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The 2017 tax overhaul vastly expanded the number of people who could file simplified tax returns, a boon to millions of Americans.
But the new law directly threatened the lucrative business of Intuit, the maker of TurboTax.
Although the company draws in customers with the promise of a "free" product, its fortunes depend on getting as many customers as possible to pay. It had been regularly charging $100 or more for returns that included itemized deductions for mortgage interest and charitable donations. Under the new law, many wealthier taxpayers would no longer be filing that form, qualifying them to use the company's free software.
Intuit executives came up with a way to preserve the company's hefty profit margins: It began charging more low-income people. Which ones? Individuals with disabilities, the unemployed and people who owe money on student loans, all of whom use tax forms that TurboTax previously included for free.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by krishnoid on Wednesday July 17 2019, @09:41PM (11 children)
If the disabled, unemployed, and student lendees all got together ... they could pay for one copy and just use that. I don't think there's a limit to the number of people who can use an installed copy.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Wednesday July 17 2019, @09:52PM (5 children)
Yes, they should unite! to vote out the incumbents, and not reelect those who sell their souls.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday July 17 2019, @10:34PM (4 children)
To know the value of a soul, you need to have one yourself. That is contraindicated in DC.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2, Informative) by fustakrakich on Wednesday July 17 2019, @10:45PM (3 children)
With the feeblest of effort the voters can change that too. It's all upon them to take the initiative.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday July 18 2019, @11:13AM (2 children)
This is true. Bullets aren't very expensive.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday July 18 2019, @05:01PM
Is shooting people all you can think of?
You know you guys are a bit weird, right?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by etherscythe on Friday July 19 2019, @01:30PM
No, but the externalities in the aftermath of their use are.
"Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday July 17 2019, @10:13PM (3 children)
Does anybody, anywhere, use the installed app and not the online one?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 17 2019, @10:26PM (1 child)
I do. Because I want to do my taxes on my own computer instead of 'someone else's computer' e.g. the cloud. I also like to save various alternative 'what if' scenarios to help plan for next year. I save the files on an encrypted thumb drive that then lives in the fireproof safe next to the printed paper copies of the tax forms. Way better than sitting on 'the cloud' just waiting for TurboTax to have some major breach.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 18 2019, @08:29PM
so you use closed source shit from some whore ass company in bed with the government?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by KilroySmith on Wednesday July 17 2019, @10:55PM
>>> Does anybody, anywhere, use the installed app and not the online one?
I do. Because I don't trust Intuit as far as I could throw the M*****F*****s.
How valuable do you think having a database of every person in the country, which includes their SS#, Name, Address, Phone, exact earnings, savings (including bank name and account numbers), investments (including investment house and account numbers), deductions, and donations (including those to your church, so they know your religion also)? And updating that database every year? And being the information whores that they are (IMHO), they've got every little bit of it and sell it to as many people as they can - a sale that you don't profit from one iota. You didn't really think it costs on the order of $70 for R&D to update the program every year, did you? And the bastards have a nice cozy relationship with the IRS - that "E-File" that you can do from the app first gets sent to Intuit, who datamines and then sends it to the IRS. No way to send it direct.
And so, I buy TurboTax (or TaxCut, or TaxAct, whichever is cheaper) because the automation simplifies handling of stock option / RSU sales enough to make it worthwhile to me. Then I install and update it on my laptop, then put the laptop in Airplane mode while I do my taxes and print them out.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by SrLnclt on Wednesday July 17 2019, @10:39PM
If you plan to efile there is a limit, I believe of 5 tax returns. A number of years ago they tried reducing this to a single return, and caught holy hell in reviews and comments online. They eventually reversed course. If you want to use dead trees and stamps I don't believe there is a limit.
I know a number of people that use a single license to do multiple returns, typically for minor children or for elderly relatives in assisted living.