Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

WilliamDu

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 22, 2012
267
98
Be advised that Intuit's Turbotax software will no longer run on the PowerPC computer as of the 2012 programs for Federal and State Income Tax.

No warning was given, so if you are an annual subscriber as I am, you will find that the CD they mail you will install the program on your hard disc from the CD, but you will get the message that it won't run on your computer when you attempt to open the program:(

Hidden in the fine print on the Turbotax site, under system requirements, they state that an Intel processor is required.:mad:
 

archtopshop

macrumors regular
Dec 13, 2011
206
1
Here's a copy of an email I received from TurboTax a few minutes ago:

"The tax filing season is approaching and we want you to know that we have updated our Mac system requirements. For 2012, OS X 10.6.8 or higher is now required. To determine if you meet the above system requirements, visit our Apple User page.

In the event you choose not to update, there are TurboTax solutions available to you that preserve your TurboTax historical data and the experience you've come to expect. Your options include:

TurboTax Online—TurboTax Online is compatible with your 2011 TurboTax data file so you won't lose any historical information getting started.
TurboTax for iPad—The iPad version of TurboTax also offers comparable functionality to what you've come to expect on the Mac.

We implemented this change after careful consideration of our customers as well as our development environment. The specific reasons for this move are as follows:

1. Apple has discontinued support for OS X 10.4 / 10.5 and the Power PC platform.
2. Apple's annual release cycle and exclusive features are pushing more consumers to newer platforms. To support these features, we need to adopt new tools and technology.
3. By moving to OS X 10.6+, we can now support newer features requested by customers including Mac app store purchasing, iCloud support, better performance and memory management, and more robust Mac patching.

I hope this information helps you understand the decision we've made. Thank you for choosing TurboTax.

If you have any other questions, please let us know."

Bob Meighan
VP, TurboTax Customer Advocacy


A few years ago I did a friend's tax return using the Windows version and Virtual PC 5. I'm wondering if that might still work.
 

PowerPCMacMan

macrumors 6502a
Jul 17, 2012
800
0
PowerPC land
My thought

Intuit will regret what they did in the long run. I say screw em! Let them have the Intel Mac world, as it doesn't seem important for them to continue having a version for PowerPC users only.

There are plenty of tax software based apps which run on PPC. Google is your friend in this case.

Nice way to orphan those who still use their PowerPC machines for tax related filing purposes. I am sure older versions will still work, just that you need to have the updater download the 2012-2013 updated tax return forms.

Once again, stuff like this just makes PowerPC stronger each day! One day we will triumph and once again be the apple of Apple's eye.


Here's a copy of an email I received from TurboTax a few minutes ago:

"The tax filing season is approaching and we want you to know that we have updated our Mac system requirements. For 2012, OS X 10.6.8 or higher is now required. To determine if you meet the above system requirements, visit our Apple User page.

In the event you choose not to update, there are TurboTax solutions available to you that preserve your TurboTax historical data and the experience you've come to expect. Your options include:

TurboTax Online—TurboTax Online is compatible with your 2011 TurboTax data file so you won't lose any historical information getting started.
TurboTax for iPad—The iPad version of TurboTax also offers comparable functionality to what you've come to expect on the Mac.

We implemented this change after careful consideration of our customers as well as our development environment. The specific reasons for this move are as follows:

1. Apple has discontinued support for OS X 10.4 / 10.5 and the Power PC platform.
2. Apple's annual release cycle and exclusive features are pushing more consumers to newer platforms. To support these features, we need to adopt new tools and technology.
3. By moving to OS X 10.6+, we can now support newer features requested by customers including Mac app store purchasing, iCloud support, better performance and memory management, and more robust Mac patching.

I hope this information helps you understand the decision we've made. Thank you for choosing TurboTax.

If you have any other questions, please let us know."

Bob Meighan
VP, TurboTax Customer Advocacy


A few years ago I did a friend's tax return using the Windows version and Virtual PC 5. I'm wondering if that might still work.
 

Richdmoore

macrumors 68000
Jul 24, 2007
1,956
355
Troutdale, OR
Intuit will regret what they did in the long run. I say screw em! Let them have the Intel Mac world, as it doesn't seem important for them to continue having a version for PowerPC users only.

There are plenty of tax software based apps which run on PPC. Google is your friend in this case.

Nice way to orphan those who still use their PowerPC machines for tax related filing purposes. I am sure older versions will still work, just that you need to have the updater download the 2012-2013 updated tax return forms.

Once again, stuff like this just makes PowerPC stronger each day! One day we will triumph and once again be the apple of Apple's eye.

