Free Turbo tax From Fidelity

[foxfirev5]

This thread and a similar one on Bogleheads are sidesplitting funny to me. Kind of like picking nickels up in front of a steamroller. While I get the free TurboTax Premier offer each year from Fido it offers me nothing. One of the prime objectives of my ER plan was simplicity. While I realize many delve into rental real estate and other ventures I've chosen a simple route.

My holdings consist of IRA's with tax deferred low/no growth income, Roths invested in high growth with no tax, and cash/CD's in taxable. It takes about 10 minutes to do my taxes by hand with a very significant amount of assets. Meanwhile I can spend time optimizing my holdings and withdrawals to minimize taxes. Something TurboTax will never do.

The worst situation is when a windfall income hits and that the least of my problems.

Just sayin'

 

[steelyman]

Intuit offers a refund, just check their website.

Thanks!

 

[MisterBill]

But it does make me think that they aren't that really serious about keeping or adding to that $1.8M I have in accounts there as I go about consolidating.

There's a saying that I like for situations like this "Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence."

It's a variation on Hanlon's Razor which substitutes stupidity for incompetence. Not saying that Fidelity is incompetent but clearly there is a bug in how they offer this (or do not offer it) to some people.

This website says Napoleon coined it:

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/12/30/not-malice/

 

[foxfirev5]

There's a saying that I like for situations like this "Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence."

It's a variation on Hanlon's Razor which substitutes stupidity for incompetence. Not saying that Fidelity is incompetent but clearly there is a bug in how they offer this (or do not offer it) to some people.

This website says Napoleon coined it:

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/12/30/not-malice/

Next time I run into Abigail I will mention this observation.

 

[MisterBill]

Next time I run into Abigail I will mention this observation.

Tell her to join us in our conversation here

 

[braumeister]

Next time I run into Abigail I will mention this observation.

It's last minute Christmas shopping time, so I imagine that might happen down at the dollar store. Please give her our best!

 

[explanade]

Most of our Fidelity balance is in retirement accounts. About 25% is in investment accounts (well below $1M) and we still got the offer.

You ever pay management fees or talk to a Fidelity FA?

 

[Ole Red 29]

Fidelity offers me free TurboTax Online Premiere, which I have been using forever, but no mention of being able to download the software to my PC. Should I ask for it? It seems like I could do more "sensitivity cases" with the downloaded version.

 

[audreyh1]

Fidelity offers me free TurboTax Online Premiere, which I have been using forever, but no mention of being able to download the software to my PC. Should I ask for it? It seems like I could do more "sensitivity cases" with the downloaded version.

You get to it from the same Fidelity offer link. Answered in a prior post:

It's both. You click on that Fidelity link and it takes you to the TurboTax site. You'll see the online versions, but if you scroll down, you see a link to the download versions. Follow that and you'll get Premier download free.

 

[mrfeh]

You get to it from the same Fidelity offer link. Answered in a prior post:

+1

The link to download is there. It's just not real obvious.

 

[Ole Red 29]

You guys were right. Found the link and downloaded the software. Thanks for the help.

 

[MisterBill]

You guys were right. Found the link and downloaded the software. Thanks for the help.

Glad to hear that those of us who already downloaded it weren't imagining things.

 

[latexman]

I’m not eligible for the free offer. Plus, I only need TT Deluxe for 2020. Fidelity does have a $20 discount from the Intuit website. So, on Intuit’s website for 5 Federal + 1 State it’ll cost $60 for a PC download.

But, at Costco it’s $50!

And, at Walmart it’s $40!!

So? As usual, I’ll pick it up at Walmart the next time I’m there.

 

[MisterBill]

I’m not eligible for the free offer. Plus, I only need TT Deluxe for 2020. Fidelity does have a $20 discount from the Intuit website. So, on Intuit’s website for 5 Federal + 1 State it’ll cost $60 for a PC download.

But, at Costco it’s $50!

And, at Walmart it’s $40!!

So? As usual, I’ll pick it up at Walmart the next time I’m there.

