intuition

An early peek at tax apps: TurboTax and TaxCut

Although taxes aren't due until April, many people like to get an early start in step with the new year. Services from the two most popular digital tax-prep brands are available to try or buy, although state forms won't trickle in until mid-January.

As e-filing and online tax preparation become more popular, boxed applications and their Web-based counterparts offer most of the same tools and interface elements. As a rule of thumb, online products are ideal for one filer, while installed software can handle a bigger household. Although there are no revolutionary changes to TurboTax and TaxCut from … Read more

Intuit vs. Web 2.0: Entry-level QuickBooks software is now free

Intuit is making the 2008 version of its entry-level small-business accounting product, QuickBooks Simple Start Edition, free. Previous full versions of the program sold for $99.95, and "more than 300,000 businesses" use the product. So why give it away?

Intuit's pitch is that it wants to encourage entrepreneurs to take the plunge and launch their dream businesses, and removing the $100 barrier to basic accounting software is its way of proving it. Alongside the launch of the 2008 version, there's a new "Just Start" marketing campaign and contest, in which one person … Read more

The downside of Webware: The Feds

I'm at the Conversational Marketing Summit, listening to a chat between organizer John Battelle and Intuit founder Scott Cook. Batelle is asking about Intuit's online presence. Cook says he'd move all his business online in a heartbeat if he could, but that many QuickBooks business customers don't want to run their accounts online. And not for reliability or accessibility reasons.

Rather, Cook says, his customers want to know where their data is at all times, since in many cases, they're keeping somewhat fictional accounts for their tax reports. Should the IRS come knocking, Cook says, &… Read more

Intuit building Quicken Online

Intuit is planning to release a Web-based edition of its leading personal finance application this winter, possibly early in 2008. Quicken Online marks a key transition for a company that has made its bones selling new versions of its boxed software each year.

I've wondered for a while when a big software brand would offer online financial software with some measure of security and a respectable amount of features beyond basic bank account check-ins. The few that I tested late last year were woefully inadequate. Few people seem willing to trust their personal finances with an unknown brand, for … Read more

Finfo shows snapshots of college costs, job earnings

After reviewing lots of personal finance applications, I still haven't found one that serves young adults well. Today's teenagers have already been raised on a diet of advertising, from soda vending machines in grammar school cafeterias to deceptive credit card offers at college ballgames. The newest grown-ups need better information, for instance, about the indentured servitude that could result from trusting the word of high-interest loan sharks.

You'd think that some software company would benefit by serving the hot 18-to-thirtysomething market, often referred to as Generation Debt. Yet Intuit, for one, has decided to start educating tots … Read more

Death and taxes? No, just taxes.

2007 is upon us, and you know what that means: time to file those 2006 tax returns! The last couple of years I've been using Intuit's TurboTax software and it's been a breeze each time. For about $40, you can get a copy of TurboTax Deluxe, which will allow you to fill out your federal and state returns and file them electronically. You can even set up a direct deposit of your refund into your checking account. Installation is a snap, and the software will walk you through everything from start to finish. You'll be blowing … Read more