@user17658219065 wrote:Hope Turbo Tax continues to empower people, LOCALY.
You are far from alone in that hope.
My sense (and only mine) is that desktop won't disappear in the short-term but, eventually, TurboTax (as well as other tax software developers' products) will be 100% online. Hopefully, this will occur later rather than sooner.
I agree. I really don't want to have to switch from desktop to online.
I agree. I do not store any of my personal or financial info in the cloud. I absolutely will not use a product that forces me to do so.
The ability to work on my taxes, view everything in a current or past return (including all the worksheets, etc., not just the filed info) and, if necessary, work on an amended return without internet access is essential. And I don't want anything shared with anyone other than is minimally necessary for transmission of my return, and even that should be deleted from intermediary sites as soon as the return is accepted by the IRS and state. If Intuit cannot, or won't, agree to these fundamental issues of reliability and confidentiality, I'll find another service provider that will.
@VeryLongSigh... wrote:If Intuit cannot, or won't, agree to these fundamental issues of reliability and confidentiality,
I'm not sure I understand your issue. As far as I have been able to determine, Intuit fulfills your requirements with respect to their desktop programs at least.
As the originator of this thread and numerous others have indicated, the only reasonable interpretation of their "The Future of TurboTax is Online" promotion is that they intend to fully eliminate, or reduce support for, the desktop product. If so, my concerns will not be met and I'll be looking for alternatives. I'm a long-term user, not entirely satisfied but not dissatisfied enough to change... yet.
@VeryLongSigh... wrote:"The Future of TurboTax is Online" promotion is that they intend to fully eliminate, or reduce support for, the desktop product.
Understood, BUT that's almost certainly the intention of the other developers of desktop products. It may take more than just a few years but, ultimately, it will all be online.
BTW, TaxAct and H&R Block are the only other developers of DIY, consumer-level, tax prep software other than Intuit.
I've never used any of those others, so I can't quit them. Not yet, anyway. TurboTax, that I can quit when it fails to meet my needs.
BTW, I was also not a willing TurboTax user in the first place -- I was a MacInTax user before it was acquired. It was the superior product and I regretted having to change. Prior to that, I did my taxes in Excel, with spreadsheets that covered all the tax situations that applied to me. It was never simple (and updating the spreadsheets every year to keep up with changes), but I understood my tax situation much better than I do now.
That said, I've been with TurboTax ever since.
@VeryLongSigh... wrote:I've never used any of those others, so I can't quit them. Not yet, anyway. TurboTax, that I can quit when it fails to meet my needs.
You won't be doing a lot of "quitting" anyway since there's only two others besides TurboTax. If you try H&R and don't like it, you can quite that and try TaxAct. If you don't like TaxAct you can quit that, but then there will be nothing left to quit.
Oh, I don't think I'd like either of those any better, but if they meet my two stated "must haves" -- offline access and protection of my confidential information -- I might have to live with them. And if they don't meet those requirements, I might actually have to use a CPA or tax attorney. (I know someone's gonna say "Yeah, but they use online services, too", but I believe I'd be protected better.)
We're not there yet, thankfully, and I hope we don't get there anytime soon. Maybe Intuit will listen to their customers and maintain the desktop product for those who prefer it, as I do.
@VeryLongSigh... wrote:Maybe Intuit will listen to their customers and maintain the desktop product...
I have no inside information (I mean ZERO), but I imagine they'll keep desktop around for a few more years.
However, regardless of anyone's wants or needs, the future is going to be online prep and filing. I mean, it IS going to happen, it's just a matter of how soon.
They took Quickbooks Pro Desktop away for the online version. After decades of using desktop, and also being somewhat fluent in the online version of Quickbooks, I will find an alternative. The underlying accounting hierarchy is the same for all accounting packages.
@VeryLongSigh... not sure anyone is totally safe. consider all the fortune 500 companies that have been hacked including defense contractors. I think even one of the major credit monitoring companies was hacked. Even the IRS got hacked by a independent contractor they were using - DJT's return.
I agree. However, I'm not going to store my SSN, tax return or other PII on the web. It makes it much too easy for hackers. I can't control what other companies do with my info (health insurance companies, providers, etc.), but I can control what I personally do. For the same reason, I don't do any financial business on my smartphone, everything is done on a wired desktop machine.
@LenSegal47 wrote:....everything is done on a wired desktop machine.
Yeah, but that's not going to stop hackers today.
NOTHING will stop determined hackers. I just don't need to contribute to the PII that they receive when they hack databases, which is often!
If the desktop app is obsoleted, I will look for other options
@cchammond wrote:If the desktop app is obsoleted, I will look for other options
You may not have any if that winds up being the case. All other providers will probably be 100% online as well at that time.
The only other option is a tax pro, but many of them use tax prep software where the data entered is stored in the cloud anyway.
TOTALLY AGREE! I don't use the cloud for ANY financial data; Quicken - Desktop only! TurboTax - Desktop only! PC protected w VPN(s), Norton, etc etc. I'd rather have ZERO exposure to outside, and keep it to a minimum. TurboTax should always be an installable, Desktop only program for those of us who want it that way!!
@bobw75087 wrote:TurboTax should always be an installable, Desktop only program for those of us who want it that way!!
It will be installable (desktop) for as long as it makes financial sense for Intuit to make it so.
Wrong!
If the only option is in the cloud, I'll just revert to doing it manually, as I did for many years before there was tax software available. Also, due to the change in tax laws, most of my "deductions" are no longer deductible, so I've been using the standard deduction for the last few years, so it won't be a big deal. Also, in 1971, I was doing taxes professionally in Boston for a lawyer, and life was much more complicated back then . . . I had a musician client who needed to depreciate a Stradivaris violin (they last 100s of years) and a person who was a convicted murderer who was running a headshop . . . just a couple of examples of challenges.
@LenSegal47 wrote:Wrong!
No one wrote anything that was "wrong". Of course, preparing your tax return manually is always an option (unless and until such time as the IRS it isn't).
The point is Intuit is going to do what it is going to do regardless of the objections from a certain userbase.
I agree I will stop using TurboTax if the force me to go online.
@howjltx wrote:I agree I will stop using TurboTax if the force me to go online.
I don't think Intuit is going to be leading the charge in this respect.
if others start migrating to online only, then Intuit will almost certainly follow. Ultimately, however, the day will come to pass where tax prep will be done online exclusively.