Wait until the 26th, it will be on sale for $40 at Costco and Amazon.

Does the $40 price at Walmart include the state tax or is it Federal only?

The $20 off price from Fidelity is not a very good deal, and you can almost always do better, unless you want to use the online version.

 

[latexman]

Does the $40 price at Walmart include the state tax or is it Federal only?

All 3 prices included State (5 Federal + 1 State).

 

[Al in Ohio]

Thanks. I have an IRA, Roth IRA, and MegaCorp’s 401k at Fidelity. This explains why I’ve never seen the free TT offer.

Not true. You need 1MIL in all accounts of any type. Almost all my accounts with Fido are retirement. I get the offer and have less than $10k in non retirement money.

 

[Al in Ohio]

Rookie mistake (first-time TurboTax user this year): I see the link on my Fidelity account as discussed in this thread. I’d already purchased and installed the software. Live and learn!

Submit your receipt to your rep. He should reimburse you. Mine did many times.

 

[MisterBill]

Not true. You need 1MIL in all accounts of any type. Almost all my accounts with Fido are retirement. I get the offer and have less than $10k in non retirement money.

But is the retirement money in "retail" IRA's, or 401k's? The terms say non-retirement but in practice it seems like they mean retail products. So an IRA seems to work and people report getting the offer. But if most of your money is in a 401k, you won't.

 

[MisterBill]

Submit your receipt to your rep. He should reimburse you. Mine did many times.

Easy enough to get a refund from Intuit. The reimbursement from Fidelity will be taxable, and I wonder if they'll do it if you have the offer.

 

[Hopeful]

Here is my experience: I switched over to Fidelity this year for a portion of our taxable accounts to start the process of consolidating and to use their cash management. Account value crossed over 1M this last month, and I never saw an offer for a free Turbotax. I figured I had nothing to lose by sending of an email request. The response I got back was:

"Each year we have a certain number of free TurboTax offers that we are able to extend to our customers. Although you may have had the opportunity to utilize this offer in the past, we were unable to offer it to you this year."

They did offer me the standard $20 off, but it is cheaper to get it at Costco so that is what I will do.

Not really a big deal, but just thought I would post my experience.

 

[MisterBill]

Here is my experience: I switched over to Fidelity this year for a portion of our taxable accounts to start the process of consolidating and to use their cash management. Account value crossed over 1M this last month, and I never saw an offer for a free Turbotax. I figured I had nothing to lose by sending of an email request. The response I got back was:

"Each year we have a certain number of free TurboTax offers that we are able to extend to our customers. Although you may have had the opportunity to utilize this offer in the past, we were unable to offer it to you this year."

That's just a canned response.

Do you have a rep or was that from their generic customer service? Do you see Private Client Group when you log in or on your statement? If you had an assigned rep, you might have gotten a different response.

 

[Hopeful]

That's just a canned response.

Do you have a rep or was that from their generic customer service? Do you see Private Client Group when you log in or on your statement?

I just sent a question to the customer service email. I don't have a rep that I know of. My account says "Fidelity Premium Services". It wast over the 1mil mark until a couple of weeks ago though.

 

[Happyras]

I just sent a question to the customer service email. I don't have a rep that I know of. My account says "Fidelity Premium Services". It wast over the 1mil mark until a couple of weeks ago though.

I was inspired by your post to contact my rep. We are Private Client Group and have a new rep. Someone on his team contacted me about some trade questions and stated he would follow up on the offer not showing. He did not.

We have more than a few million at Fido. Well we do this year for now. Schwab is no further away and offers to come to the dark side are pretty good, just saying.

 

[MisterBill]

We have more than a few million at Fido. Well we do this year for now. Schwab is no further away and offers to come to the dark side are pretty good, just saying.

Does Schwab offer transfer bonuses? Update - I see from another site that they do apparently have some offers. But they won't give you free Turbotax (which obvously you're not getting from Fidelity, either).

 

[38Chevy454]

I wonder what the true cost of TT is for Fidelity. They certainly have some lower contract agreement price than the Intuit listed price. Anyone have some ideas?