Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) today announced the formation of TurboTax® Connect, which brings together member companies to deliver Intuit's revolutionary Automated Tax Return to their customers. In addition to the 10 charter members - financial institutions and employer services companies that provided instant access to tax data this past tax season - 18 new member companies have joined TurboTax Connect. Intuit expects more than 40 companies to provide automated entry of tax data into TurboTax this coming season. Through TurboTax Connect, Intuit will focus on delivering premium tax solutions and aligning tax offerings with those of TurboTax Connect members to provide added value, convenience and personalized service to shared customers.
"Companies realize the enormous opportunities in offering integrated tax solutions to help attract and retain customers," said Tom Allanson, senior vice president of Intuit. "We are taking a leadership role in forming this network to create real synergies between Intuit and TurboTax Connect members. The strength of these alliances together with leading tax offerings is a winning combination for Intuit and our partners. By creating TurboTax Connect, Intuit is better positioned to assist member companies in differentiating their offerings in an increasingly crowded marketplace while helping them deploy the next generation of online tax products and services for their customers."
Growing Strategic Alliances
Coming off another record-setting tax season, Intuit continues to focus on innovation and building strategic alliances to deliver revenue and share growth as well as customer satisfaction. Over the past several years, financial institutions and other partners have helped to drive growth and mass adoption of online tax solutions while expanding distribution for Intuit's leading TurboTax products and other TurboTax branded content, tools and advice.
"Through TurboTax Connect, member companies give customers access to their tax data, significantly streamlining tax preparation," said Bob Meighan, vice president of Intuit. "This is a big benefit to our shared customers who can now complete their taxes in record time and make informed decisions faster and more easily than ever before."
Member Benefits
- Innovative Tax Solutions: TurboTax Connect members use the Internet to deliver Intuit's revolutionary Automated Tax Return capabilities to customers, enabling users to quickly and easily import common tax data directly into their TurboTax tax return.
- Dedicated Service and Support: Intuit maintains first-class service and technical support for TurboTax Connect members, ensuring tax offerings are implemented in a timely manner and customer service issues are resolved quickly.
- Access to Technical Expertise: TurboTax Connect members have access to Intuit's tax and engineering experts to ensure seamless integration and on-going support throughout the tax season.
- Network of Integration Experts: Through TurboTax Connect, members can access expert service providers to enable their integration of tax connectivity services.
- Co-Marketing Opportunities: Through TurboTax Connect, Intuit and member companies cooperate in high-level marketing programs that best leverage the strength of the TurboTax and member brands.
Automated Tax Return
Intuit's Automated Tax Return is fundamentally changing how people prepare their taxes by quickly, securely and accurately retrieving common tax information - wages, dividends, interest and stock transactions - from participating companies and instantly entering that information in the correct forms in the TurboTax products.
Financial institutions, banks, mutual funds, employer services companies, lenders, technology providers and other companies that provide tax data for automated entry into TurboTax are eligible for membership in TurboTax Connect. For the second consecutive year, Intuit will partner with Ceridian, PeopleSoft and ProBusiness Services, Inc. to provide wage and salary information (W-2s) and financial institutions including Fidelity Investments, INVESCO Funds, TD Waterhouse, T. Rowe Price and The Vanguard Group to provide investment data (1099s).
For Tax Year 2001, new TurboTax Connect members include Alliance Global Capital, Baron Funds, Berger Funds, Credit Suisse First Boston/CSFBdirect, Delaware Investments, Federated Investors, First Eagle SoGen Funds, Firsthand, Gabelli Funds, John Hancock Funds, Lutheran Brotherhood Family of Funds, One Group Mutual Funds, Phoenix Funds, Robert W. Baird & Co., The Royce Funds, SAFECO Mutual Funds, Sentinel Funds and Westcore Funds. TurboTax Connect also includes technology provider DST Systems, Inc., which enables financial institutions to deliver investment information to customers via TurboTax.
"The industry leader when it comes to forging alliances with financial services institutions is Mountain View, Calif.-based Intuit," said Jaime Punishill, senior analyst at Forrester Research, in the March 12, 2001 issue of ComputerWorld. "Although other companies are considering moving in the same direction, Intuit is the only one so far to have enabled tax data to be downloaded."
Companies interested in joining TurboTax Connect can visit www.atrinfo.turbotax.com.
