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Speaking of smaller rivals ... This guy provides free US federal tax forms for Excel : https://sites.google.com/site/excel1040/ https://sites.google.com/site/ex

Speaking of smaller rivals ... This guy provides free US federal tax forms for Excel : https://sites.google.com/site/excel1040/ https://sites.google.com/site/excel1040/ ( old school shareware) Fill in, print out, mail in. (Absolutely great if you have to file previous years returns to qualify for Obamacare subsidies.) Turbo Tax tries to trick/force you into buying "audit protection": "Please enter your credit card number to submit form".

emodendroket 11y ago
There's a fair bit of sleaze when you use TurboTax, at least this year: * If you enter any IRA contributions, including Roth IRA, it suggests you update to Deluxe to get "your biggest refund" even though Roth IRA contributions don't qualify you for deductions. * They plaster "e-filing your federal returns is free!" everywhere while obscuring the fact that they want $20 to help you e-file a state return * The audit stuff you mentioned * They no longer include one free state as they have in previous years, but this fact is not mentioned anywhere in the product description
- polytap 11y ago
  Yeah, they really seem to have taken it up a notch this year. I was presented with a refund that was only possible if I purchased a small business plan. When I declined, the UI reduced my refund by $2k and also said I'd have to re-enter my personal information it had saved from last year, basically penalizing me. Curious, I went to H&R Block and began to file my current-year taxes from scratch. Lo and behold, HRB's basic service level calculated my full refund.
- istjohn 11y ago
  To add on to that, if you qualify for the free tier and used TurboTax in a previous year, they make a point of showing you all the information they can prefill from your last tax return. Then, they tell you that they will delete this information unless you upgrade to a paid version. Way to reward loyal customers. I found another provider to do my taxes this year.
  - tosseraccount 11y ago
    How marketing slipped this past QC is dumbfounding. Maybe they know their little niche will face decline and they need to squeeze whatever they can out of it now.

emodendroket 11y ago

There's a fair bit of sleaze when you use TurboTax, at least this year: * If you enter any IRA contributions, including Roth IRA, it suggests you update to Deluxe to get "your biggest refund" even though Roth IRA contributions don't qualify you for deductions. * They plaster "e-filing your federal returns is free!" everywhere while obscuring the fact that they want $20 to help you e-file a state return * The audit stuff you mentioned * They no longer include one free state as they have in previous years, but this fact is not mentioned anywhere in the product description

polytap 11y ago
Yeah, they really seem to have taken it up a notch this year. I was presented with a refund that was only possible if I purchased a small business plan. When I declined, the UI reduced my refund by $2k and also said I'd have to re-enter my personal information it had saved from last year, basically penalizing me. Curious, I went to H&R Block and began to file my current-year taxes from scratch. Lo and behold, HRB's basic service level calculated my full refund.
istjohn 11y ago
To add on to that, if you qualify for the free tier and used TurboTax in a previous year, they make a point of showing you all the information they can prefill from your last tax return. Then, they tell you that they will delete this information unless you upgrade to a paid version. Way to reward loyal customers. I found another provider to do my taxes this year.
- tosseraccount 11y ago
  How marketing slipped this past QC is dumbfounding. Maybe they know their little niche will face decline and they need to squeeze whatever they can out of it now.