Firm Management
Increased Import Options Enhance Intuit Tax Online
For thousands of accountants and their clients, tax season just became a lot more harmonized. Users of Intuit Tax Online can expect major enhancements to the tax preparation solution for Tax Year 2013.
Dec. 02, 2013
From the Dec. 2013 issue.
For thousands of accountants and their clients, tax season just became a lot more harmonized. Users of Intuit Tax Online can expect major enhancements to the tax preparation solution for Tax Year 2013. Earlier this year, Intuit introduced a new design for all of its products. The enhancement has been nicknamed Harmony because it creates the same look and feel among all Intuit products, creating a harmonized workflow and experience for the company's customers.
While ITO now boasts a new user interface, users will notice that the harmony doesn't just stop there. Other enhancements include an expanded view of client data, support for not-for-profit organizations, faster performance and improved integration with QuickBooks Online. ITO 2013 provides users with a holistic view of their tax returns, retaining every return prepared or imported into the system. Intuit has also worked to drastically shorten the amount of time pages take to load.
“Our customers will be pleased with the new features we have introduced in Intuit Tax Online 2013. These enhancements are part of our continued pursuit of efficiency and timeliness. We continue to strive for simplicity and making our products easy to use so that our customers and their clients can spend more time working on their business,” said Jorge Olavarrieta, Group Product Manager, Intuit Tax Online.
One major feature that users will notice in ITO 2013 is the ability to integrate directly with QBO. This feature was introduced in beta last year and will be fully incorporated in this year's solution. With the integration, users can use the data from QuickBooks Online to automatically prepare tax returns in Intuit Tax Online.
In line with its Open Platform Strategy, Intuit has continued to add import capabilities to Intuit Tax Online. Many of the new features are designed to integrate the tax preparation software with the rest of the Intuit ecosystem, allowing accountants to access all of their client's data from a central location. Since the client data is attached to Intuit’s Single Sign-On feature, data is automatically available once users log into the solution. With Intuit’s Virtual Office, users have instant access to any file created with an Intuit product.
Intuit Tax Online now fully supports electronic filing for six modules, adding support for not-for-profit organizations. In addition, there are no license, startup or e-file fees. Users can prepare returns for free, paying only when they file. The solution supports all major forms, as well as state and federal e-filing. The system also supports electronic filing for extensions, payments and amended returns.
The latest enhancements to Intuit Tax Online are a part of the company’s vision to continue to grow the product. The number of users has doubled each year for the past four years, and that rate is expected to increase as the company continues to embrace mobile technology and the advantages for its customers. With the Intuit Tax Online companion mobile app, users can access client information directly from their mobile device. Users can also view clients’ up-to-date e-file status and email tax return information.
“QuickBooks Online integration and data accessibility within the Intuit ecosystem are just two examples of our commitment to making things simpler and easier for our customers. As we continue to enhance Intuit Tax Online, it will no longer be a standalone tax product, but will become part of a suite of products designed to maximize efficiency and productivity,” said Olavarrieta. “We have also invested heavily in the mobile companion app for Intuit Tax Online and our customers can expect lots of exciting things to come.”
The latest version of Intuit Tax Online was released November 13, 2013.