I received my Turbotax 2008 a few weeks ago and have been roughing out my taxes. This year's version looks very solid. I'm still waiting on some final forms and the state version, but it looks pretty good. I've used it for 16 years since the product was Macintax and it has clearly overcome a dip in quality a few years back. Intuit also has taken the step of putting the Mac version on the disk with the PC version - a very consumer-friendly option.
The bad thing about Turbotax this year is that they jacked up the price to $60 and charge you an additional $9.95 for each return after the first one - regardless of whether you print or eFile. Intuit will tell you that you get a "free" eFile in the cost of the product, but that isn't too much benefit if you want to paper file. Set aside for the moment the argument that the consumer should actually have to pay a private company to make the IRS's life easier. I'm all for government efficiency, but why isn't the IRS assuming the costs of electronic delivery instead of the consumer? Given that I "paid" for a "free" eFile, I will eFile this year, although I have not previously.
In the past, Intuit let you produce 5 returns each year with Turbotax. This allowed you to do married filing separately, kids' returns, parents, grandparents, etc. A reasonable consumer use and one supported by Intuit. Now if you want to do that, it is $9.95 per return. The irony here is that they also increased the price of the product. If they were making an economic argument based on each consumer paying closer to their actual costs, they would have cut the price of the one-return product.
Intuit is getting slammed on Amazon.com right now as reviewers are hitting them up for one-star and highlighting the new pricing scheme. Online news sources like cNet have picked up on it as well. I suspect that the mainstream media will have it in about a week. Maybe in time for the Sunday paper? Intuit is going to take a black eye, but maybe they will like the return on investment they get?
Meanwhile, Taxcut weighs in at $50 and includes 5 "free" eFiles (or paper) returns. H&R Block is starting to highlight this difference in their advertising and on the web. Taxcut has its own challenges, but Intuit is giving them a big opening with this self-inflicted wound. I'll be interested in how it plays out.
The bad thing about Turbotax this year is that they jacked up the price to $60 and charge you an additional $9.95 for each return after the first one - regardless of whether you print or eFile. Intuit will tell you that you get a "free" eFile in the cost of the product, but that isn't too much benefit if you want to paper file. Set aside for the moment the argument that the consumer should actually have to pay a private company to make the IRS's life easier. I'm all for government efficiency, but why isn't the IRS assuming the costs of electronic delivery instead of the consumer? Given that I "paid" for a "free" eFile, I will eFile this year, although I have not previously.
In the past, Intuit let you produce 5 returns each year with Turbotax. This allowed you to do married filing separately, kids' returns, parents, grandparents, etc. A reasonable consumer use and one supported by Intuit. Now if you want to do that, it is $9.95 per return. The irony here is that they also increased the price of the product. If they were making an economic argument based on each consumer paying closer to their actual costs, they would have cut the price of the one-return product.
Intuit is getting slammed on Amazon.com right now as reviewers are hitting them up for one-star and highlighting the new pricing scheme. Online news sources like cNet have picked up on it as well. I suspect that the mainstream media will have it in about a week. Maybe in time for the Sunday paper? Intuit is going to take a black eye, but maybe they will like the return on investment they get?
Meanwhile, Taxcut weighs in at $50 and includes 5 "free" eFiles (or paper) returns. H&R Block is starting to highlight this difference in their advertising and on the web. Taxcut has its own challenges, but Intuit is giving them a big opening with this self-inflicted wound. I'll be interested in how it plays out.