TurboTax and Intuit account

[tulak]

I've used TurboTax for years and have never had to create an account with Intuit.

I was helping DS with his taxes and we wanted to import from Fidelity, at which point we were prompted to create an account with Intuit for "security reasons." DS took a hard pass and painstakingly entered all of the transactions by hand. Complete waste of time.

I don't import from Fidelity, but did the same with E-Trade and didn't have to create an Intuit account. This saved me a lot of time. Unfortunately, these aren't avoidable transactions.

I tried to search and found only one site that said it was required for some, but wasn't required for others, so I'm not sure what to believe.

I'm wondering if anybody here is able to import from Fidelity into TurboTax without creating an Intuit account?

I'd also be curious if other tax software has this requirement?

If there are alternatives then this might be the last year we use TurboTax.

 

[Sunset]

I used H&R Block and imported from Vanguard. The cool thing with vanguard was they give a code number for the 1099 report.
H&R Block used that code number to import the information, no need to give the password to the account.

Otherwise I enter the information manually as I'm not giving out my password.

 

[Midpack]

I always assumed if you eFile, by default Intuit, H&R Block have access to everything on your return - so privacy is out the window anyway? And that’s desktop versions as well as online. While you can supposedly decline info sharing if you look hard enough for it, I don’t believe that for a minute. Google, FaceBook and most other firms are data mining at every opportunity regardless of what privacy options you choose. There are lots of ways around “we won’t sell your data…”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/12/tax-prep-privacy/

https://money.stackexchange.com/que...rbotax-does-intuit-get-a-copy-of-your-persona

 

[njhowie]

I use TurboTax every year. They've been requiring an Intuit account more and more over the past several years. This year presenting the roadblock when you go to import. The info given on the screen says that they're requiring it for additional security/identification reasons. I don't really buy that as a good reason. All of the financial institutions already have secure logins which you have to go through when importing.

In any case, even with this additional requirement, it's well worth it to not have to manually enter all the 1099 information.

 

[donheff]

I always assumed if you eFile, by default Intuit, H&R Block have access to everything on your return - so privacy is out the window anyway? And that’s desktop versions as well as online. While you can supposedly decline info sharing if you look hard enough for it, I don’t believe that for a minute. Google, FaceBook and most other firms are data mining at every opportunity regardless of what privacy options you choose. There are lots of ways around “we won’t sell your data…”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/12/tax-prep-privacy/

https://money.stackexchange.com/que...rbotax-does-intuit-get-a-copy-of-your-persona

I thought the TT requirement to dig around to avoid "sharing" only applied to the online version. If the efile process involves a click release, they hide it well.

 

[retire48in2018]

I have to have an intuit account many years ago - to pay the state efile fee that is imposed.

I don’t have to login until then. I think I can import directly from banks, employer, financial institutions (including Fidelity) without logging into intuit.

Certainly, until last year that was the case, because my son and daughter used my copy (TurboTax allows 5 returns for desktop) and they either mailed in their state tax or were in a
state without income tax. They did not have or get an intuit account. Last year - they did not use TurboTax.

 

[easysurfer]

I'd had an intuit account a long time ago.

I think was created for buying/using products from them. Probably first created to store deductible records from their Itsdeductible donation tracker. Also, I used to be a subscriber to get their TT CD in the mail (til I realized that it's usually a better bargain to buy separately). Also, I think an account is needed for doing a state efile with them.

 

[tulak]

I always assumed if you eFile, by default Intuit, H&R Block have access to everything on your return - so privacy is out the window anyway? And that’s desktop versions as well as online. While you can supposedly decline info sharing if you look hard enough for it, I don’t believe that for a minute. Google, FaceBook and most other firms are data mining at every opportunity regardless of what privacy options you choose. There are lots of ways around “we won’t sell your data…”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/12/tax-prep-privacy/

https://money.stackexchange.com/que...rbotax-does-intuit-get-a-copy-of-your-persona

On the stackexchange link, I read the following:

If you are using Turbotax software installed on your computer, it is most likely that the answer to this question on Turbotax's website (Is efile from TurboTax CD safe?) is correct. It states the following:

The only records we would have is your e-filing record consisting of your final figure(s) (refund or balance due) as well as how you intend to receive your refund.

That seems like a reasonable amount of data that they need to keep, but I'd be surprised if they don't collect more.

Even if they are storing all of my tax data, they don't have login credentials to Fidelity or any other financial institution. I've always assumed that they collect data on my tax form since I e-file and I figure that's the price I pay for the convenience. But there's no way am I giving them login info for any of my important financial institutions and the idea that I have to also create an account with Intuit is a bit too much.

I use TurboTax every year. They've been requiring an Intuit account more and more over the past several years. This year presenting the roadblock when you go to import. The info given on the screen says that they're requiring it for additional security/identification reasons. I don't really buy that as a good reason. All of the financial institutions already have secure logins which you have to go through when importing.

In any case, even with this additional requirement, it's well worth it to not have to manually enter all the 1099 information.

I don't buy it either and I'm not convinced it's worth the price of giving them my login info. Hopefully I can find an easier way to deal with this next year.

 

[tryan]

Been e-filing w/TT for years. Need to pay for a couple different states so the intuit account was always necessary to process a CC.