Intuit has released fixes for four software programs that had errors in calculating Minnesota tax returns. The fixes involved all of the company's tax products, TurboTax, Lacerte, ProSeries and Intuit Tax Online, in an embarrassing situation in which the Minnesota Department of Revenue publicly warned its residents over the weekend not to use Intuit tax products to prepare or file either electronic or paper returns.
"Intuit released fixes to resolve programming errors in its individual and professional tax products today and has already communicated directly with affected customers who file returns in the state of Minnesota. We've had all hands on deck to address these issues and reassure the state and our customers that Minnesota state products are accurate and complete," said
Bob Meighan, an Intuit VP.
Meighan's statement said Intuit is working with the Minnesota agency to resolve any remaining issues and is providing regular updates to the state.
Minnesota went public with the issues late Friday and issued a statement that was picked up by much of the state's media. It also held a conference call to explain the situation to tax preparers. Meanwhile, concerned preparers were posting comments on the Intuit Community listed a number sections of the products that were affected by programming errors.
These errors affected the products in different ways. "While some errors were the same across all the products, some were unique to a specific product," the spokesperson said. The common errors, the spokesperson commented, does not mean the programs had common code. TurboTax and ProSeries are built on one platform; Lacerte and Intuit Tax Online are on another.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind
