Intuit Inc. provides financial management and compliance products and services for consumers, small businesses, self-employed, and accounting professionals in the United States, Canada, and internationally.
The company operates in three segments: Small Business & Self-Employed, Consumer, and Strategic Partner. The Small Business & Self-Employed segment provides QuickBooks online services and desktop software solutions comprising QuickBooks Enterprise, a hosted solution; QuickBooks Online Advanced, an online enterprise solution; QuickBooks Self-Employed solution; and QuickBooks Online
Accountant and QuickBooks Accountant Desktop Plus solutions; payroll solutions, such as online payroll processing, direct deposit of employee paychecks, payroll reports, electronic payment of federal and state payroll taxes, and electronic filing of federal and state payroll tax forms.
This segment also offers payment-processing solutions, including credit and debit cards, and ACH payment services; and financial supplies and financing for small businesses. Its Consumer segment provides TurboTax income tax preparation products and services; and personal finance.
The company’s Strategic Partner segment offers Lacerte, ProSeries, and ProFile desktop tax-preparation software products; and ProConnect Tax Online tax products, electronic tax filing service, and bank products and related services.
It sells products and services through various sales and distribution channels, including multi-channel shop-and-buy experiences, Websites and call centers, mobile application stores, and retail and other channels. Intuit Inc. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.
Intuit share price & revenues
The company operates in three segments: Small Business & Self-Employed, Consumer, and Strategic Partner. The Small Business & Self-Employed segment provides QuickBooks online services and desktop software solutions comprising QuickBooks Enterprise, a hosted solution; QuickBooks Online Advanced, an online enterprise solution; QuickBooks Self-Employed solution; and QuickBooks Online
Accountant and QuickBooks Accountant Desktop Plus solutions; payroll solutions, such as online payroll processing, direct deposit of employee paychecks, payroll reports, electronic payment of federal and state payroll taxes, and electronic filing of federal and state payroll tax forms.
This segment also offers payment-processing solutions, including credit and debit cards, and ACH payment services; and financial supplies and financing for small businesses. Its Consumer segment provides TurboTax income tax preparation products and services; and personal finance.
The company’s Strategic Partner segment offers Lacerte, ProSeries, and ProFile desktop tax-preparation software products; and ProConnect Tax Online tax products, electronic tax filing service, and bank products and related services.
It sells products and services through various sales and distribution channels, including multi-channel shop-and-buy experiences, Websites and call centers, mobile application stores, and retail and other channels. Intuit Inc. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.
Intuit share price & revenues
In order to understand Intuit's success we need to understand its history and place when it comes to tax filing in the U.S. An excerpt from Wikipedia provides a clear and concise understanding of the practices Intuit uses when it comes to maintaining a monopoly in accounting for SMBs, accountants and individuals.
"Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, has lobbied extensively against the IRS creating its own online system of tax filing. As part of an agreement with the IRS, TurboTax allows individuals making less than $66,000 a year to use a free version of TurboTax; a 2019 ProPublica investigation revealed that TurboTax deliberately makes this version hard to find and that it deceptively steers individuals who search for the free version to TurboTax versions that cost.
TurboTax has tricked military service members to pay to use the filing software by creating and promoting a "military discount" and by making the free version hard to find when many service members are in fact eligible to use the software for free. Intuit is reportedly under investigation by New York’s Department of Financial Services."
"2007, Intuit lobbied to make sure taxpayers cannot electronically file their tax returns directly to the IRS by negotiating a deal preventing the IRS from setting up its own web portal for e-filing.
In 2009, the Los Angeles Times reported that Intuit spent nearly $2 million in political contributions to eliminate free online state tax filing for low income residents in California.
According to the New York Times, from 2009-2014, Intuit spent nearly $13 million lobbying, as reported by Open Secrets, as much as Apple. Intuit spent $1 million on the race for state comptroller to support Tony Strickland, a Republican who opposed ReadyReturn, against John Chang, a Democrat who supported ReadyRun (and won).
Joseph Bankman, professor of tax law, Stanford Law School, and advocate of simplified filing, believes that the campaign warned politicians that if they supported free filing, Intuit would help their opponents.
On March 26, 2013, ProPublica reported that the company lobbied against return-free filing as recently as 2011.
On March 26, 2013, ProPublica reported that the company lobbied against return-free filing as recently as 2011.
One year later, ProPublica reported that the company appeared to be linked to a number of op-eds and letters to Congress in a campaign advocating against direct tax filing backed by the Computer & Communications Industry Association, an advocacy organization of which Intuit is a member."
Basically we have a company that is consistently lobbying in order to keep its business afloat, a practice that has recently come under scrutiny from various authorities around the U.S. The latest being an investigation filed in New York for the company's use of deceptive strategies.
https://www.propublica.org/article/turbotax-maker-intuit-h-r-block-new-york-regulator-launches-investigation
Basically we have a company that is consistently lobbying in order to keep its business afloat, a practice that has recently come under scrutiny from various authorities around the U.S. The latest being an investigation filed in New York for the company's use of deceptive strategies.
https://www.propublica.org/article/turbotax-maker-intuit-h-r-block-new-york-regulator-launches-investigation
While this is reason for concern, these investigations are not likely to result in substantial impediment to the business of Intuit, due to to its closeness to the political echelons via lobbying but also due to its high-adoption rate in the U.S.
Therefore, Intuit is a BUY, with a target price of 330$ until the end of 2019 or early Q1 of 2020.
Therefore, Intuit is a BUY, with a target price of 330$ until the end of 2019 or early Q1 of 2020.