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Disclaimer: I used to work for Intuit/TurboTax and am now building a product in the same space. On topic: They rightly get beat up for this, and get beat up for

Disclaimer: I used to work for Intuit/TurboTax and am now building a product in the same space. On topic: They rightly get beat up for this, and get beat up for their lack of pricing transparency, but somehow manage to always receive a pass on the software itself. IMHO it's pretty atrocious... Sure, the math is almost always right but the math is a commodity. The experience itself is overly-verbose and littered with repeat questions, confusing questions, open-ended questions. I don't know anyone who genuinely enjoys using TurboTax. I'm surprised there isn't more legitimate competition in this space.

yuhong 12y ago
What do you think of these Ars comments: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/04/turbotax-maker-linked-to-grassroots-campaign-against-free-simple-tax-filing/?comments=1&post=26649199#comment-26649199 http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/04/turbotax-maker-li... http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/04/turbotax-maker-linked-to-grassroots-campaign-against-free-simple-tax-filing/?comments=1&post=26649771#comment-26649771 http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/04/turbotax-maker-li...
- clogston 12y ago
  Both of those comments seem to come from call center workers (i.e., they mention clocking in, etc). Each site has it's own culture (and each site has cultures within cultures). Like any mid-sized company, Intuit has a broad mix of personalities and talent levels. If I had to put them on the couch and nail down the core problem it's that they haven't really done anything groundbreaking lately. All the weird management issues you're reading about in those comments are because they're trying to hang on to what they have without moving the ball forward. All IMO of course.
dlevine 12y ago
I don't particularly enjoy using TurboTax, but hey, who enjoys doing their taxes. However, after using it for 10 years, I'm pretty used to it. When I have a question about how to do something, I can just look a a previous year's return and find a similar situation. While it isn't the most straightforward, at least it's relatively consistent. I've been told by friends that there are less expensive programs out there, but the ~$80 that it cost me to do my taxes on TurboTax (Deluxe + State eFile fee) doesn't seem horrible (ie it isn't worth it to switch to something else to save an insignificant amount of money). It does seem a bit backwards to have to pay to eFile in CA - I used to mail in my returns to get around this. But, at the end of the day, it's easier to just pay to eFile, and it only costs me maybe $20 more (plus I save a trip to the post office). Overall, I've optimized to just using TurboTax, and I'm sure there is some laziness involved in that decision, but overall, unless something else is much much better, there isn't too much impetus to switch.
- clogston 12y ago
  > Overall, I've optimized to just using TurboTax, and I'm sure there is some laziness involved in that decision, but overall, unless something else is much much better, there isn't too much impetus to switch. And in fairness, there's benefit to sticking with them year over year: that's a lot of data that gets transferred automatically. Most of the less expensive alternatives are horrid (I've used almost all of them). There's a good reason they're the king of their market. My point is simply that no one's giving them legitimate competition in the space and that surprises me. My evidence was only to point out the low-hanging fruit to go after (and while that low hanging fruit wouldn't be enough to sway a 10-year user, it's potentially enough to sway earlier users)
- TwoBit 12y ago
  I switched to TaxACT this year and it was at least as easy as TurboTax, much cheaper, and actually supports more functionality.
snowwrestler 12y ago
I went from doing my taxes by hand to using TurboTax. The comparison is like night and day; I get a more complicated return done way faster using TurboTax than when I did things by hand. The verbosity of TurboTax seems like a feature to me, not a bug, in that it pre-answers many obvious questions. I don't enjoy using TurboTax because I don't enjoy doing my taxes no matter how good the software. But I certainly don't blame TurboTax for that.
- clogston 12y ago
  Oh FOR SURE. It's leaps and bounds better than paper forms... IRS says average time to prepare a 1040EZ(!) by hand is over 3.5 hours. Only ~5% of filers use paper forms anymore though. Maybe "enjoy" is a high bar? But surely there's room for improvement.
  - ianstormtaylor 12y ago
    Just used their web interface to file last minute today and it was actually amazing. I do think you're right about the confusing questions still, but the web version seems to have solved all of the form input problems and "correction" problems from last year. (Of course, I'd much rather have what other developed countries have and make TurboTax obsolete.)
    - snowwrestler 12y ago
      I used their website to file too, and thought it was a well-designed and easy-to-use web app. I've never used their native application; maybe it has worse usability than the website?
Bluestrike2 12y ago
The experience of actually using TurboTax is horrible, saved only by the frightening alternative that would be the experience of filling things out manually. I'd expect that the reason why Intuit refuses to change things (clarifying and streamlining questions, better navigation between forms, etc. etc.) is a fear of risking that which "already works." Unless something significant changes in the market, I don't see Intuit re-envisioning TurboTax anytime soon.
iopq 12y ago
Every year they try to force me to pay to file online for state taxes... but it's free online in my state. It's just painfully obvious they're trying to rip me off on the state return.
twoodfin 12y ago
I've been using H&R Block's "At Home" software (the product previously known as "TaxCut") for over a decade without major complaints. ~$50 (the "Deluxe" edition + State + State filing fee) and about two hours of my time for a moderately complex joint return seems fair to me.