Rather than modifying older tax software with new forms, wouldn't it be easier (and safer due to tax law changes) to just switch to Internet based tax software? (I had to do that several years ago when my pc didn't have the 800 x 600 resolution requirement I discovered after buying the yearly taxcut software!)
 

PowerPCMacMan

macrumors 6502a
Jul 17, 2012
800
0
PowerPC land
Yeah, I didn't think of that. Besides, the Fed's site http://www.irs.gov gives insights on how to download the latest tax forms.

Me personally, I hate the IRS, but thats just me.


Rather than modifying older tax software with new forms, wouldn't it be easier (and safer due to tax law changes) to just switch to Internet based tax software? (I had to do that several years ago when my pc didn't have the 800 x 600 resolution requirement I discovered after buying the yearly taxcut software!)
 

bmeighan

macrumors newbie
Nov 29, 2011
9
0
To all... Our hands really are tied regarding our decision to drop support for PowerPC and older versions of Mac OS. The tools our engineers used to create and debug the TurboTax software are no longer supported or available. The tools we migrated to don't provide the backward compatibility you need. We know this is a disappointment to all of you. I'm a Mac fan too and never enjoy telling a fellow Mac user news like this.

However, you still have great solutions available to you that preserve all your TurboTax current and historical information without having to change anything on your Mac. Please consider using TurboTax Online. PowerPC and OS 10.4+ are supported. Plus, many of you may have access to an iPad, which is another solution. And finally, your TurboTax data file is 100% compatible with our TurboTax for Windows software. So if you have access to (and the patience for) Windows, you have a 3rd solution.

By the way, we tried to notify all affected customers by email about this issue to the extent we could identify them. There was no intention to hide this from anyone as some suggest here. That serves no one well.

If you want to drop me a note, email me at "TurboTax" + "_advocate" + "@intuit.com".

Bob Meighan
VP, TurboTax
 
Last edited:

PowerPCMacMan

macrumors 6502a
Jul 17, 2012
800
0
PowerPC land
So, all we have to do is go to Turbo Tax online and thats it? Can you provide a link to this? Granted, I use my G5 PowerMac as my everyday machine, I do have Intel based machines also.. but I enjoy using my PowerPC macs though.

Thank you for telling us this news! :) All is not so lost afterall. Long live PowerPC! Thanks for supporting us PowerPC users and the community, Bob! Yeah, you sound like you are a Mac fanatic like us :)


To all... Our hands really are tied regarding our decision to drop support for PowerPC and older versions of Mac OS. The tools our engineers used to create and debug the TurboTax software are no longer supported or available. The tools we migrated to don't provide the backward compatibility you need. We know this is a disappointment to all of you. I'm a Mac fan too and never enjoy telling a fellow Mac user news like this.

However, you still have great solutions available to you that preserves all your TurboTax existing and historical information without having to change anything on your Mac. Please consider using TurboTax Online. PowerPC and OS 10.4+ are supported. Plus, many of you may have access to an iPad, which is another solution. And finally, your TurboTax data file is 100% compatible with our TurboTax for Windows software. So if you have access to (and the patience for) Windows, you have a 3rd solution.

By the way, we tried to notify all affected customers by email about this issue to the extent we could identify them. There was no intention to hide this from anyone as some suggest here. That serves no one well.

If you want to drop me a note, email me at "TurboTax" + "_advocate" + "@intuit.com".

Bob Meighan
VP, TurboTax
 

bmeighan

macrumors newbie
Nov 29, 2011
9
0
To access the TurboTax Online service, just start at www.turbotax.com. After a couple of screens, watch for the Interview option to transfer your prior year tax information from your computer. That's it.

And yes, I am a Mac fan (and happier on a newer MBP and current OS than PPC!).

Bob Meighan
VP, TurboTax
 

WilliamDu

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 22, 2012
267
98
Client Notification

Hi Bob,

"By the way, we tried to notify all affected customers by email about this issue to the extent we could identify them. There was no intention to hide this from anyone as some suggest here. That serves no one well. "

You didn't notify me, and I've been using your service and earlier versions for over 15 years. Not a matter of hiding as Intuit certainly wouldn't do something that dumb. Just no way of knowing who has what kind of processor. Your earlier chit chat "It's on the way" emails to we annual subscribers might have contained a hint however.

Fortunately, I've kept my wife's computer more current than mine, so I just dumped our 2011 data over to her mid 2010 iMac and loaded your program on her machine so I can still do our taxes off line in case the new 2012 27" I will buy (if and when Apple gets off the dime and produces it) doesn't make it before next April.

Lots of verbal runaround on the rationale, but I find it hard to believe you couldn't have provided a PPC version. I suspect it was more a managerial decision to save man hours needed to service a decreasing minority of customers.

