3 ms·

Turbo Tax uses Google Captcha when trying to import information from financial institutions. While filing taxes, on several occasions I had to just give up an

by yumraj 7y ago

Turbo Tax uses Google Captcha when trying to import information from financial institutions. While filing taxes, on several occasions I had to just give up and try again after several hours because the Captcha won't let me pass through and after several attempts Turbo Tax will throw an error - to come back later. It was literally a Nightmare

buildzr 7y ago
Interesting, I wonder if this is something TurboTax itself is doing or if it's something the banks are going and TurboTax is making you bypass it in order to scrape it.
- yumraj 7y ago
  Not really sure, it was shown after the credentials for the financial institution were entered. However, it was shown for each financial institution. So it is possible that the financial institutions (or the API provider) were doing it, though it is equally likely that turbo tax just has a bad implementation. Because TT can make an assumption that I'm a human, I wonder if there is a regulatory requirement or the API provider is doing that.
akeck 7y ago
It's a bit more expensive, but for this type of thing and other reasons, I now use a CPA.
- muzika 7y ago
  ... who then use an Intuit product to file your taxes
  - fencepost 7y ago
    If it's a CPA that's not on their own, there's a good chance they're using something vertical market instead - Wolters Kluwer, Thomson Reuters, not sure what others.
rdiddly 7y ago
TurboTax itself is a dumpster fire, too. I recommend doing taxes on paper just to avoid touching Intuit or Google in any way.
- yumraj 7y ago
  I don't think that's an option for anything other than 1040-EZ. I get lost filing with turbo tax, I can't even imagine how it'll be on paper.
  - holy_city 7y ago
    It's not that hard if your taxes are simple (standard deduction, maybe some capital gains). Keep in mind the filing companies have an incentive to make the process complicated.
    - Johnny555 7y ago
      I don't think the filing companies are actively making the forms harder to fill out by hand, but the problem is that the IRS has no incentive to minimize the time it takes to file taxes.
      - blaisio 7y ago
        Actually, big accounting firms and tax automation companies spend a lot of money lobbying congress to keep the tax code complicated. It would save everyone a lot of time and money if the IRS would just tell us what we owe - they already know the answer, it's not like they just blindly accept whatever we say.

by yumraj 7y ago

buildzr 7y ago

Interesting, I wonder if this is something TurboTax itself is doing or if it's something the banks are going and TurboTax is making you bypass it in order to scrape it.

yumraj 7y ago
Not really sure, it was shown after the credentials for the financial institution were entered. However, it was shown for each financial institution. So it is possible that the financial institutions (or the API provider) were doing it, though it is equally likely that turbo tax just has a bad implementation. Because TT can make an assumption that I'm a human, I wonder if there is a regulatory requirement or the API provider is doing that.

akeck 7y ago

It's a bit more expensive, but for this type of thing and other reasons, I now use a CPA.

muzika 7y ago
... who then use an Intuit product to file your taxes
- fencepost 7y ago
  If it's a CPA that's not on their own, there's a good chance they're using something vertical market instead - Wolters Kluwer, Thomson Reuters, not sure what others.

rdiddly 7y ago

TurboTax itself is a dumpster fire, too. I recommend doing taxes on paper just to avoid touching Intuit or Google in any way.

yumraj 7y ago
I don't think that's an option for anything other than 1040-EZ. I get lost filing with turbo tax, I can't even imagine how it'll be on paper.
- holy_city 7y ago
  It's not that hard if your taxes are simple (standard deduction, maybe some capital gains). Keep in mind the filing companies have an incentive to make the process complicated.
  - Johnny555 7y ago
    I don't think the filing companies are actively making the forms harder to fill out by hand, but the problem is that the IRS has no incentive to minimize the time it takes to file taxes.
    - blaisio 7y ago
      Actually, big accounting firms and tax automation companies spend a lot of money lobbying congress to keep the tax code complicated. It would save everyone a lot of time and money if the IRS would just tell us what we owe - they already know the answer, it's not like they just blindly accept whatever we say.