TurboTax
Ranked 2 of 4 tax software by recommenders
Criticized more than recommended, mainly for pushes pricier editions and charges fees for returns many think should be free; those who recommend it cite fast, simple filing with a polished interface, working browser and desktop versions, and tax law updates built in.
12 people recommended TurboTax in Hacker News comments, 13 had mixed feelings and 57 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
These are opinions from Hacker News comments, not financial advice.
Summary written by Claude from the comments below.
82 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- mixed feelings
- 13
- warn against or regret it
- 57
The record
Recommended in 8 of 12 months
In 10 different threads.
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 8 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 10 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 17% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
- A money productHealth and money products are never badged, not met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 40 of the 88 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Pushes pricier editions and fees
“I eventually decided to abandon them a couple years after they started forcing me to buy some ultra premium pro edition”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Intuit to lay off over 3k employees to refocus on AI” “which turbo tax is not free for”
Comment from 5 Nov 2025 in “Direct File won't happen in 2026, IRS tells states” “Intuit's actual business model is convincing millions of people that their taxes are so complicated they need to spend $60 on a program”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Intuit to lay off over 3k employees to refocus on AI” - Comment from 5 Nov 2025 in “Direct File won't happen in 2026, IRS tells states”
- Comment from 5 Nov 2025 in “Direct File won't happen in 2026, IRS tells states”
Lobbies against free government filing
“the company that lobbies to make filing your taxes hard and to destroy any free simple government app to file taxes”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “I replaced Windows with Linux and everything's going great” “Think about how companies like TurboTax lobby the government to not build electronic tax filing stuff.”
Comment from 11 Mar 2026 in “Every minute you aren't running 69 agents, you are falling behind” “TurboTax lobbying against free self filing and government filing is politics and technology.”
Comment from 15 Jan 2026 on Hacker News Buggy, slow desktop and web app
“the desktop version is a buggy pile of trash. I wasn't able to use it at all even on a windows machine”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Intuit to lay off over 3k employees to refocus on AI” “Every single click is a spinner image for 1 second while the layout adjusts and fetches data.”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Intuit to lay off over 3k employees to refocus on AI” “it is pretty buggy and getting worse, they clearly want you to move off the desktop software”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Intuit to lay off over 3k employees to refocus on AI”
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good browser and desktop versions
“TurboTax, for all its faults is one of those where the desktop app is better than the webapp they keep pushing.”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “I Won't Download Your App. The Web Version Is A-OK” “TurboTax has had a great browser-based version for over a decade now”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “I replaced Windows with Linux and everything's going great” “The best thing in my opinion is using the TurboTax Desktop software”
Comment from 28 Oct 2026 in “Dayjob: Tax – evaluating AI agents on 50 professional tax assignments” Fast, simple filing
“I answered five questions, entered the date that I wanted IRS to take out the taxes we owed and we were done.”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces iPhone 17e” “it saves me enormous amounts of time”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Intuit to lay off over 3k employees to refocus on AI” Polished, slick interface
“I was impressed at how slick the TurboTax website was”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Intuit to lay off over 3k employees to refocus on AI” “it put my bank to shame in terms of UI”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Intuit to lay off over 3k employees to refocus on AI” Accurate and current with tax law
“Turbotax has the latest 2026 tax changes coded into the app.”
Comment from 12 Mar 2026 in “ATMs didn't kill bank Teller jobs, but the iPhone did” “It gets things right I’ve had expensive CPAs get wrong.”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Cloudflare tells U.S. govt that foreign site blocking efforts are trade barriers”
Other tax software people recommend
The three most recommended other tax software, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FreeTaxUSA | 20 | 2 | 5 | 80% | 4 | — | — |
| TurboTaxThis page | 12 | 13 | 57 | 17% | 8 | — | — |
| IRS Free File Fillable Forms | 11 | 2 | 5 | 69% | 6 | — | — |
| Cash App Taxes | 5 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 88 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it was a pain getting the online tax SW (TurboTax, TaxAct, etc) to mimic what they did”
“The best thing in my opinion is using the TurboTax Desktop software”
“I find TurboTax is easy enough to use, except that data collection and entering is a huge hassle”
“TurboTax's refund processor did that to me because they thought my address was wrong or something.”
“TurboTax's guarantee has no value beyond marketing to potential TurboTax customers.”
“effectively the same evil (cough, Turbotax, cough) party you were trying to avoid”
“it saves me enormous amounts of time”
“it put my bank to shame in terms of UI”
“Every single click is a spinner image for 1 second while the layout adjusts and fetches data.”
“I eventually decided to abandon them a couple years after they started forcing me to buy some ultra premium pro edition”
“the desktop version is a buggy pile of trash. I wasn't able to use it at all even on a windows machine”
“I was impressed at how slick the TurboTax website was”
“I hate it with a passion, it has more dark patterns than even LinkedIn”
“Intuit insisted that only Windows 11 would be supported, for no technical reason whatsoever.”
“If you’re going to switch off the desktop software to something, it may as well be something that isn’t turbotax.”
“it didn't seem to know that it was even related to taxes or tax software”
“it is pretty buggy and getting worse, they clearly want you to move off the desktop software”
“This year they made you take a survey at the end, asking why you're still using boomer desktop software”
“Intuit's actual business model is convincing millions of people that their taxes are so complicated they need to spend $60 on a program”
“It's why software like turbo tax is still around despite being a shitty company.”
“TurboTax, for all its faults is one of those where the desktop app is better than the webapp they keep pushing.”
“Turbotax has the latest 2026 tax changes coded into the app.”
“Think about how companies like TurboTax lobby the government to not build electronic tax filing stuff.”
“honestly hate all the upselling Turbotax tries to do every other screen”
“I answered five questions, entered the date that I wanted IRS to take out the taxes we owed and we were done.”
“the entire purpose of their existence is to make sure that filling taxes is as complicated as possible”
“Those stupid effing TurboTax ads are the only time I’ve ever been motivated to actually write feedback to apple”
“I do gets lots of ads for tax filing software. Namely, Intuit TurboTax.”
“TurboTax lobbying against free self filing and government filing is politics and technology.”
“TurboTax has had a great browser-based version for over a decade now”
“the company that lobbies to make filing your taxes hard and to destroy any free simple government app to file taxes”
“The tax situation already happens now with Intuit owning both Turbo Tax and CreditKarma”
“It gets things right I’ve had expensive CPAs get wrong.”
“I imagine Inuit is a reliable source of campaign contributions every year.”
“TurboTax paid something like 140 million to settle claims that they are misleading filers”
“For the situations that are actually hard, then a software like TurboTax is useless.”
“Turbotax requires a US billing address to pay the fee of using Turbotax”
“it's incredibly dumb to pay Turbo Tax when you could just fill in the forms yourself for free”
“Turbo tax is NOT "free for federal filers with no business income". Just look at the Costco Turbotax stands every year.”
“which turbo tax is not free for”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.