune in the form of a tax refund coming your way so maybe it won’t be so bad to file your return in time.

Either way, why pay full price on your tax software when you don’t have to – right? That’s where we can help! We’re tracking all the top discounts and service codes (a.k.a. coupons) on TurboTax this season to help you find the best price possible on your tax prep software. Here’s a list of our favorite TurboTax deals available today.

Our Favorite TurboTax Deals Available Today:

Offer #1:

ordered directly

This is an instant discount sale with no additional rebates or codes required. The online versions of TurboTax are the most popular choice these last few years as there’s no software to install and you work on your return from any one of your computers or tablets (especially helpful if you and your spouse both work on your taxes together if you have an accountant review your return before filing).

Offer #2:

QuickBooks Self-Employed Tax bundle

If you’re already a QuickBooks user then this is definitely worth taking a look at, especially if you are a small business owner that prefers to back up your tax data online rather than having everything stored on your local hard drive. The plan is now on sale for $12/month for your first 3 months in the program. Then after the introductory period, it’ll cost you $17/month, but you’ll be able to cancel at any time.

Offer #3:

TurboTax Advantage Program

It’s completely free to join and includes live phone support from a dedicated help line, free product shipping (if you choose the CD versions), and up to 3-years of access or re-download of your tax product purchased. See Intuit’s site for full details on the program.

Offer #4:

entire return for free

It’ll guide you through your tax forms, apply your anticipated deductions and give you an overview on how big of a refund you can expect this year (or for those unlucky folks, how much you still owe in State and/or Federal taxes). You can also check out the bank syncing feature with your Bank of America, Citi, Discover, or any other larger financial institution and see how easy it is to import your tax data. Then once you reach the end, it’ll ask you to pay if you wish to file. If you don’t, it doesn’t cost you anything. It’s as simple as that!

Offer #5:

TurboTax Freedom Edition

The free option for those in active military service (rank E1 through E5 only). If you rank E6 or higher it’s no longer free but there is an additional discount available for you. A military W2 tax form from 2018 is required to apply the discount. See Intuit.com for full details and how to qualify.

Offer #6:

Federal Free Edition

Plus, TurboTax will help you find all of those sneaky education credits and deductions to help you get up to $1,000 back in education credits if you qualify. They also have a Benefit Assist feature that can help you find up to $2,000 in government benefits. And whatever tax refund that may be coming your way can be placed on a prepaid NetSpend Visa card.

You’ll notice that none of these offers on this page require you to use any physical coupon codes at checkout (or “service codes” as they are also know as). That’s because most of the deals are link-based, meaning they will be applied automatically to your order. Others, like the Amazon deals are just sale prices with most of the bundle offers require you to purchase two qualifying products to get the special discounted price. That’s simple enough, right?

Oh and we should also say that it’s also worth checking with your local credit union, credit card company or bank to see if they are partnered with TurboTax. In the past, financial institutions like Capital One, Bank of America, Citi Bank, Vanguard, Merrill Lynch, AAA, Nasa Federal Credit Union, PenFed, and Discover Card have all discounts in the past. Some of the deals we along the line of just a few bucks off while others offered up to $20.00 off. The discounts will vary by company and will depend on your customer level (in the past, premium-level customers were given the best discounts and sometimes even TurboTax for free).

TurboTax 2019 Discounts & Service Codes (April 2019)

April 15, 2019 W. Sadowski Leave a comment

Updated on Monday April 15, 2019: If you’re a regular user of TurboTax software then you probably already know that each year they run a number of different deals. And you’re in luck as we’re once again tracking the best TurboTax discounts (just be quick because this year’s tax filing deadline is TONIGHT!!). Here are our favorite deals available today:

$5.00 off the Deluxe online version of TurboTax — Choose from either the standard version or the new TurboTax Live version. Follow the link to apply the discount. You have until midnight Pacific Time tonight, on April 15, 2019 to take advantage of this offer.
$10.00 off the Premier online version of TurboTax — Same as above, you have until 11:59PM PST this evening (April 15, 2019) to take advantage of this offer.
$15.00 off the Self-Employed online version of TurboTax — This offer also ends on midnight tonight, April 15, 2019.
29% off the Quickbooks/TurboTax Self-Employed Bundle — If you already use Quickbooks to run your business accounting, then this offer is definitely worth taking a look at.
Most TurboTax CD/Download versions on sale this week — If you prefer the CD/Download version of TurboTax then it’s unlikely you’ll find a better sale price then at Amazon. Most versions are discounted and, as an authorized reseller, give you the option to download and install your copy of TurboTax moments after you complete your order. That’s helpful because you can get started on your return right away without having to wait for the physical disc to arrive in the mail.
Military discount — All E1 through E5 ranking military personnel can qualify for free federal and state filing TurboTax Deluxe. If you need Premier, Self-Employed, or TurboTax Live then it’s no longer free, but as a active military employee you’ll get at lest $5 off your TurboTax purchase. E6 and above ranking military personnel get a $5 off discount on all TurboTax online federal products regardless of the version purchased.
File for free online — You’ll pay nothing at all to file your federal and state taxes with the TurboTax Free Edition if you have a simple tax return. There’s no better deal than that! Just remember that this option is for folks that have a really simple tax for to send in. That means if you need itemized dedications, have business income to report, have rental properties, stock sales, or other special items you need to report to the IRS, then you’ll have to get one of the paid versions.

Do I need to apply a promo code to activate my TurboTax discount?

No you don’t. That’s because all of offers posted above already have the appropriate discount codes embedded in the links; just click through and you’ll see the offer applied to your purchase. This is typical of TurboTax.

What’s a TurboTax “Service Code”?

If you decide to work through your tax return this year using the online version of TurboTax (the most popular option for most folks) you’ll notice a “service code” box once you approach checkout. The naming is confusing, but it’s just an area where you can enter a code if one was given to you from Intuit’s customer support team. From a case to case basis, their team sometimes issues codes to customers to either track a purchase back to a support agent or to apply a make-good price adjustment.

What other offers are available for me?

We here at Blacker Friday are working around the clock to track all of the most popular offers available this tax season. However, there are other offers available out there, most notably for select banking and financial institution customers.

For example, if you’re an American Express card holder then you can login to your online account and very this week’s available offers. The same goes for any of your other banking accounts, i.e. Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, etc.. These offers tend to come and go — usually not available all tax-season long— and will vary depending on what type of customer you care (corporate, individual, high-wealth, etc.). It’s worth taking a look into your account to see if there is anything special available.

Which version of TurboTax should I choose?

If you’re filing a joint tax return, have multiple investments or W2 forms coming in, then it can be overwhelming when choosing with version of TurboTax to choose. You don’t want to start off a higher version than needed because not only is it not needed and more expensive to purchase, but also hard to downgrade as you’ll need to start over if switching to a lower version.

That’s why we recommend starting off with the lowest versions of TurboTax online… and that’s the “free” versions. Once you start filling out your return and adding your tax forms and income information, the program will guide you to the correct version of the software as you go along.

When’s this year’s tax deadline?

Because of holiday and weekends these last few years on April 15th the tax deadline was pushed out a day or two. That’s not the case this year. You’ll have up until April 15, 2019 to file your tax return and pay any taxes you owe or to file a tax extension. If you are granted a tax extension then you’ll still need to pay any estimated taxes owed prior to April 15th in order to avoid any late fees or interest charges.