TURBOTAX

TurboTax is a popular U.S. tax software package.

There are a number of different versions, including TurboTax Deluxe, TurboTax Premier, etc. TurboTax is available for both Federal and state income tax returns. The software is designed to guide users through their tax returns step-by-step.

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) is an American software company that develops financial and tax preparation software and related services for small businesses, accountants and individuals.

QuickTax is a popular Canadian tax software package. The software is designed to guide users through their tax return step-by-step. It is available on CD-ROM or online at QuickTaxWeb.ca, which is free for persons earning less than $25,000.

Intuit's ProSeries tax software evolved from TurboTax and grew over the years to become a full-fledged professional preparer product and a leader in the market. It serves full-time tax preparers who are predominantly sole proprietors with no other employees working on tax preparation. In 2004 two additional ProSeries versions were released - ProSeries Basic and ProSeries Express.

TurboTax became an Intuit product via the 1993 acquisition of its creator, the California-based company Chipsoft. In 2003 Intuit faced vocal criticism for its TurboTax activation scheme. The company responded by removing the product activation scheme from its product.

In 2005 TurboTax extended its offering by allowing any taxpayer to use a basic version of its Federal product for free as part of the Free File Alliance. By 2006 that offer has been limited to Free federal online tax prep & e-file if your adjusted gross income is $28,500 or less (or $52,000 if you are in the military), and you are age 50 or under.

TurboTax normally releases its new version in mid-November of each year. For example, TurboTax for Tax Year 2006 was released mid-November 2006.