Are there plans to release a desktop TurboTax for Linux, in particular Ubuntu, for the 2024 tax year?

[kak3]

For years I kept Windows on an old laptop for the sole purpose of running TT. I have repurposed that laptop to run Ubuntu, as I did with my other former macOS computer. It seems like a relatively small investment by Intuit to capture the Linux users market.

[fanfare]

"small investment"

Windows programs don't run on Linux.

@kak3 

[Mike9241]

probably a relatively large investment considering the % of desktop PCs that use any version of Linux.

https://itsfoss.com/linux-market-share/#:~:text=Statista%20%28last%20updated%20on%20Jan.%202023%29%3... 

Not only are there the costs of writing the program code but then also the costs of the support staff that would be needed.  Intuit doesn't even produce a desktop version of Turbotax Business for MAC - currently only a Windows version

[llondel]

Too late for 2024, but they should seriously consider it for 2025 because all those Windows 10 PCs will be out of support. I suspect a lot of home users will decline to buy a new PC just to run Windows 11, and quite a few may well migrate to Linux. It's a catch-22 because corporations like Intuit won't produce Linux versions because there's no perceived market, and people won't migrate away from Windows because the apps won't run on Linux, so nothing ever changes.

At the moment I use a Windows 10 VM under Linux for TurboTax on a PC that is 11 years old and still working just fine, but I assume at some point TurboTax will insist on Windows 11 to run and I'll be off to look at what options are available for Linux rather than buy hardware I don't need. I can see that whichever tax software company caters for people like me is likely to inherit a lot of users from the other companies if they drag their feet.

With the advent of Flatpak and Snap for Linux, the entire thing can be packaged as a single file to download and run without worrying as much about which flavour of Linux is being used.

[greyman1952]

??? I am a 70+ year old non-professional and I am capable of translating my Visual Studio C# code to Python, Pyside6 and SQLite.

Investment??? Lack of Market??? I was once castigated because I wasn't running Linux at home. 

Here's the deal if you can't program cross-platform and work in Linux you are simply *NOT* a programmer!

And, the Linux market, especially Linux Mint will be exploding thanks to Microsoft's heavy handedness

[greyman1952]

Right you are. I suggest Linux Mint as it is an easy transition from Windows. And, with chatGPT and other AI platforms giving a certain amount of free use, if a user is reasonably clear they will get a non-snarky correct answer.

[NonyaBsnis]

Just got the email from Intuit today that TT Desktop for tax year 2025 onward will now require Windows 11.  I am more than capable of running Win 11 but moved to Linux Mint this summer to get away from Microsoft and their crap.  I'm certainly not going to install it on a VM or spare PC just to run one piece of software once a year.  I've been using TurboTax for over 20 years, but I guess this past year is going to be the last.

[llondel]

I just got my notification too, so I went and cancelled my subscription for the 2025 edition. No point in paying for something I can't use.

[phdave]

Same here.  Used Turbotax since Parsons.  Shame they can't make a secure program for Win 10 computers. I won't buy a new computer to run one program.  They really want us to use the on-line version to give them all my data (yeah, I know pinky swear it will never be compromised).  Knew this was coming when they made it so awkward to load the 2024 desktop version

Say Bye Bye $70 a year.

[RichInPitt]

If they're not going to do the minimum and support a platform  with 27% US market share, I find it unlikely they will redevelop on a completely new platform with 1.1% market share. Or even Linux as a whole at 5%.

It's not a "relatively small investment".

[llondel]

They have basically told that 27% to go buy a new computer. This part of the 27% says no, so I will be finding an alternative next year because there's nothing wrong with my computer, which does everything else I need and I can't justify spending a load of money for something I need once a year. Given my comment up this thread back in February, I guess I saw this coming.

[3ddoran]

I too have used Turbo Tax for many years but will have to consider my options for 2025 and forward. Every time I "upgrade" to the next Windows version I lose some of my programs, fuctions and hardware attached to my computer. Turbo Tax could run on Windows 10 and let the user worry about security. I pay for and run ESET NOD32 so don't think I need Turbo Tax's security.

[greyman1952]

There are two basic Linux incarnations. Debian and the other one. 🙂

The level of investment required for porting Turbo Tax to Linux is dependent upon the current language it is written in.

I write in C# and at one time C# was supported in Linux under MONO. Unfortunately development has dropped off and I have been unable to locate clear and concise information as to ho to port my C# apps to Linux.

This has forced me to revert to Python and PySide6. It is time intensive.

For a program as complex as Turbo Tax not only is it a time intensive undertaking porting it to another cross platform programming language it has to be tested and debugged.

Honestly there may not be enough time this tax season.

I am not sure that there is enough risk for those of us who are security savvy for there to be a complete ban on Turbo Tax this year. 

However, Intuit doesn't just sell it's software to people who understand and mitigate the risks.

Perhaps next year. And, as there really isn't any viable alternative and as I refuse to do taxes live on-line I had one system that can handle 11, actually came with it and I down graded it to Win 10. This year ONLY!

[Mike9241]

I don't buy Intuits security concerns. W11 will also need security updates.