TurboTax password error explained; fixed

TurboTax has posted a web page titled: "Information for Customers Who Imported Investment Tax Information Into TurboTax." It provides details about the "programming error in TurboTax that inadvertently saved customer passwords." (See our previous coverage.)

Meanwhile, Vanguard recently sent an email to its Shareholders on this matter. It read in part:

Recently, Intuit informed Vanguard and its other six financial institution partners about a potential security issue within the TurboTax software program. This issue has no impact on the accuracy of your 2000 tax return that you prepared using the software, and affects only those individuals who used the 1099 import process of Intuit's TurboTax software (either the web version or the CD-ROM version).

Intuit has assured us that any saved passwords have been deleted. However, as a preventative measure, Vanguard has disabled the passwords of those shareholders who utilized the 1099 import function. To have your password reset, please contact us at 1-800-662-2739.

Fidelity (thanks, Steve Turner) and TD Waterhouse (thanks, Randy Chevrier) have sent out similar letters.