Turbo Tax Online Price Increases in the decade through 2012 – A Comparison

Filing taxes using the Premium product of Intuit’s Turbo Tax Online in the 2012 tax year required paying $37.45 for the federal and $27.70 for the state filings. This pricing was after the click through discounts from Fidelity. Turbo Tax increased prices at a very fast pace during the period between 2003 and 2010. Below is a summary of Turbo Tax’s price increases for the decade through 2012.

Year	Federal	State	Total	YOY % Price Increase
2003	$24.42	Free	$24.42	NA
2004	$29.95	Free	$29.95	22.65
2005	$24.95	$9.95	$34.90**	16.53
2006	$27.95	$17.45	$45.40**	30.09
2007	$37.45	$22.45	$59.90**	31.94
2008	$37.45	$26.21	$63.66**	6.30
2009	$37.45	$27.70	$65.15**	2.34
2010	$37.45	$27.70	$65.15**	0.00
2011	$37.45	$27.70	$65.15**	0.00
2012	$37.45	$27.70	$65.15**	0.00

**The prices above are after click through discounts from Fidelity when filing before March 22nd. The discount was worth around $20 and prices went up by 50% when filing after March 22nd. For example, the premium product without the discount was $74.99 when filing after March 22nd and filing state was an additional $39.99 for a total of a whopping $115. There was no price increase in the three years through 2012 tax year. 

As far as alternatives, we tried TaxACT and H&R Block At Home (TaxCut) previously but ultimately stayed with Turbo Tax through 2012 tax year - we used the Deluxe product instead of the Premium product to reduce the price and also used the Fidelity click-through discount - even after all that, the final pricing was still a $30 premium over the comparable TaxACT product (Ultimate Bundle). For the 2013 tax year, we finally made the switch to TaxACT and that was overall very worthwhile .

Related Note: H&R Block tried to acquire (10/2010) TaxACT despite having a competitive product in H&R Block At Home (formerly TaxCut) but the deal did not go through due to anti-trust opposition. That essentially means the landscape will remain fairly competitive with these three main players.


There are a few other options to keep your tax filing costs down:

1. Turbo Tax SnapTax for iPhone and Android can keep your cost to just $24.99 (increased from $19.99 last year). The pricing is about half when compared to the online product. 
2. Opt for Turbo Tax Desktop Edition. Going this route saves you around 35% compared to the discounted pricing for the Online Edition. You can choose between a DVD and Download. Download is slightly cheaper and you get it almost instantly (~5 minutes if you have broadband internet connection).
3. Get Turbo Tax Deluxe online edition for free by establishing a banking relationship with State Farm. 
4. Intuit substantially increases the pricing of the software every year on March 22nd. So, you can save a bunch by filing before that date. 

Note: consider also what is available at the Amazon.com Tax Preparation Software area. The options there are suitable in case you prefer client software as opposed to online interface.

Related Posts:

1. Free Online Tax Filing with IRS Free File - Ongoing Updates. 
2. Turbo Tax to TaxACT switching experience - 2014 Tax Filing
3. 2013 Tax Filing - TurboTax Usage Experience. 
4. Turbo Tax Online Price Increase Over The Years - A Comparison (this post).
5. Online Tax Filing – TaxAct, TaxCut, Turbo Tax – User Experience Review.

Last Updated: 04/2017.