Marking a historic landmark in Web-based tax preparation and filing, Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq:INTU) today announced that more than one million federal tax returns have been completed using its Quicken® TurboTax® for the Websm service, the leading site for online tax preparation and filing. Earlier this year, Forrester Research, Inc. projected that more than a million returns would be prepared online this tax season across the entire online tax preparation industry*.
From January 15- April 4, 2000, 1.8 million tax filers have started a federal return using TurboTax for the Web, with more than one million of those completed. In comparison, 240,000 returns were prepared using the TurboTax Web service for the entire tax season last year. An additional 615,000 state returns have also been prepared using the service so far this year.
"As more and more people come to enjoy the benefits of the Web as a financial tool, such as online trading and banking, taxes are the next step," said Bob Meighan, vice president of the Intuit Consumer Tax Group. "The amazing five-fold growth in overall volume we've seen so far this year demonstrates the trust and acceptance consumers have in TurboTax."
The company also reported that through the same date, 3.3 million federal and 1.6 million state returns have been filed electronically so far this year through its Quicken TurboTax and Quicken MacInTax® desktop programs and TurboTax for the Web.
The one-millionth customer, Andreas Schaefer from Santa Clara, Calif., not only used the Web for his first foray into tax preparation software, but this year's tax return was his first U.S. tax return ever. Schaeffer, a resident alien from Germany, said, "The thought of the physical forms scared me, and as tax time comes closer you want to do it quickly. TurboTax was very intuitive, asked the right questions and was convenient."
