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Will AI make Intuit PS24 a better product?

The_AntiTax_Man
Level 8

So, Intuit is laying off a bunch of people.  See this link:

Tech giant cuts 599 workers in California amid massive layoff round (kcra.com)

Per Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi Intuit is laying off 1,800 employees, which is 10% of it's staff.  After significantly raising the bar on employee performance, approximately 1,050 employees are leaving the company due to not meeting expectations.  Laid-off employees will leave the company on September 9. 

Intuit plans to hire around 1,800 new workers after the layoffs are complete. The Intuit plan is to position itself to take advantage of this AI revolution.  Intuit has proclaimed that Wednesday July 17, 2024 is to be "Day 1".  There is to be a company Q & A meeting on July 16, 2024.

OK ProSeries tax software users, where does this transition leave us?  

16 Comments 16
IRonMaN
Level 15

Instead of talking to a stupid person when you call support you will be talking to a stupid computer.  Other than that, the professional tax software will continue to be a second thought while they continue to put all of their effort into Turrrdddotax and Quackbooks.


Slava Ukraini!
PATAX
Level 15

If we do call customer support and we get AI computers, I wonder if they will have names like Elizabeth, Abigail, Bartholomew, Alexander, Etc. Just wondering.

TaxGuyBill
Level 15

Fewer employees and/or experienced employees being replaced with brand-new employees aren't going to make the 2024 software better.  It will be worse.  The 2025 software will likely be worse too.

Intuit presumably wants AI for TurdoTax and Quickbooks, with the goal of increasing the cost and drawing in more customers.  *IF* they are successful in doing that, their goal will make taxpayers THINK they don't need professionals to do their tax returns or bookkeeping.  Taxpayers will think that Intuit will take care of everything.

There is no way this is helping tax professionals for the short-term and mid-term; more likely it will harm some tax businesses.  The long-term could possibly increase our business after taxpayers find out that the AI computer screwed up their tax returns.

PATAX
Level 15

AI will never replace human interaction because AI is incapable of thinking. It only comes to solutions based on what was programmed into it. But there are always unique situations and combination of situations. In the long run like you said people may find out the hard way.

qbteachmt
Level 15

PAM = perfect answering machine

The largest problem is how the AI train using existing Q&A. For instance, the QB help and support articles and helpdesk scripts and the community responses have so many bad answers, it's going to prove the "trickle down" theory: Sh*t rolls downhill.

*******************************
"Level Up" is a gaming function, not a real life function.
The_AntiTax_Man
Level 8

The_AntiTax_Man_0-1722374385425.png

Newsweek

Biden Official Announces Tax Filing Change for 1.5 Million Americans

Story by Suzanne Blake

  • July 30, 2024 • 3 min read

 

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen testifies during a hearing before the House Committee on Financial Services at Rayburn House Office Building on July 9, 2024 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Yellen announced a new tax filing option for 1.5 million Americans.

The Biden administration has announced a key change to the tax filing process for 1.5 million Americans.

For the first time, more than 1.5 million Pennsylvanians will be able to file directly for free online, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced on social media platform X Tuesday.

The option will be available only to those with simple state and federal tax returns in January, but the tool might become available for those in other states and for different types of returns in the future.

"It should be easy to meet your tax obligations and claim the credits, deductions, and refunds for which you are eligible. Instead, @IRSNews has been underfunded, which means that taxpayers have not gotten the support they deserve," Yellen wrote on X.

"Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration's Inflation Reduction Act, we're giving taxpayers better service in-person, over the phone, and online. We want it to be easy for taxpayers to get it right the first time and get their refunds as quickly as possible."

The direct file tool aims to save taxpayers time and money by allowing them a direct option for free taxes, instead of forcing taxpayers to pay for a third-party service. Those tax filing options often cost several hundreds of dollars, Yellen added.

The Internal Revenue Service originally tested out its direct file pilot program this year, and Yellen said the service successfully processed more than 5,000 returns daily. A total of 140,000 had used Direct File, which saved them $5.6 million collectively in federal filing fees.

The pilot launched the tool in 12 states: Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.

The response among users was also strong, as 90 percent of survey respondents said the service was "excellent or above average."

