TaxAct

TaxAct Holdings, Inc.
Formerly
 2nd Story Software
(1998-2013)
subsidiary of Blucora
Industry Software
Founded 1998 (1998) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States
Founder Lance Dunn
Cammie Greif
Jerry McConnell
Alan Sperfslage
Area served
 United States, Canada
Key people
 John Clendening (CEO, Interim President);
Bill Michalek (Vice President, Investor Relations);
Davinder Athwal (Chief Financial Officer).[1]
Number of employees
 120 (2018)
Parent Blucora
Website www.taxact.com

TaxAct Holdings, Inc. is an American tax preparation software company based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA. The company offers its own software package "TaxAct" to individual tax registers, companies and professional affiliates. The company was founded in 1998. Since 2012, TaxAct Holdings, Inc. is a subsidiary of Blucora.

History

TaxAct Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1998 as 2nd Story Software by Lance Dunn, the former Vice President of software development at Parsons Technology. Later, Lance Dunn recruited Jerry McConnell and Alan Sperfslage as developers, and Cammie Greif as a marketer.[2][3]

In 2000, a cloud-based version of TaxACT software was released.[3] In 2004, TA Associates, a private equity firm based in Boston, acquired two-thirds of the company for $89 million.

In October 2010, H&R Block said it would pay $287.5 million in cash to acquire the parent firm of TaxAct.[4] In May 2011 the U.S. Department of Justice attempted to stop the acquisition in an antitrust lawsuit.[5][6] In November 2011, a federal judge sided with the Justice Department, and both companies mutually terminated the contract.[7][8]

In January 2012, 2nd Story Software was sold to Seattle-based Blucora (formerly Infospace, Inc.) for more than $287 million.[9][10][11] In 2013, the name was officially changed to TaxAct Holdings, Inc. Subsequently, in October of the same year, TaxAct acquired Balance Financial, the company that specializes in personal finance tools and services.[12]

In 2017, Sanjay Baskaran was appointed as the President of the company.[13] On May 4, 2018, Sanjay Baskaran resigned from his position as President of TaxAct and left the company. John Clendening, the current company CEO, assumes the President's responsibilities on an interim basis.[1]

TaxAct is a member of the Free File Alliance, a free federal tax preparation and electronic filing program for eligible individual taxpayers developed through a partnership between the IRS and a group of private sector tax software companies.[14]

Product overview

TaxAct offers two product formats: TaxACT Online which is web-based tax preparation, and TaxACT Desktop.[15][16] There are also free mobile app called TaxACT Express which was released on January 17, 2014. The app is available for iOS and Android.

There are four online plans: Free, Premium, Freelancer and Pro. TaxAct offers a Free version for basic returns using the 1040EZ and 1040A forms. Self-employed filers should use the Freelancer version which costs $39 for a federal filing and $37 per state filing. TaxAct Premium, which costs $51, includes the features of all the other versions plus audit protection.[17][18]

On January, 2017 TaxAct partnered with Miami-based startup Taxfyle. The partnership enables individual tax filers, small and medium sized business owners, independent contractors to connect with Certified Public Accountants and Enrolled Agents should they prefer to have their taxes completed by a licensed accounting professional.[19]

In March 2018 TaxAct Online Freelancer Edition was awarded the title of "The best tax software for independent contractors" by Business Insider.[20]

References

  1. 1 2 Rachel Lerman (May 9, 2018). "Q1 2018 Results Earnings Conference Call". Nasdaq. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  2. ↑ "2nd Story's Tax Software: A Class ACT". PC Magazine: 42. March 9, 1999. ISSN 0888-8507.
  3. 1 2 Sarah Binder (April 3, 2014). "Cedar Rapids' TaxACT went from David to Goliath". The Gazette (Cedar Rapids). Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  4. ↑ Tom Taulli (October 14, 2010). "H&R Block Gets Serious About Digital with Purchase of TaxACT". AOL. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  5. ↑ "U.S. Seeks Halt To H&R Block Deal for Rival". The New York Times. May 23, 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  6. ↑ Justice Department Files Antitrust Lawsuit to Stop H&R Block Inc. from Buying TaxAct; Deal Would Substantially Reduce Competition in Sale of Digital Do-It-Yourself Tax Preparation Products and Result in Higher Prices and a Reduction in Innovation and Quality, Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, Press Release, May 23, 2011
  7. ↑ Eileen Aj Connelly (November 15, 2011). "H&R Block drops TaxACT buy after antitrust ruling". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  8. ↑ United States v. H&R Block, Inc., 2SS Holdings, Inc., and TA IX L.P., Memorandum Opinion (November 10, 2011)
  9. ↑ "InfoSpace Buys Online Tax Solutions Company TaxACT For $287.5M In Cash". TechCrunch. January 9, 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  10. ↑ Dave DeWitte (January 9, 2012). "InfoSpace taking new direction with TaxAct acquisition". The Gazette (Cedar Rapids). Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  11. ↑ "InfoSpace to buy TaxACT for $287.5 million". The Seattle Times. January 9, 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  12. ↑ John Cook (October 4, 2013). "TaxAct bolsters personal finance tools with Balance Financial buy". GeekWire. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  13. ↑ Rachel Lerman (January 13, 2017). "Blucora recruits former Amazon exec to lead TaxAct". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  14. ↑ Members of Free File Alliance (2011)
  15. ↑ Tina Orem (February 4, 2018). "TaxAct Review 2018". NerdWallet. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  16. ↑ Jeffery Battersby (March 9, 2018). "Best tax program 2018: TurboTax, TaxSlayer, H&R Block, TaxAct compared". Macworld. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  17. ↑ Eli McCormick. "TaxAct Review". Top Ten Reviews. Purch Group. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  18. ↑ Emily Zhu (March 22, 2018). "TaxAct Review". SmartAsset. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  19. ↑ "TaxAct, Block App, Offer Pro Connections". The Progressive Accountant. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  20. ↑ Kyle Schurman (March 26, 2018). "The best tax software you can buy: TurboTax, H&R Block, and TaxAct". Business Insider. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
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