TurboTax Deluxe: best price?

I just sent my email to Intuit (I've been in conversation with one of their Turbo Tax VPs who answered a note I had sent to one of the PR folks that I received an email address of when reading a product news release) telling him of my decision to go with Tax Cut this tax year despite his very nice note to me trying to explain their reasons.

No matter how he cuts it, for me with two children's returns, its a 35% price increase for me with no benefits, and lots of perceived hassles if something 'goes wrong' in the process of printing returns, and manipulating the .tax files for backups and the like.

The more people who do inform Intuit, the better. I believe they really blew it this year. This irks me even more than the DRM issue did a few years back.

I wrote to them too. My return does not permit me to efile either which makes it even more aggravating. They should at the very least have a pricing that does not include efile.

Stay tuned folks!

Possibly true. But better for who? IMHO, it's much better for Intuit,

I quit using TurboTax long before Intuit bought them because they lied to me. I quit using Quicken when Intuit lied to me. Yet, after all these years, Intuit still manages to increase sales.

Nope, Intuit is going to continue to do whatever they want (and raise prices) as long as more people purchase their products. Only when people start to vote with their wallets, will Intuit begin to respond to customers.

I believe they blew it too. But this year, for this issue, I think people already HAVE voted with their wallets - have you looked at the amazon.com discussion and ratings that TT 2008 has received this year? I think something is going to change...

Didn't know that Amazon even had discussion groups. But, I did a quick scroll through. You're right, there are a lot of ticked off people. But, I still don't believe it will impact Intuit that much. Maybe they'll lose some customers, but the increased fees will make up for it. BTW, I just received a CD from TurboTax in the mail, which is curious.

They've done that many times in the past. You have to provide a credit card number to activate the software.

Yes, the Amazon TurboTax discussion group has turned into a commercial for TaxCut. That _can't_ be good for TT sales on Amazon.

If you think that the Amazon group has a lot of pissed off TT customers and ex-customers you should visit Intuit's TurboTax forums.

And this is only the tip of the iceberg. TurboTax has just come on sale at many venders. Many, maybe most, users of tax software don't purchase until after January when W2 forms are due out. As with most other things in life, those of us who get an early start are in the minority, most folks put things off until the last minute (i.e., lines at the post office on April 15 comes to mind.)

I don't think Intuit has even begun to see the negative flak and loss of sales that they are going to.

And the magazines haven't done their reviews yet. That will add fuel to the fire.

What was Intuit thinking? If I'm getting a refund I want to e-file to get the refund as soon as possible. But if I owe money I want to send it in as late as possible and have no interest in e-filing.

Aha! That's how it works. Well, into the trash it goes...

I've used TaxAct for a number of years & like it just fine. Not a lot of "hand-holding", but as a semi-retired CPA, I don't need it.

I think that if Intuit made TurboTax freely available (gave away the software) and let people prepare their return up to the point of printing or e-filing, they'd actually make more money on the product. If they allowed it to be downloaded, they'd eliminate the cost of packaging, etc. I suggested this to them many years ago, but got no response. Surprise, surprise.

(Second try - either I or Thunderbird just did something stupid !)

TaxCut did even better than that a year or two ago. I got a free CD in the mail, used it, and paid for e-filing. However, I could have printed for filing by mail if I chose to.

You have a company that has the majority of market share with a mature product, so you aren't going to see a lot of year over unit year sales increases. The MBA finance weenies love the margins on services, so lots of pressure to move from a product model to a service model.

So - the marketing wizzes at Intuit have their marching orders: Since they can't sell more product, get people to pay more for what they are buying. Pretend it's still a product, but charge like a service - each return is another charge.

It will be a disaster of course, but it will take another month or so to set in. A couple of critical reviews, some bad word of mouth and the sales numbers will drop like a rock.

So as I was saying to "stay tuned" (knowing this was coming...), I can now post this communication that I've received from the VP of TurboTax that I've been in contact with over the last couple of weeks. Notice the paragraph under item 2 about refunding the 9.95 fee(s) (In the plural....)

So I, for one, will be using TT this year keeping my fingers crossed that the pricing doesn't get in the way of my actually using the product, but then going to then ask for the multiple efile fees since I don't efile.

"Let me start by saying that we are aware that some TurboTax desktop customers have concerns about the changes we've made to TurboTax desktop product pricing. We're responding daily to those comments on Motley Fool and other online sites, blogs, etc. I also believe it's important for you to have accurate information so you can make informed purchase decisions. Here is what's different for 2008.

1. Federal e-filing is now INCLUDED in all TurboTax desktop products. This makes sense since the majority of TurboTax customers now e-file. With this change, the majority of TurboTax customers will actually save a few dollars this year vs. last year. For example, TurboTax Deluxe costs more this year. However, last year we charged a separate .95 federal e-file fee. So for the majority of our customers who e-file, they will save .95.

1. Customers who prepare multiple returns with TurboTax will be charged .95 for each additional return, which includes FEDERAL and STATE preparation/printing and/or federal e-filing at no additional charge. That means customers who e-filed one or more returns last year will actually pay less this year. For example, a customer who used TurboTax Deluxe software last year to prepare and e-file their own federal return and then prepared and e-filed a second return would have paid .85 (.95 for the boxed software and then .95 x 2 for each e-filed fed return). This year, that same customer will pay .90 (.95 for the boxed software and only .95 for the second federal return). Customers who didn't e-file last year and want to print multiple returns will end up paying more. Customers can start and work on as many returns as they like and still use all the tax planning features without having to pay extra. They also can continue to print unlimited draft returns for review. But for those who never e-filed, we believe once they try it, they will never go back to paper. It's not just about a fast refund, it's also about eliminating the paper hassles and enabling you to file early and pay your balance due (for those who don't get a refund) whenever you choose (for example, e-file in February but automatically schedule your payment for April 15).

We believe that TurboTax remains a great deal, and as always, satisfaction is guaranteed. But if for any reason you don't believe you're getting your money's worth, we will refund the $9.95 fee(s) without question. Right now we're in the process of creating an automated, online process to make this quick and easy for any customer for whatever reason. This satisfaction guarantee is nothing new, but we want every customer to know that they can purchase TurboTax with confidence.

It's important to recognize that the vast majority of our customers will pay less this year. For those who will pay more, we believe the price of TurboTax still represents a great deal. If their experience with TurboTax proves otherwise, we encourage them to request a refund of their fee (s) under our satisfaction guarantee.

I hope this information helps.

Bob Meighan

VP, TurboTax"

"Andrew" wrote in news:493f03ec$0$14310$ snipped-for-privacy@cv.net:

snip

Sorry. Too little and too late. I have already switched my tax software to another vendor and I see no reason to change that decision.

I am another one of those who choose not to efile.

...

Most interesting. Bob has posted on the Amazon TT discussion (but not recently) and on TurboTax's own discussion groups as late as this afternoon, but no mention of a possible refund of the $9.95 even though there are a lot of negative comments about the pricing policy for those who only paper file.

Check out the Motley Fool website Ernie.

Got a direct link, Andrew? I couldn't find anything recent. CTinFL

Gee, no! I looked at Motley Fool (Bob, the VP, had told me that his reply was also posted there when I got it from him earlier when I asked if I Could report his private note to me), and indeed it WAS there when I went to view it. But you're right, I can't seem to find it now...spent the better part of 1/2 hour searching and it was easy to find yesterday. Darn. Sorry.

I was really referencing the comment that Ernie made about not seeing the info on the return policy. Nothing more than what I had posted on this NG.

Anyway, as I said in another post tonight, check out: