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TurboTax Freemium Funnel: Critical Analysis and UX Teardown

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Re: TurboTax Freemium Funnel: Critical Analysis and UX Teardown

#11

Post by goatherders »

votepaunchy wrote: post #9
goatherders wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ridiculous tax code isnt the fault of TT, even though they lobby to keep it that way. It's the fault of the cowards we keep sending to DC. Take it up with them.

And yet whenever we try to eliminate “loopholes”, there’s some group complaining vigorously to keep that complexity. The new tax law simplified taxes for most filers by increasing the standard deduction (by eliminating exemptions).

How do you know the new tax law simplifies filing since it didn't apply to 2017?

Re: TurboTax Freemium Funnel: Critical Analysis and UX Teardown

#12

Post by splitrocket »

America, one of the few developed nations where doing your taxes involves paying a third party to help you tell the government what it already knows.

TurboTax and HR block lobby considerably to prevent the government from making the process of paying taxes free, fast, and painless for the overwhelming majority of taxpayers.

https://www.propublica.org/article/filing-taxes-could-be-fre...

Re: TurboTax Freemium Funnel: Critical Analysis and UX Teardown

#13

Post by maxerickson »

goatherders wrote: post #11
votepaunchy wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet whenever we try to eliminate “loopholes”, there’s some group complaining vigorously to keep that complexity. The new tax law simplified taxes for most filers by increasing the standard deduction (by eliminating exemptions).

How do you know the new tax law simplifies filing since it didn't apply to 2017?

It's pretty much guaranteed that fewer people will itemize this year.

Re: TurboTax Freemium Funnel: Critical Analysis and UX Teardown

#14

Post by nsxwolf »

cproctor wrote: post #7

It's not that hard to do your taxes on your own, especially if you have last year's as a model to check yourself. For computationally-oriented folks, I imagine you probably want to have a mental model of how you're presenting yourself tax-wise (instead of just blindly trusting Turbo Tax). In that case, most of what you're getting with Turbo Tax is UI.

There’s a lot of deductions I qualify for that I didn’t know about until I hired a real accountant. I also didn’t know about depreciation recapture on the sale of a rental property. I didn’t know about depreciation at all. If I hadn’t hired an accountant I never would have known to take the depreciation, and wouldn’t have learned that your depreciation gets recaptured even if you don’t claim it.

If your tax situation is even remotely complicated it pays to not do it yourself. You don’t know what you don’t know.

Re: TurboTax Freemium Funnel: Critical Analysis and UX Teardown

#15

Post by goatherders »

maxerickson wrote: post #13
goatherders wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know the new tax law simplifies filing since it didn't apply to 2017?

It's pretty much guaranteed that fewer people will itemize this year.

Whoever told you that is a moron. The new tax changes go into effect for 2018. Fewer itemizers for 2017 taxes has nothing to do with the changes to the tax code.

Re: TurboTax Freemium Funnel: Critical Analysis and UX Teardown

#16

Post by EsotericAlgo »

codehusker wrote: post #5

This might not apply to many who frequent HN, but not enough people know about Free File options. If your adjusted gross income is less than $66,000 you can likely file your federal and potentially state taxes for free. If you make more than $66,00 AGI, the IRS provides fillable forms that are pretty easy to use for your federal but might not be applicable in all circumstances. https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do…

Many states also offer an online filing option.

For example, California has CalFile[1] which covers most situations. There are also some options for free federal filing if your AGI exceeds $66,000 as the requirements set by Free File Alliance[2] members vary depending on the offerings (e.g. FreeTaxUSA[3] doesn't have AGI limits).

[1] https://www.ftb.ca.gov/online/CalFile/index.asp

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_File_Alliance

[3] https://www.freetaxusa.com/

Re: TurboTax Freemium Funnel: Critical Analysis and UX Teardown

#17

Post by maxerickson »

goatherders wrote: post #15
maxerickson wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty much guaranteed that fewer people will itemize this year.

Whoever told you that is a moron. The new tax changes go into effect for 2018. Fewer itemizers for 2017 taxes has nothing to do with the changes to the tax code.

I guess my statement as made is ambiguous, but I wouldn't have said "this year" if I meant 2017 taxes.

Re: TurboTax Freemium Funnel: Critical Analysis and UX Teardown

#19

Post by maym86 »

votepaunchy wrote: post #10
ianai wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Post-citizens United, it’s the corporations.

Corporations don’t file a 1040.

Corporations like Intuit TurboTax spend millions of dollars of the money you give them to loby the government and keep the system so convoluted that you need them to do your taxes.

Re: TurboTax Freemium Funnel: Critical Analysis and UX Teardown

#20

Post by Hello71 »

djcapelis wrote: post #3

I stopped using TurboTax some years ago and switched to TaxAct as a less bad alternative. I didn’t believe them to be necessarily tons better than giving money to TurboTax, but I figured at least it wouldn’t just keep solidifying a market leader who was capturing a significant market based mostly around actively lobbying to keep it that way. In the last two years I took a leap to CreditKarma’s tax offering. It is a b…

too bad they sell your tax information, in all likelihood to companies like Equifax. now they don't have to ask your employers your salary anymore, you can just tell them.
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