Free Turbo tax From Fidelity

[MisterBill]

Yeah we stopped getting it for a while and in 2020 a Fidelity rep called me out of the blue and basically assigned himself to us and we started getting the free offer again. So I jawbone with the rep once a year and we get the software.

But we were happy enough buying TurboTax deluxe CD or download for $30 when we didn’t get the free Premier.

I like my Fidelity rep, even though I don't do any business with her that earns them money. I did speak to about a Hybrid LTC policy, but found that Fidelity offers one that isn't very good so I did not end up purchasing from them.

That said, she still invites me to their branch holiday parties for PCG customers, and actually offered to take us to lunch recently because they weren't having a party this year. But I was away for a couple of weeks and now with Omicron she said they're no longer allowed to meet with customers, so it will have to wait.

 

[audreyh1]

We don’t have a Fidelity office in the Valley. The nearest is San Antonio which is 5 hours away by car. We fell through the cracks a few years after moving here.

 

[RetiredHappy]

We are private client and have a VP assigned to us as our advisor. Don't see the free Turbox Tax when we log in. They gave us a significant bonus for account transfer a couple of months ago. I don't think we are going to hit her with a "Can I have a free Turbo Tax copy?"

 

[MisterBill]

We are private client and have a VP assigned to us as our advisor. Don't see the free Turbox Tax when we log in. They gave us a significant bonus for account transfer a couple of months ago. I don't think we are going to hit her with a "Can I have a free Turbo Tax copy?"

Well, you could say that you read that others got it and were wondering why you're not seeing it. I assume you tried on both your login and your spouse's? Sometimes it only shows up on one, for some odd reason.

As for getting bonuses, my wife and I both got $100 each this year for opening new accounts. While I'm sure you got more, no reason to feel guilty about asking for TT.

 

[MisterBill]

We don’t have a Fidelity office in the Valley. The nearest is San Antonio which is 5 hours away by car. We fell through the cracks a few years after moving here.

So your previous rep dropped you because you moved out of their area? That seems strange, even if you cannot continue to meet in person. Is that the way Fidelity typically works?

BTW I seem to recall having this discussion with you previously.

 

[RetiredHappy]

Well, you could say that you read that others got it and were wondering why you're not seeing it. I assume you tried on both your login and your spouse's? Sometimes it only shows up on one, for some odd reason.

As for getting bonuses, my wife and I both got $100 each this year for opening new accounts. While I'm sure you got more, no reason to feel guilty about asking for TT.

You are so right! My husband's account has the free Turbo Premier copy! Thank you!!!

 

[Dtail]

I have the free offer this year, as in the prior 3 years. I do have a rep.
Not sure anyone will exactly crack the code of who receives it for free.
I believes this discussion plus the discussion of the cheapest HR Block and Turbo Tax available is in the top 10 discussions on the site. If it were 12 months a year, perhaps it would blow by when should I take SS.

 

[MisterBill]

You are so right! My husband's account has the free Turbo Premier copy! Thank you!!!

Ta da!!!

 

[MisterBill]

I have the free offer this year, as in the prior 3 years. I do have a rep.
Not sure anyone will exactly crack the code of who receives it for free.
I believes this discussion plus the discussion of the cheapest HR Block and Turbo Tax available is in the top 10 discussions on the site. If it were 12 months a year, perhaps it would blow by when should I take SS.

Amusingly, there was a new thread started that has been deleted (it still shows up when searching the site), and discussion of the Fidelity freebie in the regular tax software thread, but that was temporarily shut down and cleansed of Fidelity discussion. But this thread previously existed so I guess it's immune.

As for cracking the code, the best we can do is look at the posted guidelines on the Fidelity site and share anecdotal evidence from past posts.

 

[MichaelB]

Amusingly, there was a new thread started that has been deleted (it still shows up when searching the site), and discussion of the Fidelity freebie in the regular tax software thread, but that was temporarily shut down and cleansed of Fidelity discussion. But this thread previously existed so I guess it's immune.

No deleted threads. That thread is here and open for discussion. https://www.early-retirement.org/fo...tionality-and-deals-111551-9.html#post2708408

 

[audreyh1]

So your previous rep dropped you because you moved out of their area? That seems strange, even if you cannot continue to meet in person. Is that the way Fidelity typically works?

BTW I seem to recall having this discussion with you previously.

After several years. I think it happened about the time they changed how private client communications were handled.

 

[MisterBill]

No deleted threads. That thread is here and open for discussion. https://www.early-retirement.org/fo...tionality-and-deals-111551-9.html#post2708408

That one has a comment "<mod note> Can we please drop the discussion about Fidelity and how some customers qualify for a free copy of TurboTax?"

