"This growth is due in large part to new customers as well as our continued success in improving our customers' online tax preparation and filing experience," said Bob Meighan, vice president of Intuit's consumer tax group. "Plus, we're executing successfully on a number of fronts - expanding our distribution channel through affiliates and offering new online choices to make tax preparation easier, faster and more convenient than ever before. With a month until April 15, we expect about one million first-time customers to abandon the paper and pencil method for the time-savings, ease and convenience of TurboTax for the Web."

Contributing to the continued growth in Intuit's online tax services this year:

• Expanded Affiliate Network: More than 1,100 financial institutions, including 780 credit unions nationwide, electronic retailers and Internet-related service Web sites are making TurboTax for the Web accessible to millions of consumers.
• Online Partnerships: The Yahoo! Finance Tax Center is a key partner in driving new customers to TurboTax for the Web and is delivering increased awareness across the Yahoo! network including promotion on the highly-visited front page of Yahoo!
• TurboTax Premium for the Web: Priced at $10 more than a regular TurboTax for the Web 1040 return, Intuit's new high-end online offering, TurboTax Premium for the Web, accounts for approximately 15 percent of the overall online product mix to date, signaling a growing demand for more robust online offerings.
• Convenience: New customers overwhelmingly rate the convenience of online tax preparation and e-filing as the biggest benefit. With no software to download or install and no charge until customers are ready to file their return, millions of first-time filers are choosing TurboTax for the Web as the fastest, easiest and most convenient option for tax preparation.
• Larger Refunds: This year's early filers have been getting larger refunds and have been more likely to conduct an electronic tax transaction, according to the Internal Revenue Service. At $2,210, the average refund is almost 12 percent higher than at this time last year.
• Electronic Filing: As of Feb. 22, more than 3.2 million taxpayers have e-filed from their personal computers according to the IRS, an increase of nearly 38 percent over the comparable period last year. Returns electronically filed through TurboTax products account for approximately 75 percent of the returns received by the IRS via personal computers.
• Instant Data Entry: To date, more than half a million TurboTax customers have imported their common tax data - wages, interest, dividends and stock and mutual fund transactions - directly into their TurboTax return from more than 45 participating companies, more than double the total number of imports from all of last season.

"These key milestones and early indicators show the tremendous traction we're seeing in our online tax business," said Meighan. "In addition to great relationships with our partners, we've continued to develop new opportunities and product innovations to deliver the best experience for our customers."

About Quicken TurboTax
In its 18th tax season, TurboTax was the No.1-selling tax preparation software program in 2001, with 70 percent share of units sold at retail, and more than 80 percent retail revenue share, up eight points over 2000, according to NPD Intelect. Its Web-based counterpart, TurboTax for the Web, is the most popular site for online tax preparation and filing services. The Instant Data Entry feature is included at no additional charge in all 1040 versions of TurboTax. With more than 17 years of personal finance expertise, the TurboTax family of products saves time and money for more than 14 million Americans each year.