The company reported net income of $537 million for the year just ended, an increase of 18 percent from $457 million in fiscal 2009. Revenue for 2010 was $3.46 billion, an 11-percent increase from $3.11 billion a year earlier. Intuit closed with a strong sales effort in the fourth quarter as revenue came in at $574 million, an 18-percent hike from $447 million a year ago. It closed with a loss of $48 million, narrowed from a loss of $71 million in last year's fourth quarter. Intuit typically does not make money in the quarter after tax season ends.

 

In the consumer tax area, Intuit says it is taking market share from retail stores and given its projections of revenue growth of 10 percent to 13 percent for the current fiscal year, it expects that to continue. "The fact is that consumers want to file their taxes digitally," Smith said in answer to an analyst's question. Consumers proved that as Intuit sold 13.7 million federal online units, a 19.2 percent increase from 10.4 million units in last year's corresponding period. Retail federal TurboTax units sold decreased to 6.2 million, compared to 6.3 million.

The company appeared fairly optimistic for its professional tax side which had a 6 percent increase in revenue growth for 2010 and it expects another 4 percent to 7 percent on top of that for fiscal 2011. Intuit received $1.15 billion from this source in the most recently ended year, compared to $996 billion a year ago, the first time it crossed the $1 billion threshold. However, reported sales of professional software units sold were reported unchanged at $106,000.