Not a problem, as that's what managers get paid to do, and I would have made the same decision.

Only having been in the computer business since 1965, I just don't understand why if Turbotax online will support doing our taxes from a PPC, the software that does that couldn't be provided on a CD.

In any case it was very good of you to address the situation here and provide solutions for PPC users that don't have an Intel Mac in the next room as I do. Typical of the fine service your outfit has provided me for many years.

Personally, I prefer to have my tax business off line on one of our computers running your really superior Turbotax instead of zipping around on the net.
 

4JNA

macrumors 68000
Feb 8, 2006
1,505
1
looking for trash files
this is how business should work.

...There was no intention to hide this from anyone as some suggest here. That serves no one well.

If you want to drop me a note, email me...


hats off to you sir. a stand up way to address an issue. head on with details.

wish the rest of the world shared your (my) vision of customer service. all the best.
 
Last edited:

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,415
43,304
Intuit will regret what they did in the long run. I say screw em! Let them have the Intel Mac world, as it doesn't seem important for them to continue having a version for PowerPC users only.

There are plenty of tax software based apps which run on PPC. Google is your friend in this case.
No offense but how long do you want a company to support a platform that has long been dropped by apple? Its been almost 7 years since apple rolled out the first intel Mac. Apple dropped PPC support in 2 versions ago, at some point vendors are going to drop PPC support and given how long intuit has had it in there is quite surprising.
 

bmeighan

macrumors newbie
Nov 29, 2011
9
0
You didn't notify me, and I've been using your service and earlier versions for over 15 years.

Lots of verbal runaround on the rationale, but I find it hard to believe you couldn't have provided a PPC version. I suspect it was more a managerial decision to save man hours needed to service a decreasing minority of customers.

Only having been in the computer business since 1965, I just don't understand why if Turbotax online will support doing our taxes from a PPC, the software that does that couldn't be provided on a CD.

William... When you order the TurboTax CD, we do not know for which OS it is since both Windows and Mac are on the same CD. So that information is not captured.

A PPC version could have been made available if we wanted to invest the resources in it, BUT we would have also had NO SUPPORT (from Apple and 3rd party tools developers) whatsoever if we had any issues with the tools, debuggers, testing software used to develop that unique version. That's a very risky proposition and one that leaves you and us in the cold if anything acts up. Plus, when you have a fallback solution on the web like we do, the decision to drop PPC was prudent.

Online solutions like TurboTax Online require only a browser. We're not using much of the connected computer for processing so that is why our requirements for Online are so much lower than the "desktop" version. However, as time goes on we will stop supporting really old browsers that don't support the functionality our customers expect.

I appreciate the feedback.

Bob Meighan
VP, TurboTax
 

LeeZurligen

macrumors newbie
Jan 13, 2013
1
0
Salt Lake City
TurboTax lies

So, Bob Meighan, I took your advice and went to the TurboTax website and the online version does not support my PowerBook G4 either. So much for all these years of customer loyalty. I did not receive any kind of notice. I sat down here to start my taxes and suddenly I face the prospect of doing them by hand or buying a newer computer, which I'm not about to do when my PowerBook works just fine, thank you.
 

ybz90

macrumors 6502a
Jul 10, 2009
609
2
This was inevitable and not surprising at all. In fact, I'm actually impressed they retained support for as long as they did compared to others who jumped ship years ago.
 

archtopshop

macrumors regular
Dec 13, 2011
206
1
So, Bob Meighan, I took your advice and went to the TurboTax website and the online version does not support my PowerBook G4 either. So much for all these years of customer loyalty. I did not receive any kind of notice. I sat down here to start my taxes and suddenly I face the prospect of doing them by hand or buying a newer computer, which I'm not about to do when my PowerBook works just fine, thank you.

I just purchased H&R Blocks software for $28 on Amazon. I first called their support center and was told it is compatible with 10.5.8 and the Powermac G4 and G5. It should be here by the weekend, so I'll let the group know if it works.

For the record, I was a loyal TurboTax (MacinTax) user since tax year 1992. I must have used my Mac Plus that first year. I purchased a Centris 610 in '93. Anyway, while I'm dissapointed TurboTax has dropped support for my PowerPC's, I guess I had a pretty good run with it.
 

archtopshop

macrumors regular
Dec 13, 2011
206
1
Today, I received H&R Block's "At Home" Deluxe version tax software. I can report to the group that it installed in just a few minutes on my MDD running Leopard 10.5.8. After initial installation, the program offered to download updated Federal forms from the web, which took about a minute.

Next, I imported my data from last year's TurboTax return. I just needed to browse to the right folder, and the data imported in only a few seconds.

