Why I Didn't Buy TurboTax This Year
Dave Aiello wrote, "As the United States approaches tax season, I want to go on the record, saying that this year I did not buy a copy of TurboTax, for the first time in seven or eight years. I refused to buy the product because I am not willing to accept the permanent installation of digital rights management software on my computer, just so my wife and I can file our taxes."
"I decided to buy TaxCut from Block Finacial Software. This product has improved a lot in the past few years. It's the scrappy underdog. And, the company that makes it is treating its customers with respect."
"I am not alone in this movement. Martin O'Donnell, our friend in Seattle, sent me an email two weeks ago, saying:"
Although I have been using Intuit tax software for 10 years, I just returned my copy of TurboTax 2002 to Costco for a full refund, I'll be taking Walt Mossberg's advice and switching to TaxCut.
Walter Mossberg's review of TurboTax and TaxCut in the Wall Street Journal was quite explicit about the problem that he had with TurboTax:
...Intuit, in an effort to curb piracy, now is forcing folks who buy TurboTax to jump through hoops to use it. Users must contact Intuit to "activate" the software, a process that limits full use of TurboTax to a single PC. To enforce this system, Intuit secretly installs third-party monitoring software on users' PCs....
So, this year I emphatically recommend H&R Block's TaxCut over Intuit's TurboTax. They both do the job of preparing any straightforward tax return. But Intuit has decided to treat all its TurboTax customers like potential criminals, and to limit the ways that even honest people can use the product. Why subject yourself to that?
To which Dave Aiello said, "Amen, Walter."