"We are way ahead of our expectations or our ability to recruit the number of professionals we need to get through the season," CEO Brad Smith said during this week's webcast for earnings for the first quarter ended October 31.

Professionals also exceeded the target Net Promoter Scores, Smith said. Roughly, those scores measure buyer satisfaction by subtracting the number of customers who would not recommend a program from those who would.

Under the Live program, customers using TurboTax will be able to hit a button to access professional help if they have a question. In addition, if they linger over a particular area of a return too long, they will be asked if they want help.

Smith said in many years, taxpayers may not need professional assistance. However, they may have life-changing events and have questions to ask and will turn to pros, but will likely turn about to DIY the next year.

Customers connect to professionals via a one-way video. Smith said the technology that enables the connection is SmartLook, a term that had beenused in the market before the copany completed construction of the Live program.

Smith said during tax season, "You are going see our ad campaigns talking about the ability of having a tax professional on demand."

Intuit has not revealed program pricing. Smith tallied the rough pricing in the market for return preparation, saying TurboTax receives about $50 per customer; tax stores, $180 to $220; and professionals can cost more than $300.
Smith said the market could expect pricing for the TurboTax Live will be "north of where we are and south of where they are."