So NOW we know why TurboTax added that piracy checker...

[jfulcer]

According to Intuit, the Internal Revenue Service (news - web sites) said it received 15 million tax returns prepared with desktop versions of TurboTax during the 2001 tax filing season. Meanwhile, Intuit sold 5.5 million desktop copies of TurboTax.

lol, that's software piracy at it's best. Pretty bad.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...d=738&e=1&u=/nm/20030313/tc_nm/tech_intuit_dc

 

[BethR]

Last year we prepared ours, and our 2 DDs' returns using our purchased Turbo Tax. There are the 3 using our copy. Oh, I forgot, we did my in-law's too. That's 4 right there with one program on one machine.

 

[apagano]

Similar situation here. I did our joint return, plus my MIL's and SIL's returns on our computer using the same copy of TurboTax. That's not piracy, right? Of course SOME of the discrepancy mentioned above is a result of piracy, but I bet a lot of it is just like ours - several returns in the same family prepared on one machine.

 

[Steve H.]

Same here -- I did four returns with my copy of TurboTax last year, and I'll be doing five this year. It's perfectly legal to prepare multiple returns using one copy of TurboTax, as long as it's on the same PC.

 

[BethR]

There is no doubt in my mind that people "share" their Turbo Tax CDs, but I really think that the piracy is not nearly as bad as the numbers seem to make it.

 

[Towncrier]

Barrington's Wanger thinks Intuit's anti-piracy moves will ultimately pay off: "Intuit is going to make a lot more money off (TurboTax) this year than last."

That may be true, but I bought my copy of TurboTax (and mangled the box for the rebate) before I found out about the inclusion of Safecast. I will most definitely think twice about purchasing this product next year. And I know that I won't be alone.

 

[Steve H.]

I don't know John. We had that discussion at work the other day and while I'd like to think some of the backlash Intuit took would have adverse effects on their sales, the cynic in me says that the general public will forget about this by next year and will buy TurboTax again, because, simply put, they always buy TurboTax.

That, and I really wonder how many consumers actually knew anything about what Intuit did (outside techies like us)?

 

[BethR]

You may very well be right Steve. But next year, I will buy what I bought THIS year (unless I hear of a problem with THAT program! ) - and this year (for the first time) I bought Tax Cut.
And I told a friend who was buying tax software to buy Tax Cut and she did.
Guess it just makes US feel better - huh?

 

[Steve H.]

I agree Beth -- I will likely buy TaxCut next year (I had already installed TurboTax this year when I found out about the added software ) and I know the people I work with will probably do so as well. But I'm curious whether the IT community will be able to have enough of an effect to send Intuit a message that what they did wasn't good business practice.

But, you're right, it'll make me feel better to not buy Intuit products -- and let them know why.

 

[Fire14]

we had 6 returns filed on one computer in my parents house.

 

[WDWHound]

I used Taxcut this year becuase of the whole safecast thing. The problem is, after using taxciut, I have concluded thatTurbotax is a MUCH better product. Taxcut got the job done, but its instructions were much less clear and it raised a bunch of false warnings regarding my return (it knew why the numbers were what they were, but it told me I ought to check "just in case"). So next year I am faced with a tough choice, buy an inferior product or put up with a heavyhanded copy protection scheme.

BTW: It is indeed legal (*and very common) to do multiple returns on one machine. While piracy is a severe problem, I doubt that all of additional 10 million returns were caused by pirating the software.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I did my taxes on line at the IRS website and it didn't cost a thing. I'm over 50.

 

[DonnaS]

I have several different avenues to use TurboTax without buying the desktop copy. It is offered via my credit union's website, my mutual fund company's website, and via quicken.com (which is an Intuit company). I would only have to pay a minimal fee if I filed online or printed it out.

I don't think the number of desktop copies sold is an accurate measure.