Comment by SoftTalker

7 months ago

The cost of Turbo Tax is not the just what you pay for the service. The real cost is that they now have a very detailed financial picture of you and your family and they will market that to any willing buyer (I will never be convinced that they don't do this).

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SoftTalker

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vel0city  7 months ago

Their privacy policy directly states they don't sell user data.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/...

But even then, assuming "they'll just sell it anyways", most of that information exists with other orgs anyways that could just as easily just sell it anyways. If I don't trust Intuit, why would I trust ADP or whoever my bank is to not sell my data either?

But sure, I agree, using any third party to file your taxes exposes you to that risk of yet another party potentially leaking/selling data. Once again though, to me that trade off of 14 more hours with my kids versus someone knowing what I paid in mortgage interest last year is pretty OK to me. Data brokers could just glean that same kind of useful information it means through the thousands of other things tracking me anyways.

  • cratermoon  7 months ago

    > Their privacy policy directly states they don't sell user data.

    unless you happen to click "OK" on one of the deceptive prompts TurboTax will show you while preparing your taxes.

    • bigyabai  7 months ago

      Given that DOGE is currently "cleaning up" the IRS, I figure it's only a matter of time before America invites "trusted commercial partners" to "analyze citizen data" for a "more efficient" auditing process.

      It's about reducing the burden on taxpaying Americans, or something like that.

      3 replies →

  • jq-r  7 months ago

    I always wondered if “we won’t sell your data” means literally just that. They promise they won’t sell it but, what’s stopping them from giving it away for free? Moreover, they could establish another company, give them data for free, and that second company sells it.

yesco  7 months ago

I regret to inform you that your bank, credit card company and every other financial institution you use is already selling it off in real time... it's how they make credit reports :(

  • SoftTalker  7 months ago

    I know, but I still resist where I can.

    Also my bank only knows what goes on in my checking account. They have a lot less information than the IRS does (although what they do have is probably a lot more detailed).

oooyay  7 months ago

I guess enough time has passed.

I used to work in Intuit's Security R&D business unit and worked on the software that made it so that even if someone at Intuit/Turbo Tax wanted to do that it'd be impossible. Intuit spends a lot of money on cryptographers and very skilled programmers to ensure that. The definition of PII extends all the way to the HTTP logs of filers such that we couldn't even visualize filings on a map as they came in during tax season.

There's plenty of things that Intuit does that aren't good without alleging baseless claims.

MangoCoffee  7 months ago

your bank, credit card, even local supermarket...etc. already have your info. its 2025. there's really nowhere to hide.

atrettel  7 months ago

This is one of the big reasons I keep doing it manually. Only the IRS and my state gets my info.

  • vel0city  7 months ago

    And your bank, and your credit card company, and the company handling payroll, and your health insurance company, and credit bureaus, and and and and...

    • johnnyanmac  7 months ago

      Yes, the people paying you and the ones handling your money has your financial data. You can always choose to go bank less and credit card less of you wish. I guess you can go off grid for salary?