The year is almost over and already I am seeing companies advertising their tax software to take advantage of all the early birds. While there were price increases for some which is expected, one thing that came to mind was how there were companies offering literally the same product functionally where the difference was one requires people to install their software on a computer to use and the other was web based. Other than that, the product is virtually identical.
For the business option it seemed like the self-install route costed almost $120 and the web based version was half the price at $60. Again, they are literally the same product in many ways. However, there were many that preferred to pay more for the self-install option as technically everything is done one one’s local computer which would then be sent out and the other was actually all done online which means there are potentially more risk factors in the event the site gets compromised as an example.
It’s a legitimate concern of course but just the price difference is kind of crazy. I can’t imagine it being a cost related issue in having to charge people more for the self-install option. Wouldn’t that be something if companies actually price it in such a way knowing people would pay a premium for that safety mindset as an example.