And this one is gone -- https: //www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/free-turbotax-premier-2021-for-some-fidelity-clients-112142.html (put a space in there so it didn't get tagged and is readable).

 

[MichaelB]

That one has a comment "<mod note> Can we please drop the discussion about Fidelity and how some customers qualify for a free copy of TurboTax?"

Right

And this one is gone -- https: //www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/free-turbotax-premier-2021-for-some-fidelity-clients-112142.html (put a space in there so it didn't get tagged and is readable).

There is no record of this thread, it certainly has not been deleted. That would be against forum policy. It may have been a separate thread on the same topic and was merged into one of the existing discussion. Is there an issue with this thread?

Edit to add - further research shows that thread was merged into this thread. It’s post 251 https://www.early-retirement.org/fo...tionality-and-deals-111551-7.html#post2704280

 

[GTFan]

I have the free offer this year, as in the prior 3 years. I do have a rep.
Not sure anyone will exactly crack the code of who receives it for free.

Multiple threads in multiple forums confirms, to me, that there is no universal way to get the free TT. Randomness is part of it.

 

[mrfeh]

So your previous rep dropped you because you moved out of their area? That seems strange, even if you cannot continue to meet in person. Is that the way Fidelity typically works?

When we moved we were assigned a new rep in the nearest office.

 

[mrfeh]

Multiple threads in multiple forums confirms, to me, that there is no universal way to get the free TT. Randomness is part of it.

I doubt it's random. We've received the offer every year, for the last 5 years or so.

 

[COcheesehead]

It’s not random, I agree.
People confuse correlation and causation.

 

[MisterBill]

Multiple threads in multiple forums confirms, to me, that there is no universal way to get the free TT. Randomness is part of it.

That is absolutely untrue. There are definitely ways to get it. I have also received it reliably since I qualified for PCG. There are situations where people who should have it do not, but those can often be tracked down to not have an assigned rep. If you are an Active Trader per the guidelines on the linked page, or you are a Private Client Group customer with an assigned rep, you should definitely have the offer.

https://www.fidelity.com/trading/active-trader-trading-service-levels

 

[GTFan]

But again, there are plenty of folks that say they don't get the offer AND qualify. There's been a recent Slickdeals thread, and there are plenty of Bogleheads threads too with folks complaining there's no rhyme or reason to it.

You can of course call, email etc. and get the offer (maybe), but it IS true that there's no guarantee that you'll get it without doing anything. If you get it you'll likely keep it, but my point was about who gets it in the first place. Whether it's because you have a rep or not is irrelevant to the person that didn't get it.

 

[MisterBill]

But again, there are plenty of folks that say they don't get the offer AND qualify. There's been a recent Slickdeals thread, and I think there are Bogleheads threads too.

You can of course call, email etc. and get the offer (maybe), but it IS true that there's no guarantee that you'll get it without doing anything. If you get it you'll keep it, but my point was about who gets it in the first place.

I know about the other threads, and as I said, in many cases not getting it can be traced to not have a rep assigned (and yes, there are people who do not have a rep and still get it). Sometimes one spouse does not have the offer, but then find it when logging in as the other spouse (just saw one of those recently). There are also people who seem to think that they are entitled to it but are not actually PCG or Active Trader.

So yes, there are random situations where people should qualify and don't get it, but I still disagree with your point of there being no universal way to get it, since it does work for the majority of people who qualify.

 

[GTFan]

I rest my randomness case:

https://slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=152219182&postcount=95
https://slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=152279071&postcount=223

And by 'no universal way to get it', I meant 'without doing anything'. Some get it that shouldn't (as these SD posts show), some don't get it and should.

 

[MichaelB]

I rest my randomness case:

https://slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=152219182&postcount=95

Would you mind letting us know what to expect with this link?

 

[GTFan]

Both of them have folks that say they got free TT and shouldn't have. There's a ton of Bogleheads posts that I'm too lazy to find that say they should have gotten it and didn't.

Just pointing out that there's plenty of anecdotes showing there's sometimes no rhyme or reason to it no matter what the terms say. Could be Fidelity marketing for clients that don't qualify, could be some sort of coding error. Nobody knows.

 

[MisterBill]

Just wanted to mention that if you have this offer and want to e-file multiple states, you could be better off using the online version. The download version only gives you one state and extras are $40 plus around $20 to e-file state except in NY. With the Fidelity offer on the online version, multiple states are free, and it includes e-filing.

 

[explanade]

So you don’t pay for e-file but intuit gets your data.