TurboTax has kicked off the new year with a series of new ads, aimed at highlighting that doing your taxes is not that complicated and that we all can do them.
“Being a person is complicated. We all have different, sometimes crazy things to deal with,” the voiceover says in the opening of the 60-second spot, titled “All People Are Tax People,” which features a diverse cast, including an old man transporting a little fish on the crowded subway in a small plastic bag, a woman who puts on makeup on the legs of a bodybuilder who’s “posing” in front of the mirror, a man entering his house through the pet’s door, and more.
“In fact, people are always doing impressive things. So how come all these people who do wildly challenging things every day feel like they can’t do their taxes? We’re talking about a bunch of breakfast-winning, baby-birthing, monster-trapping, front-seat-changing, office disco-ing, check splitting-ing, tattoo-removing, zero-gravity-tooth-brushing, late-night-chainsaw-sculpting, dog-walking people. We believe people can be good at anything. Yes, even taxes,” the voiceover also says, before the tagline “All People Are Tax People” appears on screen.
TurboTax offers a Free Package, for simple tax returns, a Standard package, for families, students and individual returns, with $19.99 per return, a Premier package, for investment and rental properties, with $39.99 per return, and Self-Employed package, for filing personal and self-employed taxes, at $59.99 per return. The last three packages also include the possibility to connect with a TurboTax specialist on-demand in real time with SmartLook, expert guidance on tuition, RRSP income, contributions and family benefits, and more. According to TurboTax, 100% of TurboTax Live experts are CPAs, EAs or Tax Attorneys who can even review your return line by line, sign it, and guarantee it’s done right.
The company has also been promoting its free federal version, which allows eligible taxpayers to file the new Form 1040 (the IRS killed off the 1040EZ and the 1040A in 2018) and a state return (such as the child tax credit and the earned income tax credit) for free.
