"We are going to be launching an assisted solution at scale in the marketplace," Dan Wernikoff, EVP of Intuit's TurboTax Group, said during this week's Investor's Day presentation.
What Intuit hopes to attract is taxpayers with returns that will command a higher rate. Wernikoff said Intuit is looking at returns "that are four times the DIY returns in price".
The Intuit approach combines D-I-Y and assisted because the company says some taxpayers may need assistance one tax season, but not the next. TurboTax, Wernikoff says, "allows you to toggle between a pro experience and a consumer experience."
The executive did not reveal the number of Enrolled Agents and CPAs it had hired, except to say, "As of October we have three the number of pros hired for next season than for all of last season." He declined to discuss pay rates for competitive reasons. However, Wernikoff said pros with down time that would enable them to participate would be satisfied with the pay rate.
Intuit said its program, SmartLook, would benefit from being placed under the TurboTax brand.