Dropping support for WIndows 10 for Turbotax 2025

[Mike9241]

probably they'll lose a small %.  w11 is only required for desktop versions. don't know the exact %s but probably 80% use online so they don't have to upgrade for now. some of the desktop users will probably switch to online.  That means Intuit could make up the lost revenue from those that abandon its desktop tax product.  Consider a taxpayer with stock sales.  for 2024, the cheapest desktop version is $80 (federal and state); online $139 state $64 additional.  Also, desktop was good for 5 free e-files. online - one return per account.  It's really about ITS bottom line.

[user17557952049]

They should extend TT 2025 for 1 more tax season. Im sure a lot of people are getting the updates for 1 year.

[SteamTrain]

Interesting...I just did a Google search for :

"What portion of TurboTax users use the Desktop vs the Online software"

___________________

The AI there indicated that an Intuit report on  31 July 2025 indicated that:

~39.4 million users are using the "online" software

and

~4.3 Million users are using the "Desktop" software.

So, assuming the AI has parsed things properly... it's pushing 10:1 Online vs Desktop

[id453]

@SteamTrain 

Here is a link for Inuits last report.

FYI

https://investors.intuit.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1266/intuit-reports-strong-fourth-qua...

In it it shows the following for TT user numbers.

[baldietax]

Note the commentary on the user numbers - they don't have a problem "yielding share with lower ARPR customers" i.e. desktop users which accounts for less than 1% of Intuit's projected 2026 revenues and in decline.  They expect Turbo Tax revenue growth of 8% in 2026 and that isn't from desktop.  Intuit has all this user data and has done this analysis in making a calculated decision to stop supporting win10.

TurboTax Live revenue grew 47 percent for the year, representing 41 percent of total Consumer Group revenue. TurboTax Live customers grew 24 percent.

TurboTax Online paying units grew 6 percent on share gains from higher average revenue per return (ARPR) filers. TurboTax Online units declined 1 percent and total TurboTax units declined 2 percent for the year, due to yielding share with lower ARPR customers.

[user17558130826]

Maybe I missed it in the report that was linked above, but where did you see " desktop users which accounts for less than 1% of Intuit's projected 2026 revenues and in decline" ?  I'm not surprised that they have fewer desktop customers, but I would be surprised that the desktop customers that make up about 10% of units are less than 1% of revenues.

I did find it interesting that total revenue increased even though units of both online and desktop fell.  

This was a nice report to see; thanks for sharing the link!

Back to the product, I realize that Win 10 is on borrowed time.  However, having to buy a new computer now is causing me to consider a competing product, which would contribute further to their declining units.  While I'm likely to eventually end up with a new computer and Win 11, TT would lose my single unit and the recurring revenue they get from that if I switch.  Hopefully they'll change their mind, especially if the application can run on both Win versions without any problems.

Still not sure what I'm going to do, though I continue to be annoyed by the situation.   🙂 

[Perplexed in Los Angeles]

Besides the financial impact there are also moral/ethical considerations. First off, Microsoft is enabling continued support for Win 10 for a relatively nominal one-time fee extending coverage until October 2026. As to ethics, it is unethical to force customers who prefer to stay with Wind 10 for the time being or are unable to migrate to Win 11 in the short term for various reasons, to incur the expense of a new computer (existing one cannot run Win 11) or migrate to the inferior privacy and functionality of the online version.  Doing so shows a complete lack of respect  for thousands of Intuit's (up until now) loyal customer base that prefer the desktop version and cannot (or choose to not do so) migrate to Win 11. Despicable! Don't force - offer options.    

[baldietax]

@user17558130826 to clarify the comment on desktop revenues less than 1% and in decline was my own not in that quarterly earnings press release where they don't break down the revenue; but it's in the 10K from May - YTD Q3 FY2025 was $213mil down 5% from $224mil the year prior is that continues it will be about 202mil vs. projected 2026 revs upper estimate 21.186bn = 0.95% (this 21bn is full revenue for Inuit as a whole not just Turbotax).

Revenue for online services is 4.5bn up 10% from 4.1bn.  Just within the Turbotax world, 10% of desktop units account for 4.5% of revenue - because online is higher revenue (tho with higher cost overhead).  Based on 4.3mil users average revenue per user in the desktop segment is $50.

With the caveat it's possible 'electronic filing services' from desktop users falls under the service revenue and the 'product and other revenue' is just pure software revenue and maybe some there are some other ways to slice and dice these financials but that's my understanding - either way I think the trends are clear.

Inuit 10Q May 2025

[kaj726]

I sympathize, as I am in the same boat--a nice compact form PC with solid state drive, loads of memory, but operating on Windows 10.  As it was purchased in 2020, it likely has the TPM 2.0 CPU.  

I do find the logic of Intuit's recent message to customers definitively stating that a downloadable version of TurboTax will not be sold for use with Windows 10 operating systems, due to MS' failure to support Windows 10 with security updates.  In point of fact, MS has agreed to support Windows 10 users with security fixes on payment of a $30 fee post-October 15, 2025 for another year.  I suspect that further extensions will continue for a while.  

One would speculate that the real reason for Intuit's decision is that the company does not wish to expend the money to tweak the software to recognize "security updated" Windows 10 software during the download process.  That is, is this a PC/laptop using Windows 10 subject to the MS ESA (with security updates) or not?  Given how many software changes must be made in the code every single year, due to the copious number of tax law revisions in the federal and state governments, I do perceive the inability of the Intuit coders to develop a software tweak to identify a Windows 10 ESA operating system vs. a Windows 10 w/o security fixes to be specious and unconvincing.

In any case, for my part, after using Intuit's downloadable software (TT Premier) for six consecutive years, I will move to the H & R Block equivalent in 2025.  My tax situation implicates investment in gas & oil MLP's, foreign stock equity dividends, etc., which require access to the "forms" review function to correct errors created by the "questions" approach to completion of the forms.  TT Online does not offer "forms" review and modification function, so departing from TurboTax next year is a no-brainer for me; I am not paying a couple grand for a new machine, just to be able to use TurboTax.