"This update is a major positive change for those in Pennsylvania filing simple tax returns," Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek. "Now, state taxpayers will be able to file their returns online for free, marking a shift from past years. This process should make filing returns quicker, more efficient, and more cost-effective."

The pilot program was launched using money from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which allocated $80 billion to the IRS.

Previously, the IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel said the agency intended to "roll it out in increments that get larger and larger, consistent with how products like this are rolled out in the private sector."

According to the U.S. Treasury Department, Americans spend more than $11 billion on tax prep services each year. That's an average of $270 and 13 hours lost to the process before the Direct File tool was available.

"This is going to allow people ease of access to their government, showing them that there is no wrong door," Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said in a statement. "Saving them hundreds if not thousands of dollars on software or other services that maybe they really didn't need in the first place."

PATAX
Level 15

@The_AntiTax_Man 1.5 million may be eligible but how many are actually going to use this. I can remember hearing about how great the new Pennsylvania my path system was going to be. 

sjrcpa
Level 15

And, can they file their PA returns through this? Or just federal?


Ex-AllStar
IRonMaN
Level 15

Ironwoman had a call the other day from a client submitting some forms to the State.  Her question was - do I sign the form next to where the sign here tab is?  I'm not too worried about my clients rushing to file their own tax return.


Slava Ukraini!
The_AntiTax_Man
Level 8

So, IRS Free File for PA residents with simple tax returns.  Will the State of PA Department of Revenue have something in place for the PA taxpayers to e-file their state income tax returns too? 

Personally, I file very few returns that would qualify for the IRS Free File program.  So, no immediate impact on my practice.  

Per the article, the US Treasury states that the 2023 Free File program saved the 140K users $5.6M in fees.  $5.6M/140K users = $40/user.  So, IF ALL 1.5M eligible PA filers use the IRS Free File for filing their 2024 returns you're talking 1.5M X $40 = $60M in the state of PA alone.  What effect, if any, will this have on the local PA economy?

How much of this $60M is an impact on Intuit's revenue stream?  How much will this impact the PA tax preparer's revenue stream? 

How will this impact the future cost of Intuit ProSeries software?

The_AntiTax_Man
Level 8

May 30, 2024:  Last week, Intuit warned that it expected to lose 1 million customers who use its free TurboTax program this fiscal year, as many shift instead to the IRS Direct File option. Intuit projected total TurboTax filing units will drop 1% because of “share loss with pay-nothing and lower average revenue per return customer.”

PATAX
Level 15

@The_AntiTax_Man I don't think this is going to have much of an impact on tax professionals in Pennsylvania. I don't think even one of my clients are going to use this since most of the returns I do are not easy.

PATAX
Level 15

@The_AntiTax_Man I hope our friend Jim in Ohio doesn't read your last post there.

abctax55
Level 15

Let's hope AI doesn't pick up on all the wrong answers out there regarding a SMLLC owner being able to pay him/herself via payroll.   I'll see if I can find the recent thread on that; the one that made me bang my head on my desk.

Here it is:

https://accountants.intuit.com/community/tax-talk/discussion/smllc-as-disregarded-entity-and-owner-s...

 

"*******Tax software is no substitute for a professional tax preparer*******
( Generic Comment )"
The_AntiTax_Man
Level 8

  @PATAX  I don't think the IRS Free File will impact tax pros directly either. 

However, publicly traded companies tend to make management decisions by the fiscal quarter.  As a software user I do not wish to get caught in the crossfire of Intuit's Turbo Tax revenue stream losses affecting the future cost of the Intuit software that I use.  Especially when Intuit has not kept up with all of the tax law changes in their software products.  ProSeries' usefulness has been in decline for a number of years now.  It is not all Intuit's fault as the politicians and their lobbyist that actually write the new tax code that we have to deal with are the main culprits.  But I have high expectations that Intuit programmers will eventually get the software right.  That has not been happening. 

Any additional software price increases for an incomplete, buggy software product spell disaster for Intuit's future.  Go onto Reddit and read the posts from some of the employees let go three weeks ago and receive an inside perspective.  The truth likely falls somewhere between the company statement releases and the perspective of the employees affected.

PATAX
Level 15

@The_AntiTax_Man Thanks. I went on to reddit and there were some very interesting comments on there.