If you recognize the name Intuit, you’re probably one of the 40 million people who filed returns last year using its TurboTax software. Facing competitors ranging from storefront tax preparers to free (for now) preparation through a credit report website, the company’s CEO is optimistic about the future. [More]
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Why Isn’t It Easier To File Your Tax Return For Free? Thank TurboTax, H&R Block
By 3.20.17
For most people, the IRS now has all the information it needs to estimate how much you owe in taxes, or how much of a refund you are due. So why is the burden on you to tell the federal government this same information? It may have something to do with the millions of dollars that H&R Block, Intuit (maker of TurboTax), and others have spent lobbying to maintain their exclusive arrangement with the IRS. [More]
Sen. Elizabeth Warren Proposes Requiring That IRS Offer Free Tax Filing & Prep Services
By 4.13.16
With the clock officially ticking down on the 2016 tax season, lawmakers are already looking for ways to simplify the process next year by introducing legislation that would, among other things, develop a free, online tax preparation and filing service that taxpayers can use to prepare and file their taxes directly with the federal government. [More]
Intuit Finds New, More Caring Owner For Quicken
By 3.4.16
When you can’t give a pet the care that it deserves anymore, you find a new home for it. Accounting software company Intuit is packing up its original product, the personal finance program Quicken, and sending it off to live with new owners. The private equity firm H.I.G. Capital and Eric Dunn, the general manager of the Quicken brand will purchase the program and its brand. [More]
This Walmart Is Apparently Stuck In 2011
By 9.21.15
Reader Knah is one of the bravest explorers who form the Raiders of the Lost Walmart: retail archaeologists who comb the nation’s big-box stores for retail antiquities that have somehow stayed on the shelves even though they’re now obsolete, sometimes comically so. Here are his three latest finds: all of which are out of date, if not useless, yet are locked up in security equipment. Why? [More]
Lawmakers In House, Senate Investigating Fraudulent Returns Filed With TurboTax
By 2.17.15
Joining the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service on the case of bogus tax returns filed used Intuit’s TurboTax software will now be lawmakers from both the House and Senate, who have started probing the recent flurry of fraudulent activity. [More]
TurboTax Resumes E-Filing Of All State Tax Returns After Pause To Investigate Fraud
By 2.9.15
Just a short time after Intuit announced on Friday that it would stop TurboTax electronic filing of all state tax returns to investigate fraudulent activity, the company announced filing would resume. [More]
TurboTax Stops E-Filing Of All State Tax Returns While Investigating Fraudulent Activity
By 2.6.15
After Minnesota state tax officials stopped taking all TurboTax e-filed returns last night and other states pressed pause as well amidst possible fraudulent activity, Intuit has announced that it’s halting all state e-filed returns while it investigates criminal attempts to use stolen data to file fraudulent returns and claim refunds. [More]
Minnesota Stops Taking Returns Filed With TurboTax, Citing Possible Fraudulent Activity
By 2.6.15
UPDATE: Intuit announced this afternoon that it’s halting all state e-filed tax returns while investigating reports of fraudulent activity. [More]
TurboTax Customers Can Upgrade To Premier Or Home And Business On February 7
By 2.3.15
The Great TurboTax Revolt of 2015 was successful: after changing the features available to users of different tiers of the income tax return software, customers made their rage clear, and Intuit relented. They rolled back the change for future editions and offered a free upgrade to users this year. If you’re in a hurry to file your taxes, that upgrade will come on February 7. [More]
Intuit Caves To Pressure: Offers Free TurboTax Upgrades, Will Undo Changes To Software For Next Year
By 1.30.15
Ask, and ye shall receive. Or rather, create a fuss big enough to let a company know people aren’t okay with changes made to a popular product, and force that company to back down and do the right thing. After TurboTax customers heartily voiced their disapproval over Intuit tweaking its software and charging more for features that used to be included in certain versions of the software, Intuit has reversed course, saying it’ll undo the hell it wrought. [More]
Changes To TurboTax Lead To Consumer Revolt, Opportunity For Competitors
By 1.23.15
It’s the opening weekend of tax season! If you work an hourly or salaried job, the W-2 form summarizing how much you earned and how much tax you’ve paid is already in your mailbox or will be soon, since the deadline to mail them out is February 2nd. If you plan to use the Windows or Mac version of TurboTax, though, there’s something that you should know before you get started. UPDATE, 1/30: Thanks to this consumer revolt, Intuit is rolling back the changes and will return to the old pricing scheme for next year. [More]
Intuit/TurboTax Using Non-Profits, Religious Leaders In Push Against Pre-Filled Tax Forms
By 4.14.14
We can understand why some people might have concerns about receiving tax forms that are already filled in by the IRS. We could understand why some would voice those concerns in a public forum. But is a line crossed when the people telling you to voice your concerns are the very ones who stand to benefit financially from your opposition? [More]
Legislation Would Prevent IRS From Providing Pre-Filled Tax Returns
By 4.15.13
In 2002, when the IRS and the tax-prep software industry created Free File, which gives consumers with simple tax returns the ability to file electronically without being charged, the IRS agreed to not provide its own “free, online tax return preparation and filing services to taxpayers.” That arrangement is expiring, so some lawmakers (with a bit of money from tax-prep companies in their pockets) are seeking to make it permanent. [More]
Intuit (TurboTax) Spends Millions To Keep Us From Filing Taxes Quickly And For Free
By 3.27.13
Here’s something to keep in mind as you wait in line at 11:30 PM on April 15th: filing your taxes could be so, so much easier. Bills have been put before Congress that would let taxpayers choose to have the Internal Revenue Service calculate their taxes due for them, and send them a bill or cut a refund check accordingly. Only there are companies lobbying to keep things exactly as they are. The biggest spenders aren’t accounting firms, or even Big Tax Cat. It’s Intuit, the maker of popular tax-filing program TurboTax. The company has spent more than $11 million lobbying to keep tax returns around forever. [More]
The Slightly Ridiculous Multiple License Pricing Of QuickBooks
By 9.27.12
When Brett’s dad bought a new computer with a shinier operating system, he had to purchase a new version of the accounting software Quickbooks for use on more than one computer. No big deal: Quickbooks comes with multiple licenses so users can install it on more than one computer after buying only one copy. There was no mention of needing multiple licenses for multiple computers in the sales documentation. That’s when Brett learned that you can’t make purchases based on how a product’s specifications used to be. A second license actually costs more than a single copy of Quickbooks. [More]
Why Is TurboTax Asking Me For A Donation?
By 4.11.12
Well, that headline is a little disingenuous. We know exactly why. K. filed his federal return using the free e-file service through Intuit’s TurboTax. It nagged him to upgrade to the paid service here and there during the process, which you expect when using any free service. What he didn’t expect was a pop-up with Lisa the Friendly Accountant acting like a public radio host during pledge drive week. “Intuit is a multi-billion dollar corporation,” he pointed out in his e-mail to Consumerist. “I just found this a bit greedy.” [More]
Lawsuit Claims Technology Industry Bigwigs Had Secret Anti-Poaching Pact To Keep Employee Salaries Low
By 1.30.12
The ability to play employers off bids from other companies seeking to snag the best in their fields is an important one. So much so, in fact, that workers in Silicon Valley have filed a lawsuit alleging that some of the industry’s biggest players were involved in a secret anti-poaching pact that kept salaries down and workers stuck where they were. [More]
