Is the Federal Government a Risk to Turbo Tax: Read the Filings with the SEC?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS.

Free filing of taxes with the Federal government is a concept that has been endorsed by Presidents Obama and Reagan and is already a reality in some parts of Europe. But why isn’t it a reality? Liz Day’s article provides some evidence that the organization, Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) has launched aggressive efforts against it.

Questions:
1. Explain the op-eds mentioned in the article. Why were they against “free filing of taxes”?
2. Intuit (maker of Turbo Tax) has said in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it views free government tax preparation as a risk to its business. If you were looking for this statement, explain where it is likely to be found and in what particular filings.
3. What percentage of TurboTax’s revenues come from their electronic filing services?

Source:
Day, L. (2014) TurboTax Maker Linked To ‘Grassroots’ Campaign Against Free, Simple Tax Filing. The National Memo.com, April 14. (Retrivable online at http://www.nationalmemo.com/turbotax-maker-linked-grassroots-campaign-free-simple-tax-filing/)
Day, L. (2014) How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing. Propublica: Journalism in the Public Interest & NPR, April 14. (Retrievable online at http://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-maker-of-turbotax-fought-free-simple-tax-filing)
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