A decade ago, Intuit pioneered its EasyStep interview, which greatly simplified the process of preparing and filing personal income tax returns. The company has continued to hone that innovative tool and build more depth, guidance, and usability into the program every year. This year's enhancements focus on several areas, like customization, data import, and more interactive interview topics. These subtle changes help make TurboTax our favorite tax preparation package.

Intuit touched off a firestorm last year when it introduced product activation into TurboTax. After installation, you had to enter an activation code, and you couldn't load the program onto more than one PC (say, at home to do your taxes and at work to print them out) without getting an additional code from Intuit tech support. But the company heard users' complaints, and this year's TurboTax has no such limitations.

Getting started can be easier if you're able to import at least some of your tax data. This can come from financial (Quicken, QuickBooks, and others) and tax software (TurboTax or TaxCut). In addition, TurboTax also downloads data for your W-2 (salary information), 1099 (investment data), and 1098 (mortgage interest). The list of participating financial institutions has grown this year and is listed in the program.

Two of this year's changes are evident early on. Taxpayers who have imported data from the previous year's version are presented with a special "Welcome Back" interview. This multiscreen process displays information as it is carried over from the prior year for your approval, then asks if you've experienced any significant life events over the last year that would affect your taxes. These include starting a business, refinancing or purchasing a home, and receiving an inheritance. Based on your answers, TurboTax modifies the interview to include those topics.

At the beginning of each section, TurboTax asks you to check off tax issues that are germane to your financial situation, so that it displays topics you must complete. Intuit has shaved off the number of screens you must go through this year to save you time and annoyance. Though TaxCut is very competent at this task, we like TurboTax's structure and approach to conversing with taxpayers better. Several "experts" have been added this year to walk you through complex topics, and videos present information in a welcoming multimedia format.

Little has changed cosmetically or in terms of navigation, and that's a good thing. Buttons and menus at the top of the screen help you get where you're going should you choose not to move through sequentially (which is recommended for all of these programs) or need to back up. Click on a button and TurboTax Navigator—an index arranged by content topics—opens.

Help tools are thorough. FAQs appear on almost every screen to deal with context-sensitive questions, and hyperlinks take you to explanations of unfamiliar terms. You can type entries in plain English or, if you click the Help & Info Center link, a dialog box displays links to instances where that topic appears. Topic Search—unfortunately hidden up in the Tools menu—asks for a word or phrase, then takes you to the correct screen.

For tax-related questions, you can talk to one of Intuit's in-house experts for $19.95 per solution. As far as technical support goes, you can enter a live chat for free, but a phone call will cost you $19.95 for 24 hours of access to the phone techs.

Whether you've been using TurboTax in the past or are a newcomer, we can recommend the program without reservation. It costs a little more than TaxCut, but the streamlined interview process is a real timesaver, and the help topics and tools are exemplary.