Texas Proud
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- May 16, 2005
- Messages
- 17,334
If Intuit or another company isn't seeing this whole ACA thing as a HUGE business opportunity, they are very foolish. Software allowing a person to optimize their choices is going to be very valuable, especially if it can integrate with the customer's tax return information. The ideal software will also get right down to the state level, allowing people to see and choose from the available options (by company, by "bronze," "silver," and "gold" level, etc) in each "exchange". The software could allow users to see/decide on SS withdrawal strategies, 401K withdrawal strategies, tIRA-to-Roth conversion strategies, etc, etc
Optimization software would easily be worth a couple hundred dollars to many folks. There's no way a few government web sites or info pamphlets will allow a user to cut through the morass of "what-if" scenarios presented by this program (and the other interdependent government programs--tax code, SS, etc).
Two thoughts on this.... first, the vast majority of people are not going to even care one way or the other... most working people will get their insurance from their company... if you do not, then you are likely not making a lot of income and would qualify without doing anything... you then have the people who might benefit, but are clueless... so the potential market for this produce is small (or smallish)...
Second, I do not know what potential liability the company would have if they messed up... IOW, the program says 'do this and you get X credit'.... and something happened and they did not get it... the cliff is pretty big for some people..... I can see class action lawsuit lawyers lining up to sue...
A tax program is different... you either owe the tax or do not owe the tax... if the program makes a mistake, it will not cost the company a big amount because you are still responsible for the tax....