According to Pro Publica:
Intuit, producer of the top-selling tax software TurboTax, has opposed letting the government do your taxes for free – even though it could save time and headaches for millions of filers.
and Salon.com (same article):
Conservatives and software companies will keep tax season miserable
Return-free filing could save taxpayers billions, but the GOP and companies like TurboTax maker Intuit don’t care
and NPR (audio):
Opposition Blocks Return-Free Tax Filing In U.S.
As far as I’m concerned, Intuit has NEVER had their customer’s best interests at heart. After using TurboTax for 12 years, in 2005 I switched to TaxACT due to the rapidly increasing price of TurboTax & it’s increasing restrictions on the user. TaxACT offers completely free Federal Income Tax filing with no restrictions — either online or via downloadable desktop application. You do have to pay a nominal fee for the State return, but it’s only half the price of what TurboTax charges.
And how many of you have used Intuit’s Quicken? Do you realize that each version released expires after three years, and no longer allows you to download bank or investment transactions (e.g., no online banking)? Same thing with QuickBooks.
As a minimum, the government should provide most all taxpayers with appropriate software to prepare their tax returns. Ideally, they’d allow taxpayers a choice from popularly available software (i.e., TaxACT, H&R Block, TurboTax) — at no cost to the average taxpayer.
So… any chance of this ever happening? Nope. We have a government that’s “of” the Corporations; run “by” the Corporations; & “for” Corporations. Anyway’s… you wouldn’t want that $11.5 million Intuit spent on federal lobbying to go to waste now, would you???
This Techdirt article says it all: Intuit Continues To Make Sure Filing Taxes Is Complicated