updates

[GabiU · Accepted solution]

Thanks to your feedback, Release Notes is making a comeback! We're working on a process to make sure you all get updated information. 

You've made a difference and we appreciate you taking the time to reach out to us on the community. 

Happy filing! 

[photobug56]

This good news, and we all look forward to the details.

I'd like to suggest to Intuit that they be proactive going forward on helping those of us who care to understand where you are going with the product.  Plus I'd remind you that there are likely to be plenty of former beta testers who would like to once again be involved doing such.  

Some of us who've used various versions of Turbo Tax for many years might be asked to join a product development and testing community - there are a lot of us such users out there who could likely be very helpful.  Please see us as an asset to take good advantage of, because the better the product, the more we like it and suggest it to others.

[NM1]

Yeah, not really fixed.

The "More Details" links on the TT update page no longer goes to an error page, which is kind of the minimum expectation. However, all of those links, no matter what type of update they were associated with, go instead to a page that says:

  Thank you for choosing TurboTax, America's #1 brand of tax software!

  We update our software regularly to ensure 100% accuracy and your maximum tax

  refund – guaranteed.

  This release may include general maintenance, bug fixes, performance improvements,

  and program enhancements so you can file your return with confidence and ease. At this

  time, all federal and state tax forms are final.

This is so generic that it is utterly useless. Customers do realize that your updates are for those purposes. This is not the sort of information you used to provide, and it is not what we were asking for (as I'm sure everyone at Intuit understood). It is also not what the "release notes are coming back!" response implied would happen.

Please make this right. Your customers are not stupid, so this is insulting as well as pointless. Thank you.

[kwpTaxcpa]

"so this is insulting as well as pointless."

Agreed.

[photobug56]

We need the same change and update notices that Intuit used to provide. Period.   

[kwpTaxcpa]

A lot of loyal users have relied on Intuit & TurboTax for many years, but in recent years it has grown increasingly difficult.  It's almost as if the TurboTax decision makers are intentionally trying to drive their long-term customers away.

Provide useful and meaningful update notes.  What's so hard about this concept?

[NM1]

As I quoted above in my post on June 5, the now-generic "release notes" page stated, "at this time, all federal and state tax forms are final". So why, when I started up TT today, did it find updates to both federal and state forms - especially something that is flagged as "Critical"?? What critical updates could there have been to supposedly-long-finalized federal tax forms less than a week before a deadline that was extended by three months?

If Intuit were still doing the right thing with TT release notes, I would know what was affected. But you aren't, so I don't. This is a *perfect* illustration of why specific release notes are so important to your customers.

Not only would I appreciate knowing what changed on July 9th, I would really appreciate Intuit taking this seriously. Thank you.

[photobug56]

Ignoring how nonsensical it sounds to have updates to 'final' forms, it is beyond my comprehension how there could be emergency updates whose details Intuit won't provide to us when we absolutely need to know if the errors they fix could have messed up our tax submissions.  It's actually rather scary.

[kwpTaxcpa]

I stand by all prior comments that users deserve to know what was changed anytime there is a program update, and users should always be provided meaningful, detailed, release notes.  And Intuit continues to fall short in this regard.

That said, I suspect that one update to the program is to the filing due date(s) (federal & some states?), Form 2210, and how the tax underpayment penalty is calculated.  That would at least partially explain why Intuit thought they were done with updates, then made more after Treasury (and some states) changed the filing and penalty dates.

Still, we're left guessing & shooting in the dark unless & until Intuit provides meaningful release notes.

[NM1]

All of the modified filing, payment, and penalty dates were set weeks ago, if not months, for the IRS and all US states. Like I said, we're less than a week from the revised filing and payment deadline of July 15. *Nothing* should be getting changed at this point. And if there is something "Critical", *all* customers need to be informed what it is in order to determine if they are affected; as has been pointed out numerous times, not everyone files directly through TT.