XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-10, misc.taxes
From: mariasophia@comprehension.com
Andy Burns wrote:
> Carlos E.R. wrote:
>
>> Emigrate to a reasonable country such as Spain, where the tax software
>> is created by the government and is free as in gratis. Even professional
>> tax accountants use it. Bad news for software developers
>
> Presumably you are free to use alternate software?
My suggestion is for people to send something like this to their contacts
in the technical news industry. Aren't you in that industry, Andy?
How's this for a technical lead?
Subject: Story tip: TurboTax Desktop 2025 blocks Windows 10 using incorrect
claims about Microsoft support
To whom it may concern:
I would like to share a consumer tech story with significant public impact.
Intuit has quietly made TurboTax Desktop 2025 incompatible with Windows 10,
even though Windows 10 continues to receive Microsoft security updates
through the Extended Security Updates program until October 2026.
This affects millions of taxpayers who rely on the desktop version for
privacy, offline use, and continuity of multi year tax data.
According to Intuit's own announcement:
1. TurboTax Desktop personal editions for Tax Year 2025 and beyond will not
run on Windows 10.
2. Only Windows 11 or later will be supported.
3. TurboTax Desktop Business will continue to run on Windows 10 for one
final year, which contradicts Intuit's claim that Windows 10 is
unsupported.
Intuit's justification is based on several incorrect or misleading claims:
A. Intuit states that Microsoft ended free security updates for Windows 10
on October 14 2025, but omits that ESU provides security updates through
October 2026.
B. Intuit claims Microsoft only offers a paid ESU program for consumers and
that it only covers critical fixes. In reality ESU covers critical and
important security patches.
C. Intuit claims Windows 10 lacks full security support, yet TurboTax
Desktop Business continues to run on Windows 10, which shows the
requirement is not technical.
A second Intuit support page repeats the same incorrect statements:
If a Windows 10 user buys TurboTax Desktop 2025, the software refuses to
install. Intuit then offers to move the customer to TurboTax Online Premium
at no extra cost, which pushes users into a cloud product many avoid for
privacy reasons.
Half the world is still on Windows 10, and no other major tax software
vendor has dropped Windows 10 support. TurboTax Desktop has never required
a sudden Windows version jump before.
The packaging looks nearly identical to previous years, and the Windows 11
requirement is buried in fine print that long time users would not think to
check. Photos:
This is the equivalent of buying a new car and discovering it only works if
you have an iPhone connected to the dash. It is not something any consumer
would think to verify.
This is also part of a pattern of anti consumer changes:
1. Removal of key schedules from TurboTax Deluxe around Tax Year 2014
2. Mandatory internet activation around Tax Year 2022
3. Mandatory Intuit account around Tax Year 2023
4. Now an unnecessary Windows 11 requirement in Tax Year 2025
This appears to be a forced migration strategy to push users from the
privacy preserving desktop product into TurboTax Online, which is more
profitable and gives Intuit more control over user data.
Given TurboTax's market dominance and the number of Windows 10 users
affected, this is a meaningful consumer story involving misleading security
claims, forced upgrades, and a break from industry norms.
I have provided photos of the packaging, screenshots of Intuit's
statements, and details of my experience attempting to install TurboTax
2025 on Windows 10.
Thank you for considering this consumer-focused current news story.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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