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TurboTax Takes Aim at Smaller Rival in Fight for Filers

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Re: TurboTax Takes Aim at Smaller Rival in Fight for Filers

#81

Post by brianwawok »

e40 wrote: post #14

I use a CPA for my taxes, since I never want to have to deal with an audit myself, but even if I wanted to do my own taxes, I would never use anything Intuit made, ever. My experience with Quicken has forever soured me on that company. Quicken was one of the worst programs I have ever used. Because of their need to sell a yearly version of it, the UI churn and addition of bugs, it got so bad it was nearly unusable fo…

> I use a CPA for my taxes, since I never want to have to deal with an audit myself,

You realize the doing of the taxes and the audit defense are two separate things, right? You can totally do your own taxes, and in the .01% chance you got audited - hire someone to help. It's not that scary of a thing...

Re: TurboTax Takes Aim at Smaller Rival in Fight for Filers

#82

Post by brianwawok »

vdnkh wrote: post #22
jonathanjaeger wrote: post #15

I've been using TaxACT ever since I became an "adult" and started filing my tax returns. I can't really compare it to TurboTax, which I've only used for business taxes, but I can't imagine anything else being easier or cheaper. It amazes me how some people who have really simple tax forms still pay accountants..

>It amazes me how some people who have really simple tax forms still pay accountants.. My W2 is "simple" (single, no kids, etc.) but I give it to an accountant anyway. Costs $30 or so but the accountant knows certain tricks to maximize my tax return. Not illegal, but she knows how broad exemptions can be. For example, I work from home some days. I built a new computer. Technically, it's exempt because it's a work exp…

> Technically, it's exempt because it's a work expense.

Ever play a game on it? Opps, it is no longer a work expense. Minor tax fraud is not exactly a "trick", anyone can do it!

Re: TurboTax Takes Aim at Smaller Rival in Fight for Filers

#83

Post by serge2k »

loeg wrote: post #37
bicknergseng wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has anyone tried to make an open source version? Any 18f or USDS folks around who want to save us from Intuit and H&R Block?

Yes. The problem is the damn tax code changes every year (see: Intuit's lobbying) and you need to pay for an army of lawyers for when you get it wrong.

Isn't it more like every day?

Re: TurboTax Takes Aim at Smaller Rival in Fight for Filers

#84

Post by mrpippy »

SilasX wrote: post #76
algorithmsRcool wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this really the case? Can't most people can just file with a 1040(A or EZ) and be done pretty quickly. I was under the impression that you only have to break out the crazy worksheets or software if you want to get fancy with your deductions or take advantage of tax credits. You can save alot of money this way, but really it's the deductions that are the complication (and the audit risk...) but how can you simplify…

You can't file for free on the IRS site if your income is above $62k, no matter how simple your filing is: https://www.irs.gov/uac/Free-File:-Do-Your-Federal-Taxes-for... Edit: I'd love to know a logical reason for that policy beyond "f- the rich".

As the site shows, Free File Fillable Forms is available to everyone, but it's not as easy as the step-by-step wizards of TurboTax and TaxAct. There's manual arithmetic involved, following the PDF instructions, looking through tax tables, etc.

Re: TurboTax Takes Aim at Smaller Rival in Fight for Filers

#85

Post by dragonwriter »

SilasX wrote: post #76
algorithmsRcool wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this really the case? Can't most people can just file with a 1040(A or EZ) and be done pretty quickly. I was under the impression that you only have to break out the crazy worksheets or software if you want to get fancy with your deductions or take advantage of tax credits. You can save alot of money this way, but really it's the deductions that are the complication (and the audit risk...) but how can you simplify…

You can't file for free on the IRS site if your income is above $62k, no matter how simple your filing is: https://www.irs.gov/uac/Free-File:-Do-Your-Federal-Taxes-for... Edit: I'd love to know a logical reason for that policy beyond "f- the rich".

While you can file for free above $62,000 (you have to use the fillable forms, and not the tax prep software), the reason I think the reason for the divide is ultimately that the sub-$62k annual income segment isn't of particular interest to the tax prep (software/services) industry, so providing free tax prep software to them doesn't hit the kind of political pushback that a generally-available solution would.

