Pushing the envelope
We cracked open our copy of this year's TurboTax over the weekend. We were amused to see that the program now contains a feature that tells you how high your risk is of being audited, based on the data that you're entering into the program:
To our mind, that's a little sleazy. TurboTax should be telling the taxpayer how to file correctly, period. Ethical tax professionals don't give advice based on what you can and can't get away with. TurboTax shouldn't be doing that, either.
| Posted at 9:47 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (10)
As far as I know, Turbo Tax has been offering this feature for years. We're always about as low on the audit risk scale as can be. (Probably because we earn next to nothing, and don't have any wacky deductions.)
Posted by Dave J. | January 28, 2013 10:13 AM
I think they are just looking at deductions such as a "home office" or "gambling losses" which are more likely to trigger an audit.
Posted by oldsweng | January 28, 2013 10:14 AM
I wonder if that lady who filed a fake claim with the state last year for a huge refund used that feature...
Posted by Pat | January 28, 2013 10:20 AM
I found this online forum (from only last year) that indicates this is an up-sell attempt.
https://turbotax.community.turbotaxonline.ca/post/show_full/bstlt6x_Sr4yQfeJe_aH4D
Also sleazy!
Posted by sally | January 28, 2013 10:23 AM
There are plenty of legitimate tax positions that have a higher probability of being examined because of the higher level of people engaging in bad behavior. i.e. business in home, earned income tax credit, very high charitable and medical costs and a whole variety of things.
If Intuit's objective is to scare people into buying more stuff from them - that's absolutely outrageous for something that should be professional...
That said, is tax preparation "professional" anymore? Seen the guys dressed as the Statue of Liberty recently?
Posted by Jack J Foley | January 28, 2013 10:42 AM
Looked at another way, it might be just a useful reminder. If your return scores high for likelihood of an audit,you need to have your paperwork in order to support your return.
Posted by Cary | January 28, 2013 10:44 AM
It always makes me feel a bit better when filing. "At least they don't think I'll get flagged by the IRS this year..."
Posted by TacoDave | January 28, 2013 11:27 AM
Turbo Tax has had this "feature" for at least two or three years now. And it is just one of their many attempts at upselling. They have several different products and add-ons, and they are always trying to get you to upgrade to one that has more features, like storing your past years' returns indefinitely, automatically importing data to your state return, or offering "audit protection."
But I see nothing sleazy about it. They still offer the 1040A and 1040EZ for free (other programs do too, I know) and I can deal with them trying to get me to upgrade, which I usually do anyway. I've used Turbo Tax for years and am very happy with it. My taxes are pretty straight forward though. I can't speak to how it performs for those whose aren't.
Posted by Ex-bartender | January 28, 2013 12:11 PM
"But I see nothing sleazy about it."
In the discussion forum link I posted, numerous individuals were getting "audit warnings" based on nothing except presumably Turbo Tax's wish to up-sell. Scaring people and selling them something they do not need is sleazy. The fear factor vis-a-vis the IRS is deservedly high.
Posted by sally | January 28, 2013 1:50 PM
Sorry Sally, but people's opinions and/or conjectures in a discussion forum doesn't make it so. Since it happened to people who didn't even have medical expenses, I'm more inclined to believe it was a bug in the system. In fact, if you read through the forum, one poster describes the "glitch" and how he got around it.
Look, it's a computer program and things like that happen. Turbo Tax has had bugs in the past. I think it's rather specious to jump on the manufacturer as "sleazy" based upon speculation from an anonymous forum.
Posted by Ex-bartender | January 29, 2013 7:38 AM