yuhong 12y ago

What do you think of these Ars comments: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/04/turbotax-maker-linked-to-grassroots-campaign-against-free-simple-tax-filing/?comments=1&post=26649199#comment-26649199 http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/04/turbotax-maker-li... http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/04/turbotax-maker-linked-to-grassroots-campaign-against-free-simple-tax-filing/?comments=1&post=26649771#comment-26649771 http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/04/turbotax-maker-li...

clogston 12y ago
Both of those comments seem to come from call center workers (i.e., they mention clocking in, etc). Each site has it's own culture (and each site has cultures within cultures). Like any mid-sized company, Intuit has a broad mix of personalities and talent levels. If I had to put them on the couch and nail down the core problem it's that they haven't really done anything groundbreaking lately. All the weird management issues you're reading about in those comments are because they're trying to hang on to what they have without moving the ball forward. All IMO of course.

dlevine 12y ago

I don't particularly enjoy using TurboTax, but hey, who enjoys doing their taxes. However, after using it for 10 years, I'm pretty used to it. When I have a question about how to do something, I can just look a a previous year's return and find a similar situation. While it isn't the most straightforward, at least it's relatively consistent. I've been told by friends that there are less expensive programs out there, but the ~$80 that it cost me to do my taxes on TurboTax (Deluxe + State eFile fee) doesn't seem horrible (ie it isn't worth it to switch to something else to save an insignificant amount of money). It does seem a bit backwards to have to pay to eFile in CA - I used to mail in my returns to get around this. But, at the end of the day, it's easier to just pay to eFile, and it only costs me maybe $20 more (plus I save a trip to the post office). Overall, I've optimized to just using TurboTax, and I'm sure there is some laziness involved in that decision, but overall, unless something else is much much better, there isn't too much impetus to switch.

clogston 12y ago
> Overall, I've optimized to just using TurboTax, and I'm sure there is some laziness involved in that decision, but overall, unless something else is much much better, there isn't too much impetus to switch. And in fairness, there's benefit to sticking with them year over year: that's a lot of data that gets transferred automatically. Most of the less expensive alternatives are horrid (I've used almost all of them). There's a good reason they're the king of their market. My point is simply that no one's giving them legitimate competition in the space and that surprises me. My evidence was only to point out the low-hanging fruit to go after (and while that low hanging fruit wouldn't be enough to sway a 10-year user, it's potentially enough to sway earlier users)
TwoBit 12y ago
I switched to TaxACT this year and it was at least as easy as TurboTax, much cheaper, and actually supports more functionality.

snowwrestler 12y ago

I went from doing my taxes by hand to using TurboTax. The comparison is like night and day; I get a more complicated return done way faster using TurboTax than when I did things by hand. The verbosity of TurboTax seems like a feature to me, not a bug, in that it pre-answers many obvious questions. I don't enjoy using TurboTax because I don't enjoy doing my taxes no matter how good the software. But I certainly don't blame TurboTax for that.

clogston 12y ago
Oh FOR SURE. It's leaps and bounds better than paper forms... IRS says average time to prepare a 1040EZ(!) by hand is over 3.5 hours. Only ~5% of filers use paper forms anymore though. Maybe "enjoy" is a high bar? But surely there's room for improvement.
- ianstormtaylor 12y ago
  Just used their web interface to file last minute today and it was actually amazing. I do think you're right about the confusing questions still, but the web version seems to have solved all of the form input problems and "correction" problems from last year. (Of course, I'd much rather have what other developed countries have and make TurboTax obsolete.)
  - snowwrestler 12y ago
    I used their website to file too, and thought it was a well-designed and easy-to-use web app. I've never used their native application; maybe it has worse usability than the website?

Bluestrike2 12y ago

The experience of actually using TurboTax is horrible, saved only by the frightening alternative that would be the experience of filling things out manually. I'd expect that the reason why Intuit refuses to change things (clarifying and streamlining questions, better navigation between forms, etc. etc.) is a fear of risking that which "already works." Unless something significant changes in the market, I don't see Intuit re-envisioning TurboTax anytime soon.

iopq 12y ago

Every year they try to force me to pay to file online for state taxes... but it's free online in my state. It's just painfully obvious they're trying to rip me off on the state return.

twoodfin 12y ago

I've been using H&R Block's "At Home" software (the product previously known as "TaxCut") for over a decade without major complaints. ~$50 (the "Deluxe" edition + State + State filing fee) and about two hours of my time for a moderately complex joint return seems fair to me.