Re: TurboTax Takes Aim at Smaller Rival in Fight for Filers

#86

Post by st3v3r »

zdw wrote: post #2

Intuit's PolOps are also continuously trying to keep the US Tax system complex, so they have a reason to exist that isn't the case in other countries: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/business/24digi.html?_r=0 http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/27/turbotax-maker-funnels-mill... If you want something evil to disrupt, disrupt this.

But then wouldn't you be relying on the same thing? The only real way to disrupt it is through government.

Re: TurboTax Takes Aim at Smaller Rival in Fight for Filers

#87

Post by curun1r »

morgante wrote: post #50

My tax situation is complicated enough that I no longer want to do it myself, but I also can't find a good accountant easily. Why isn't there a web service which will let you easily hire a good accountant online? There's absolutely no reason your accountant has to be local to you, yet all the information I've found online has been for finding a "local" professional. I can't wait to see the Uberization of professional…

The funny thing is, Intuit used to have a product called CPA Select that would connect you with a CPA to complete your taxes. It was even intelligent, so that if you'd started your return on TurboTax, the CPA could pick up right where you left off and didn't have to ask as many questions.

However I can't find it anymore, so I guess they discontinued it. Given how many people ask the same question you've asked, I guess they did a really bad job of getting the word out about it and didn't get adoption.

Re: TurboTax Takes Aim at Smaller Rival in Fight for Filers

#88

Post by curun1r »

dantillberg wrote: post #24
SonicSoul wrote: post #23

If it wasn't for this story I would have used TurboTax again. I hope this backfires with free publicity for TaxAct and many people like me will switch this year.

Me too! I started using TurboTax years ago, and have always grudgingly paid the ever-increasing fees for the service. They're so slippery about state filing fees. I estimate I'll be saving about $60 as a result of this article this year. For TurboTax, because I have a small mutual fund account, I have to upgrade to the "Premium" option just for those extra two or three boxes. H&R Block had similar pricing last year.…

> TurboTax needs to afford their $1M houses in the Valley.

FYI: While Intuit's main headquarters may be in Mtn View, TurboTax is primarily based in San Diego. That's not Iowa cheap, but it's somewhere in between.

Re: TurboTax Takes Aim at Smaller Rival in Fight for Filers

#89

Post by dsmithatx »

johnward wrote: post #55
dsmithatx wrote: post #4

TurboTax should focus on making long term paying customers happy. I did not file taxes in 2014 since I didn't really owe much and decided to put it off. I went last weekend to do my 2014 taxes before submitting 2015. Turbotax told me I had to purchase the software for $60 even though I always have used their online service until 2013. A quick Google search and I found a free service that allowed me to get my 2014 tax…

TurboTax and many others still have a free option: https://apps.irs.gov/app/freeFile/jsp/index.jsp

Not for previous years which was my whole point.

Re: TurboTax Takes Aim at Smaller Rival in Fight for Filers

#90

Post by tsestrich »

curun1r wrote: post #87
morgante wrote: post #50

My tax situation is complicated enough that I no longer want to do it myself, but I also can't find a good accountant easily. Why isn't there a web service which will let you easily hire a good accountant online? There's absolutely no reason your accountant has to be local to you, yet all the information I've found online has been for finding a "local" professional. I can't wait to see the Uberization of professional…

The funny thing is, Intuit used to have a product called CPA Select that would connect you with a CPA to complete your taxes. It was even intelligent, so that if you'd started your return on TurboTax, the CPA could pick up right where you left off and didn't have to ask as many questions. However I can't find it anymore, so I guess they discontinued it. Given how many people ask the same question you've asked, I gues…

Yeah, they actually rebranded it as TurboTax Personal Pro before they discontinued it. It just shut down before this current tax season. We're picking up where they left off, with our company Taxaroo[1].

My understanding from the research we've been able to do is that there were a few issues:

- The branding was weird. TurboTax is supposed to be about DIY, so having a tax pro service under that was confusing. I spoke to several former preparers with Personal Pro who said they would get clients asking for technical support with TurboTax

- It started as "intrapreneurship" within Intuit, so it was a small team trying to grow it (not a top-down initiative). I suspect they had certain (large) targets they couldn't meet that were gates along the development process.

- I suspect ultimately, similar to above, it never became large enough to be interesting to Intuit, and it was likely cannibalizing some of their existing customers as it was.

[1] - https://www.taxaroo.com

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