TurboTax Tries to Avoid '07 Filing Nightmare

It’s April 15 again, and perhaps nobody has their fingers crossed quite like Intuit software. A year ago 170,000 people rushed to file last-minute tax returns online through TurboTax… only to get an error message, delaying their filings for up to 13 hours. This year, Intuit’s done all it can to avoid that, including doubling its server capacity and boosting backup systems, the San Jose Mercury News reports.

“It obviously was a painful experience for our customers, and a learning experience for us,” said an Intuit spokesman. But the glitch didn’t scare filers away from TurboTax, or online filing in general. Online tax returns were up 18% as of last week, the IRS says, and Intuit expects a flood of last-minute filers to take that number even higher. (More taxes stories.)