The horrors of tax season will swiftly approach following the glam and glitz of the holidays, but employers can help employees with the arduous task of tax data input through partnerships with software developers.
One such example is tax import program TurboTax, a division of Intuit, which this year will also include imports of the 1095-A forms, one of the many new tax forms associated with the Affordable Care Act.
Simplifying the tax process in any way makes employees happier, says Paul Jordan, a business development manager for TurboTax data and health care partnerships at Intuit. Most employers think once employees have their W-2, the job is done, he says. But the employee is saying I have multiple employer relationships, he adds, noting that at least half of TurboTax users have multiple employer relationships.
Its a free service and a great value to add to an employers self-service offerings, Jordan says.
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And with the ACAs new 1095-A forms, he says Intuit is preparing to have those importable this year as well. Itll make it a lot easier, he says, noting that a family of four could have 70 fields or more of information needed to input. Making them importable is one of our goals.
This could be an area where TurboTax takes all the hard work off the [employee] and we do all the hard work for you, Colleen Gatlin, an Intuit spokeswoman adds. It helps with accuracy, she says, noting that this will be the first time employees will be required to include health information on their tax returns.
Once an employer connects, theyre kind of shocked at the number of people that take advantage 30% to 40% of the workforce take advantage of [the program], Jordan adds.
