Turbo Tax Debacle - Update

Well, the feedback is in at Amazon. As of the time of this writing, Turbo Tax has 311 reviews, and 282 of those are 1-star. As I wrote here, customer's are crying out against Turbo Tax's $9.95/additional return fee, mostly because the people that are manually printing these returns are being charged extra as though they were e-filing the return.

Intuit (the folks who own Turbo Tax), in a press release, announced that they are now allowing customer to e-file up to 5 total federal returns for no additional fee. This is the most returns the IRS allows to be e-filed. All returns beyond the 5th must be printed and mailed seperately, but Intuit has also removed the fee for doing this. Customers can print an unlimited number of tax returns for no additional fees.

Customers who have already paid the additional $9.95 will be refunded, and for those who've purchased the products already, you can update it to allow for the additional free returns.

This does not affect the pricing for e-filing state returns, which is still $17.95/return according to the small print on the Turbo Tax website. 

Good to see a company listening to customer feedback and offering a reasonable solution. The reason for offering this solution is debatable, as it always is with big companies, but it's nice to see a solution nonetheless.

Turbo Tax Debacle

All right! It's time for more fun with Amazon reviews. Next up on the chopping block is Turbo Tax. As of this writing, the newest version of Turbo Tax has garnered 153 1 star ratings. There are only 165 ratings curently posted, which gives the new version of Turbo Tax a 1 star rating overall. 

You can see the most current results here. The reasons for this are quite simple. First, the price of the software went up from $44.95 last year to $59.95 this year. Quite a jump. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the good folks at turbo Tax are now charging $9.95 for each additional return filed, be that e-filing or printing it out. Amazon users are furious and it's showing on the Amazon review boards.

Turbo Tax has been quick to respond with explanations, however, unlike EA with their stint on the Amazon customer review chopping block (which I wrote about here and here). The Turbo Tax VP, Bob Meighan, has offered the following explanations on the cnet forums:

• Turbo Tax costs $15 more this year because they are now including the first e-filing fee. This makes sense, because last year, they charged $17.95 to e-file your taxes. So, assuming you are e-filing, you save $2.95 over last year's version. If you are not e-filing, you are SOL.
• The $9.95 fee per additional return is actually cheaper than it was last year, again assuming that you are e-filing. Last year, e-filing was $17.95 per return, so this year you are saving $8.00 per extra return over last year's price. But, again, if you are old fashioned and prefer to send your taxes in via registered mail, you're screwed.

I think it's also important to note here that e-filing a state return still costs $17.95 for all returns, not just additional returns. From the small print found on Turbo Tax's website: 

³Cost of TurboTax CD/Download includes tax preparation, efile, and print for one federal return. Additional fees apply for preparing additional returns ($9.95) and for efiling state returns ($17.95). Prices are subject to change without notice.

He makes good points here, but a bigger part of the argument, much like it was with EA back in September, is consumer notification. According to Amazon reviews, there is only one notification of extra charges in very fine print (I have not actually seen the back of the box, so I can't attest to this). However, the box states "federal efile included" in a big banner. This phrasing is certainly open to interpretation.

For those consumers shopping online, they are also treated to a nice banner exalting the included federal efile, but on the feature comparison page, it specifically mentions that only one federal efile is included. 

I will refrain from judging Turbo Tax on this one. On one hand, there is notification of extra charges both on the box and on the website, and it is a customer's ultimate respponsibility to read these notifications prior to making a purchase. On the other hand, the prominent advertising is poorly worded and very much open to interpretation. The notifications are tiny. Turbo Tax could've done a better job in making this more prominent. I do feel bad for the folks that print their taxes, though, for they are paying a ton extra above what they paid last year. In his cnet comment, Meighan does mention getting your money back for those fees if you are not satisfied with the product, though. 

Me, I'll stick with letting my tax professional handle my taxes and efiling for a mere $30.00 per year.