After meeting with tax industry groups, Intuit has agreed to “evolve” away from corny ads urging consumers to “break up with your tax pro.”
By Kelly Phillips Erb, Forbes Staff
“You’re leaving me?,” the middle-aged accountant in a bland tan suit and tie, sitting behind a desk in an outdated, paper-heavy office, asks the younger woman incredulously. She pulls out her cell phone to show him the “who” she’s leaving him for—a younger man, in a fashionable blue suit and salmon shirt, unbuttoned at the neck, “who charges me less but gives me more.”
“Sing it, Adam,” she orders.
Actor Adam DeVine—of Pitch Perfect and Modern Family fame—dressed as if he were trapped in a 90s boy band video, complete with a smoke machine, then breaks into song, advising that you “best believe TurboTax will beat your price… this is a tax break-up.”
The ad is part of Intuit’s extensive “break-up” ad campaign pitching the “TurboTax Full Service plan,” which features a human tax preparer, who customers work with online or in person. The campaign, which launched on September 20th, has included ads on social media and on network television, including Saturday Night Live’s season opener and college football games.
But Tuesday, Intuit said it would “evolve” away from the cheeky campaign after organizations representing tax professionals–who use and refer clients to some of Intuit’s other products–complained loudly and met with Intuit.
Other ads and short videos that are part of the offending campaign advised “how to break-up via voicemail” and “Skip the red flags 🚩 Glow-up and make the switch to a #TurboTax Expert today!” In the latter, a young woman advises taxpayers to “Put a finger down if you’re in a situation where you’re constantly waiting to hear back from them [tax preparers], always having to drive to meet them, unsure where you stand with them, and now you’re starting to get the feeling that you need someone new, someone who really understands your wants and needs…”
The campaign promises that Intuit will undercut by at least 10% what you paid your tax pro last season, assuming you qualify (generally, you must have used a Certified Public Accountant or other licensed tax preparer for your 2023 return and agree by December 20, 2024, to use TurboTax’s Full Service plan for your 2024 return).
In 2023, 45 million individual tax returns were filed using TurboTax–more than a quarter of the 160 million 1040s filed in total.
Tax pros are used to competing with TurboTax’s software and with its higher end human service, but were livid over the unflattering portrayal of traditional tax professionals and worried about the reputational hit. One tax pro group described it as “doubly insulting” that Intuit would use such a cutting ad strategy against its own customers.
Intuit doesn’t just own TurboTax—it’s a multi-billion dollar financial technology platform. Last year, Intuit’s total revenue was $16.3 billion, up 13% from the previous year. Its fastest growing sector was the Small Business and Self-Employed Group Online Ecosystem, which brought in $6.9 billion, compared to $3.9 billion for TurboTax online. The small business group includes QuickBooks and Mailchimp (which Intuit acquired in 2021 for $12 billion)—services that are relied upon by some tax pros, as well as recommended by some to their clients.
Importantly, Intuit also makes money from its tax professional services—including software supported by the Intuit Lacerte tax engine (which provides professional software for large accounting firms) and Intuit ProConnect Tax, cloud-based tax software for accountants. Last year, Intuit’s ProTax Group revenue grew 7%.
The company’s consumer tax group also grew 7%, but that reflects fast growth in TurboTax Live (which includes both human assisted and full service products), even as the number of taxpayers using fully do-it-yourself products like TurboTax Online declined.
The IRS has been muscling in on the lower end of the DIY market; earlier this year, the IRS announced that the number of states offering Direct File, a free direct e-file tax return system, will double in 2025 to 24. The IRS also offers another program—Free File—in which tax software providers make their online products available for free to eligible (mostly low-income) taxpayers. TurboTax dropped out of FreeFile two tax seasons ago following years of controversy over whether it was directing taxpayers looking for free services to paid ones. In 2023, it sent $141 million in checks to more than 4 million consumers who paid for software, but could have done their returns for free in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
As Intuit shifts away from the low end of the tax prep market, it is increasingly relying on not only its own high end services, but purchases by, and referrals from tax pros. That made the most recent campaign particularly hard to swallow for many professionals, with one CPA labeling it “in poor taste.” Another noted, “It’s been very clear through a series of events they have taken that they value relationships with accountants less and less.”
The National Association of Tax Professionals (NATP), representing over 24,000 tax professionals nationwide, was among the sharpest critics of the Intuit campaign. In a statement on October 11, it said it would no longer accept Intuit’s sponsorships or exhibits at its conferences, because of the campaign’s “direct conflict with our members’ interests.” The organization stopped short, however, of calling for a boycott, saying in a statement: “We are not advocating against using any Intuit products and respect that tax professionals make their own business decisions regarding the tools they use.”
The National Association of Enrolled Agents (NAEA) and the California Society of Enrolled Agents (CSEA) joined in “expressing our disappointment with Intuit for the disrespectful message” expressed in their ad.
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the national professional organization of CPAs serving more than 597,000 members, candidates, and registrants in 188 countries and territories, did not initially release a statement. However, on October 17, AICPA President and CEO Barry Melancon, issued a statement that said, in part, “The crucial role of CPAs, who serve as expert and trusted advisors to business owners and individuals, was not reflected in an unfortunate recent ad campaign launched by Intuit.”
On October 15, after Intuit met with tax pro organizations, several tax groups announced the ad campaign would be phased-out, though it would take some time. “We are very pleased that Intuit listened to the feedback from enrolled agents and others in the tax pro community and made the decision to discontinue the ad,” Twila D. Midwood, NAEA’s current president, said, in a statement.
Intuit wasn’t quite so direct. When asked to confirm that it has decided to pull the campaign based on feedback from the tax preparer industry, Tania Mercado, Senior Manager of Public Affairs & Corporate Communications for Intuit, provided a statement to Forbes indicating the company would “evolve” its “current” campaign. Her statement read in part: “While our current TurboTax campaign is intended to encourage tax filers to file their taxes with a [TurboTax] tax expert, we will evolve the creative to ensure it has the intended impact so the benefit of filing with a tax preparer is crystal clear. And most importantly, we will continue with our and tax preparers’ shared goal of delivering financial benefits and complete confidence to tax filers by demonstrating the extraordinary value of assisted tax preparation, all at a competitive price.”
While some in the tax profession appeared to be relieved by Intuit’s decision, others weren’t so sure. Mike Sylvester, a CPA from Fort Wayne, Indiana, tweeted, “Intuit is going to Intuit,” adding, “They are going to get more and more aggressive over time in my opinion.”
(Author’s note: The piece was updated to reflect a statement from the AICPA issued on October 17, 2024.)
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