Intuit TurboTax Goes Mobile
The 2012 US Tax Day is coming. While traditionally, it’s supposed to be today (April 15th), the government is kind enough in these situations to give us a natural extension until Tuesday, April 17, 2012. For those who are scrambling to find all their receipts, W2, 1099s, and more, don’t worry, for some of you, you won’t even need to use a computer for this year’s IRS Tax Return. You can simply download a copy of TurboTax from Intuit for your iPad or iPhone. Sounds a bit odd, right? Well, normally the reaction would be: “Taxes from my tablet? Doesn’t seem like it’s possible.” OR “Taxes on my iPhone?How is that possible?!?” While I was a bit skeptical myself, I was happy to get a briefing from the folks at the TurboTax division at Intuit.
For people who have a simple tax return and qualify for the 1040EZ, SnapTax for your iPhone can get you filed within minutes.
SnapTax
was the first mobile app to allow users to completely prepare and e-file a federal and state return from their iPhone or Android device. SnapTax is easy, accurate and secure and lets users snap a photo of their W-2 with the camera in their phone and then, automatically transfers information right onto their tax return. Taxpayers then answer a few simple questions, review their return and tap “File My Taxes” to e-file in minutes.
What they have done to try and simplify the process is leverage the camera on the phone to take a picture of our W2 and scan all the relevant items to auto-populate the fields. At $19.99, it’s not necessarily the cheapest app found in the iTunes App Store, but this is still less expensive than a copy for your PC.
Another product that Intuit has launched in order to complete their mobile offering is TaxCaster.
TaxCaster: Now available for iPad as well as iPhone and Android devices, TaxCaster is a free and easy way to estimate a tax refund. With this interactive and engaging app, customers can quickly and easily enter information using visual icons and sliders to see where they stand before they file.
While TaxCaster might be something you use after you file your taxes, it’s pretty nifty how they’re able to fit quite a bit of information in a small package. Perhaps it can help you plan and make good decisions about deductions, exemptions and more. In particular, helping to budget and plan for Donations, Retirement and other items to help reduce your overall payment, and possibly a refund.
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