MN Department of Revenue says don't use Intuit Tax Software

[Bees Knees]

From http://www.startribune.com/local/blogs/196531901.html

Citing "multiple issues with the products", the Minnesota Department of Revenue issued a crisp statement today urging tax filers to avoid using Intuit products to prepare or file their state income taxes. The products include TurboTax, Lacerte, Intuit online and ProSeries.

The state warned it using the products could "jeopardize the accuracy of your return or delay your return."

"The Department of Revenue is not affiliated with Intuit and we find these errors unacceptable. We expect Intuit to correct these problems immediately. If they fail to do so, the department will stop processing returns filed using Intuit," the department said.

If you have not prepared or filed your return yet, the department suggests you use different software or prepare your taxes in another way.

If you have already used Intuit software to prepare your taxes, but haven't yet filed, wait to file until Intuit announces that problems are fixed.

If you have already prepared and filed your taxes using Intuit software, call Intuit at 1-866-888-4609.

Also see http://www.revenue.state.mn.us/indiv..._Software.aspx

[David1980]

Too bad they didn't say what the issue is. If someone is not using Intuit it'd be nice to be able to check that it doesn't have the same problem.

[Roland Slugg]

That's a pretty heavy-handed announcement, especially considering that absolutely no details were given or any other kind of explanation was stated.

The Minnesota DOR might not like Intuit programs, but I don't see how it can refuse to accept a return prepared using one of its products.

[AZ-Tax]

ProSeries having bad YTD

I have had ProSeries now for 6 yrs and while I rarely call Tech support anymore, the average wait is 30 mins. That has never been the case in my 6 yrs of using ProSeries. Each time I ask them their reason is "we had a large amt of new subscribers from another software vendor". The last time when I was given that explanation I replied "is that suppose to make me feel better?" I went on to say my Intuit Sales Rep will once again give me a discount when ordering my 2013 in June.

[ddoshan]

On the news a Revenue spokesman did mention a problem with property tax refund returns, also something about dependents not showing up properly on returns. She did mention a couple of other issues of which I cannot recall at the moment.
I confess I seldom actually check our software results. I know that several years ago the software we used at the time (Orr Tax) I and others did at times find errors in the program which of course were reported to the company and corrected.

[Y2KEA]

Company spokeswoman Julie Miller says "the company will refund anyone who asks."

TurboTax errors could delay Minn. tax returns
Intuit working to solve errors with TurboTax, other software that may delay Minn. tax returns

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/turbotax-errors-could-delay-minn-020903984.html

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Minnesota taxpayers are being warned not to use some popular tax return programs including TurboTax.

The Minnesota Department of Revenue said Friday that the software company Intuit discovered problems with some of its tax return products, including TurboTax, Lacerte, Intuit online and ProSeries. Officials say those issues could delay tax refunds or make them inaccurate.

Intuit officials say the problems are isolated to Minnesota.

Company spokeswoman Julie Miller says the problems are affecting several portions of the 2012 tax returns, including property tax refunds, education expenses and $5 political contributions. She says about 10,000 tax returns will be affected.

Miller says people who've already filed have been notified, and the company will refund anyone who asks. She says software updates have been pushed out to try to fix the problem.

Guess I will hit up Lacerte for my refund IF I renew next year.

[joanmcq]

Someone on the intuit board detailed what the issues were. 2 issues with the property tax credit, state election campaign fund, education subtraction & addition, child & dependent care credit. Many of them had to do with what was included in the efile (except for the property tax credits; they were just wrong) so nothing would indicate that there was missing info from the efiles.

[Bees Knees]

This isn't the first year. Intuit has a long history of problems with the state of MN. Eventually they get the problem fixed. My ProSeries software has been warning me about the MN problems for the past several weeks and announced dates when the problems would be fixed. Apparently the MN Dept of Revenue got fed up waiting for the fixes, or is using public pressure to force Intuit to speed up their fixes.

Whatever the reason, I doubt MN can just refuse to accept Intuit prepared returns. It's too late in the season for me to switch. If they do refuse the return, I'll just copy and paste the calculations into MN PDF forms from their website and have the clients paper file their returns - which for all practical purposes would still be a ProSeries prepared return. I think MN is smart enough to realize that is what will happen, so I doubt they would actually carry through with their threat.

[joanmcq]

Except for the property tax calculations, the issues all appeared to be with necessary pieces of information not being transmitted with the efiles. So if you manually do property credit calcs, I'm sure they wouldn't mind you paper filing returns.

I don't see why the state couldn't take them from the approved vendors list until the problems are fixed. Why should the state pay with employee time to fix software errors. Notices sent, phone time, taxpayer confusion. It gets expensive, and if I was an MN taxpayer, I'd be pissed.