I have wondered this for many years. I have ordered Turbo Tax directly from Inuit and while I receive an early draft of the product in November, it's pretty useless as tax forms are not finalized yet.
Looking at Turbo Tax Premier with 1 state, I paid $100 in 2020 directly from Intuit while Staples and other 3rd parties was only $89.99 . That is a $10 difference. I can't reach anyone at Intuit to explain that to me. I also can't remove my credit card information from their site either, it allows me to edit, but not delete unless I enter a new valid credit card number.
