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Technology Takes on April 15 With New Products

INTUIT INC.

CEO: Brad Smith.

Revenue: $3.45 billion in fiscal year 2010 ended July 31.

Net income: $574 million in FY 2010.

No. of local employees: 1,000.

Headquarters: Mountain View; TurboTax in Carmel Valley.

Year founded: TurboTax predecessor, ChipSoft in 1986; acquired by Intuit in 1993.

Stock symbol and exchange: INTU, Nasdaq.

Company description: Provider of business and financial management software for small and medium-sized businesses. Its TurboTax division that’s focused on tax preparation software is in San Diego.

Ever seeking new ways of making the oft torturous but necessary onus of filing income taxes easier, Intuit Inc.’s TurboTax came out with some new products certain to lure early adopters.

In January, the unit that’s based in Carmel Valley rolled out SnapTax, said to be the first mobile phone application for preparing taxes.

And just last week, TurboTax released a tax preparation program designed for owners of Apple Inc.’s iPads.

The latter allows iPad users to directly file their returns electronically, and check the status of their refunds based on Internal Revenue Service projections, with the new application.

With the SnapTax mobile app, customers can simply take a picture of their W-2 income tax form with their phone cameras, and that starts the process of automatically downloading their tax data onto the electronic IRS form. The app works on both Apple’s iPhone and other smart phones using Google’s Android operating system.

The process takes an average of 15 to 30 minutes, and gives users a running tally of how much their refund is or how much they owe the government, said Bob Meighan, vice president of TurboTax.

Potential Users File a 1040 FormThe product is aimed at the segment of the population who use the 1040 EZ form and the 1040A form, a group Meighan estimates at some 22 million. The fact is that most of these filers have very little or few additional documents that affect their returns except possible interest income derived from bank deposits, he said.

The $14.99 cost for using SnapTax includes the filing of one federal and one state tax return, and is charged when users are ready to file. The iPad product is priced at $29.99, but allows users to select from two other products called TurboTax Premier or TurboTax Home & Office for no additional cost.

Meighan said the company is continuously looking for ways to improve its products, and works year-round updating its software, and figuring out new ways to simplify filing taxes.

“The fact is we have a culture of innovation at TurboTax,” he said. “We embrace change because tax laws change every year, and we want to see how we can make it easy for our customers to make sure they get the biggest refund.”

Online BuyersThese days, thanks to customers’ growing familiarity with doing business online, TurboTax derives most of its sales through online buyers. For the company’s prior fiscal year that ended in July, it reported sales of 21.3 million units of TurboTax software, with about 70 percent of that coming from its online products.

There are a variety of versions for TurboTax, with the basic version costing $19.95 for the online product, and $29.95 for the compact disk product. The business even makes tax preparation software for micro or home-based businesses and smaller businesses, which range in price from $99.95 to $129.95, according to the company’s Web site.

However, many tax preparation professionals, or those who are clearly feeling the impact of more filers leaving their ranks, say small-business owners should be wary of using the software.

Steven Leibold, the owner of San Diego Business Advisors in Mission Valley, said in recent years he’s seen an uptick of small-business owners coming to his hands-on service after having an unsatisfactory experience with TurboTax.

“Many people don’t necessarily understand the rules (covering various tax issues) even after the program gives its version of what the code is asking,” Leibold said.

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