Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU), the leader in e-finance, today announced the Automated Tax Return (ATR), its newest tax preparation innovation that fundamentally changes how people prepare their tax returns. The Automated Tax Return imports the most common tax information - wages, interest, dividends and stock transactions - from participating companies, and automatically enters that information in the correct forms in Quicken® TurboTax®. ATR also simplifies transferring tax-related data from Quicken® and QuickBooks® with Just-in-Time imports. This revolutionary new feature is free as part of TurboTax 1040 products for tax year 2000.
Collaborating with Intuit in this industry initiative are leading financial institutions, payroll companies and e-business application providers including Ceridian, Fidelity Investments, PeopleSoft, ProBusiness, Salomon Smith Barney, TD Waterhouse, T. Rowe Price and The Vanguard Group.
"The Automated Tax Return is the Holy Grail of tax preparation," said Scott Cook, Intuit founder and chairman. "This is about taking a task that people hate and fundamentally changing it forever. With ATR, the technology does the work so taxpayers don't have to. TurboTax can slash the time it takes to prepare a tax return. This is great progress towards achieving our vision of the 10-minute tax return."
Taxpayers Benefit from Simplified Tax Preparation
The Automated Tax Return delivers key benefits to users:
- Hassle-free tax preparation The Automated Tax Return eliminates the hassle of organizing and storing certain tax documents in the proverbial "shoebox." ATR does the work - automatically entering tax data into the correct form in TurboTax so users don't have to. ATR also makes entering data from Quicken or QuickBooks easier and more convenient than ever.
- Increased Accuracy Data entry errors are eliminated because ATR automatically retrieves tax information directly from the source and fills in the right tax forms with the correct information.
- Saved Time Completing just Schedules B (interest and dividends) and D (capital gains) can take up to seven hours, according to IRS estimates. In comparison, with ATR, preparing these forms in only 10 minutes will become a reality.
- Ease of use The Automated Tax Return makes the need to organize and enter tax data from W-2s and 1099s obsolete by automatically filling out tax forms.
These benefits so appealed to consumers that when surveyed by Intuit in September 2000, three out of four people (77%) who use tax software said they would embrace a feature like ATR that allows them to electronically enter tax information into their returns.
With the Automated Tax Return, tax information from the user's W-2 form, including wages, withholdings (both Federal and State) as well as all required employer information - more than 20 unique pieces of data - is entered automatically into the correct forms in TurboTax. The same ease applies to investment income from stocks and mutual funds. The Automated Tax Return enters tax information from 1099s automatically, ensuring that capital gains, if available from the brokerage, are correctly reported in Schedule D and interest and dividends are entered into Schedule B.
ATR also easily transfers tax information from Quicken, QuickBooks and other financial software with Just-in-Time imports. TurboTax lets users select specific tax-related data for automatic entry into the correct forms exactly when it's needed. For example, TurboTax transfers charitable contribution information via the Just-in-Time import to automatically fill in the Schedule B charitable deduction section.
Tax information is delivered to the user's tax return from participating payroll providers, brokerages, and mutual fund companies through a secure Internet connection. Tax data remains with the participating company or financial institution until the user requests it entering a username and password through TurboTax.
Intuit Allies with Trusted Industry Leaders
Intuit is joining forces with leading payroll processors, financial institutions and e-business application providers to deliver the Automated Tax Return to consumers. Intuit estimates that 15 to 20 million W-2s and 1099s will be available for import directly into TurboTax forms this coming tax season, with significantly more planned next tax season.
Participating W-2 providers for tax year 2000 are Ceridian, PeopleSoft and ProBusiness. These companies are offering all of their corporate clients the ability to make W-2 forms available to their employees via ATR. Participating financial institutions, which are making stock and mutual fund data available through the Automated Tax Return, are Fidelity Investments, Salomon Smith Barney, TD Waterhouse, T. Rowe Price and The Vanguard Group.
"We have allied ourselves with leaders in e-finance that consumers know and trust," said Bob Meighan, vice president of the Intuit Consumer Tax Group. "These leading companies are already providing robust online services to their customers. The Automated Tax Return is the latest example of these companies' commitment to maintaining leadership positions by offering their customers yet another free service to simplify their financial lives."
About Quicken TurboTax
Quicken TurboTax is the #1-selling tax preparation software program, with approximately 70% retail unit share in 2000, according to PC Data. Its Web-based counterpart, Quicken TurboTax for the WebSM, is the #1-most popular site for online tax preparation and filing services. In addition, Intuit offers Quicken TurboTax Home & Business, designed for self-employed taxpayers. The Automated Tax Return feature is included free in all of these versions of TurboTax. With 17 years of personal finance expertise, the TurboTax family of products saves time and money for more than 10 million Americans each year.