Finally, I attempted to download the (1) free state program. The software informed me my state wasn't yet available. I entered my email address so I could be notified when it is available for download.

The program allows one to fill out the forms directly, or by way of an interview process. It allows an unlimited number of tax returns to be printed, and 5 free e-file returns.

So, if you want to prepare your income tax return on your 10.5.8 PowerPC, while keeping your personal information on your own computer, then this looks like an inexpensive and easy way to do it.

If I run into any problems when I continue to prepare my return, I will report them here.
 

MacSince'85

macrumors member
Oct 29, 2012
77
0
Why are they gouging us with the online price?

To all... Our hands really are tied regarding our decision to drop support for PowerPC and older versions of Mac OS. The tools our engineers used to create and debug the TurboTax software are no longer supported or available. The tools we migrated to don't provide the backward compatibility you need. We know this is a disappointment to all of you. I'm a Mac fan too and never enjoy telling a fellow Mac user news like this.

However, you still have great solutions available to you that preserve all your TurboTax current and historical information without having to change anything on your Mac. Please consider using TurboTax Online. PowerPC and OS 10.4+ are supported. Plus, many of you may have access to an iPad, which is another solution. And finally, your TurboTax data file is 100% compatible with our TurboTax for Windows software. So if you have access to (and the patience for) Windows, you have a 3rd solution.

By the way, we tried to notify all affected customers by email about this issue to the extent we could identify them. There was no intention to hide this from anyone as some suggest here. That serves no one well.

If you want to drop me a note, email me at "TurboTax" + "_advocate" + "@intuit.com".

Bob Meighan
VP, TurboTax

I can purchase TT Deluxe from several online vendors complete with 1 state and federal e-file for $40 while the prices for the online version on the Intuit website are currently $30 for TT Deluxe plus $37 for a state. Why the heck are they charging $27 more for something that requires no payment to any vendor and no physical media to produce? It is stuff like this that makes me despise Intuit after being a loyal customer since 1993. This is the year I finally say goodbye to Intuit for good.
 

khaki

macrumors newbie
May 17, 2008
2
0
How to open historical files

Ihave a 27' iMac running 10.7.5. Your suggestions on how to open historical TurboTax files did not work. I need to review my 2002 tax returns. I tried turbo.tax online, but that has no option to open old files. I went to the Windows version, and it won't open the 2002 files on the Mac.

So, this means that TurboTax has wiped out these files, which are necessary for present tax purposes? Or is there some other workaround?
 

MichaelLAX

macrumors 6502a
Oct 31, 2011
843
23
Ihave a 27' iMac running 10.7.5. Your suggestions on how to open historical TurboTax files did not work. I need to review my 2002 tax returns. I tried turbo.tax online, but that has no option to open old files. I went to the Windows version, and it won't open the 2002 files on the Mac.

So, this means that TurboTax has wiped out these files, which are necessary for present tax purposes? Or is there some other workaround?

I have no experience with Turbo Tax, so I am shooting here a bit in the dark.

Is each year a separate application with separate data file?

You want to open a 2002 tax year data file with its application and the application is PowerPC?

Install Snow Leopard Server into virtualization (I use Parallels 8) and you will be able to open PowerPC apps.

Sometimes data files get corrupted when moving them to the virtualization environment. The workaround here is to ZIP them first and then UNZIP them inside the new environment.
 

khaki

macrumors newbie
May 17, 2008
2
0
Snow Leopard Server

Thanks for the advice. Looks like it might have worked once. But, insofar as I can tell, Snow Leopard Server has not be available for more than a year.
 

MichaelLAX

macrumors 6502a
Oct 31, 2011
843
23
Apple is now selling Snow Leopard Server for $19.99 + sales tax & shipping costs at 1.800.MYAPPLE (1.800.692.7753) - Apple Part Number: MC588Z/A (telephone orders only).

Are you in the USA or Canada?
 

SawyerTHEBEST

macrumors member
Feb 5, 2013
71
0
TurboTax on PPC

SO with TurboTax dropping support for PPC Macs would it be possible to run it in windows via virtual machine on a PPC Mac such as Q or iEmulator ?
 

MisterKeeks

macrumors 68000
Nov 15, 2012
1,833
28
Yes, but it would hurt.

Also, you shouldn't have started a new thread for this, given that there is another thread discussing TurboTax on the front page (which you seem to have seen).
 

SawyerTHEBEST

macrumors member
Feb 5, 2013
71
0
yes, but it would hurt.

Also, you shouldn't have started a new thread for this, given that there is another thread discussing turbotax on the front page (which you seem to have seen).

>_> the winds of the internet
 
Last edited:
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.