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TurboTax Activation Fiasco
kurtinatlanta writes "Though the news broke in September, no one cares about tax return preparation software until January. Apparently Intuit's activation scheme for TurboTax will only allow you to print or file your returns from the computer on which you first installed it. The phrase "one computer" in their license literally means one computer. Moving the software (i.e. disk reformat, buy new computer) requires buying it again. There are all kinds of negative reviews on amazon.com as a result. Is this problem real or overhyped?" There's a more recent story about the flap. The Intuit PR rep is quoted as saying that people can install the software on multiple computers using the same activation code, but I don't think an unworking installation really counts.
"Is this problem real or overhyped?"
It's real. If I buy something, I damned well better be able to use it/reinstall it if my computer blows up.
Think about it.
Sent from your iPad.
Then there's always an alternate use for your hand... that's right! Doing taxes manually. On paper. Think of doing taxes as learning a braindead API for interfacing with the goverment.
I rather like it.
Smell of cedar and graphite. A little calculator, a big rule book. Lots of nice little numbers.
Here's what I do for nazi software - Run it in a VMWare virtual machine. As far as the program is concerned it is running on the same computer.
The only trick is you need to have VMWare ($300).
Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
why are we bitching about controls on software licensing, when we can bitch about the govt stealing our hard earned $$$$. seems as though you've got a choice about one, but the other you're stuck with.
I usually print and file from the same machine at which I installed anyway. This only has two impacts
1. You can no longer get the friends and family pack, so what, it's $20.00 and is super easy way to do your taxes. How many accountants charge $20.00 for you, and your friends, and your parents. Give it up, the free ride is over.
2. Audits from the IRS go back 7 years. If I have a new computer in 7 years I won't be able to reprint this years return. So much for the "store my tax info on CD". I'm stuck with Paper as my only record keeping. That removes one of the benefits of using a computer program in the first place.
because I have been enjoined by this Holy Office to abandon the false opinion which maintains that the Sun is the centre
Is this problem real or overhyped?"
I've used Turbo Tax since 1993. I do the work at home and then come to work and install the software for 1 whole day just to print it out on a laser printer.
Why? I don't trust the water soluble inks in my inkjet at home, and I don't want my personal info on my work computer for any length of time.
And I bet there are lots of people who do the exact same thing as I do.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
I've used TurboTax I guess for the last 4 or 5 years. This year as I was getting ready to buy it I checked out amazon.com and saw all the negative reviews and decided not get it as I have 4 computers in my house. So I decided to get TaxCut. I bought it from Staples but you can get it from taxcut.com. It costs less than TurboTax and it can even import all the data from last year's TurboTax. Not only that but (at least at staples.com) there are tons of rebates on different products if you buy TurboTax ($30 off money, willpower free, home and business attorney free, mcafee free, norton personal firewall or antivirus free, checksoft express free, deduction pro free, etc.
//m
Why are tax software companies trying to make people pay like this? I don't understand what makes companies like quicken, intuit and Microsoft any different.
Tax laws change every year. I'd be more then happy to pay a small amount each year for the latest updates. It costs them money to integrate the changes and update the software that I've already bought for $30.
I think they're banking on people reasoning that they would be paying an accountant.
rejected (19) accepted (0)
Is there a psychological term related to getting your stories rejected on slashdot?
Its always a conspiracy with michael, and you can't tell a conspiracy theorist there is no conspiracy.
Just be glad you have under 500 comments, or else michael will just pass you off as a 'person that lives on slashdot and has no life.'
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Amen to that! My wife and her family haven't filled out their own tax forms for many years. I used to laugh at their willingness to throw away Good Money, but after we got married and bought a house, I decided to do a bake-off between using TurboTax myself vs. their long-time wetware tax preparer. The result? TurboTax cost me $70 ($30 fed. + $20/each for two states), took about three hours to go through (and another couple of hours or so to print and proofread) and I got a refund of $x. The tax preparer cost $120, took 40 minutes, and got us a refund of $x + $400 via legit "loopholes" (things like moving costs, higher ed credits, etc.).
If you need to fill out only a 1040EZ form, you definitely don't need TurboTax or a preparer, but if you have dependents or itemize deductions, I highly recommend going to a live person. (And no, IANATP.)
:wq
You don't think your flat tax would unfairly benefit the really well-off members of our society, who currently pay as much as 38% of their income?
Hell - if I made a lot of money, I'd be -begging- for a tax cut like that. Oh wait... Steve Forbes is already doing it for me.
Meanwhile, lower-income people would spend an even-larger percentage of their income on taxes - and these are the people for whom every last dollar counts.
A flat tax - while appealing - would have really perverse consequences. Perhaps leaving tax brackets in place - and dramatically simplifying deductions and loopholes - would be more in line with what you're trying to accomplish.
After installing, it would not let me use the product until I had an internet connection up and running. Immediately when the internet was available, without asking for my permission, it went out to the internet and registered with Intuit. The product was activated.
Then I noticed more services running in the background, like CDAC11BA.exe. I didn't know what that was, so I disabled it in the Win 2000 services control panel where it was called C-DillaCdaC11BA. At this point, I rebooted. That was a mistake... My computer wouldn't boot anymore! I use grub from a Redhat 8.0 distribution, and grub would never get to run. The computer was useless, and my Redhat boot disks weren't with me, so I was stuck for the weekend without a functioning bootloader. Reinstalling grub (rewriting the MBR) fixed the computer so it was able to boot. When starting TurboTax at this point, it complained that TurboTax was already installed on another computer, and I couldn't use it unless I paid another $30 or $40 to register it. And the CDAC11BA.EXE service was started again! So I disabled the service once again and rebooted. Voila! Grub could not boot again. Turbotax corrupted my MBR so grub could not run anymore. Another reinstall of grub from the Redhat CD fixed things.
Next step was to contact customer support at Intuit and complain about my problems. I swear their technical support (via internet) is a computer. I got responses like "Please hold on while I search for the issue" and "Please hold on while I search for the cause". Then the tech said "You must go for uninstall and reinstall first". At this point, I knew it was a bunch of crap. I asked for the address of where I could return the product and I finally got it after about 10 minutes.
Bottom line: I will never buy another product from Intuit again.
Why is this even an issue?
If the IRS gets all of this information, (and it does , it's used to doublecheck your return) why do we even HAVE the other half of this industry?
IMHO, you ought be able to log into the IRS website, it should say 'We have this and this and this in your records, you should owe X'
At which point _you_ could add: "But I have this and this extenuating circumstance."
The IRS would then recalculate and your income tax fileing would consist of ONLY those things that are different and unusual, with the assumption that since you didn't change any earnings info, you must agree with what the IRS has.
If my HR dude enters my W-2 info once. And his software sends it to the IRS, why do _I_ have to rekey it each time? Why do I need to rekey the numbers AT ALL?
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
But what if you get that audit letter from the IRS in two or three years? You may want to reinstall 2002 TurboTax so you can review your records, only to find that it won't work on your most recent PC.
What if you simply need to file an amended return later this year? What if you lost your paper copy of your return and want to print another? What if you have trouble exporting your 2002 data to 2003 TurboTax, or maybe to a competing product without such an obnoxious copy protection mechanism?
There are lots of scenarios where you might need to use this software long after your initial filing. It's too bad Intuit is adopting the same kind of customer-hostile philosophy pioneered by our beloved MPAA & RIAA.
DRM? No thanks, I'll just get it somewhere else...
Is it utterly ridiculous that our tax code is so difficult? Absolutely! However, we're pretty much stuck with it for the foreseeable future, so you may as well make the best of it.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
If I were H&Rj, I'd get a Linux version of TaxCut out the door ASAP. Think about it. Many of us who are going to change are the same types who are/want to switch to Open Office and Linux because of similar tactics employed by Microsoft and ther XP O/S. It seem to me that there would be a very willing market that would be very difficult for TurboTax to pursue unless it drops it's own activation schems.
--- have you healed your church website?
Let the corps have their 8,000 page tax code, with their carefully lobbied for loopholes -- they can afford to hire professional accountants. And lobbiests. And lawyers.
Simplfy the tax code for normal, flesh-and-blood, breathing, REAL PERSONS.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
2002-12-01 PC App ISOs Premier Tax Year 2002 (c) TurboTax 29x15 MB MAGE
Took about 30 minutes to download off of irc and not only can I install as many times as I like I can send copies to my friends and family too. Nice stocking stuffer and no bullshit activation scheme. No wonder nobody that knows how is still buying this shit. All your doing is pissing off your paying customer Intuit. Not to bright afterall.
No, that's because social security and medicare aren't really taxes - they are government-run insurance programs (that government, at gunpoint, forces you to enroll in, regardless of whether you want it or not). You pay in a premium and you get some benefits when you retire (hopefully if they don't go broke by then) and need some money to cover medical expenses.
Now, since these programs are already going broke, reducing the premiums paid by everyone and, thus, the money paid into the system is a stupid idea - unless want you really want is to close these programs altogether and give people a choice about what they want to do (which is a good idea, but probably very unpopular among most voters - especially those seniors that vote by the truckloads)