I Tested TurboTax's New Integration With Credit Karma, and It's Seamless

If you haven't filed your taxes yet and are a Credit Karma or QuickBooks user, listen up. Intuit announced a new feature last month that lets users file their taxes with TurboTax right from the Credit Karma app or QuickBooks Online interface.

Credit Karma is a personal finance app that provides users with credit scores and personalized offers on credit cards, personal loans, car loans and more. QuickBooks is accounting software that lets owners of small and medium-sized businesses manage their financial books. 

By integrating TurboTax into these services, Intuit hopes to make the crossover more seamless for users who want to file tax returns without creating a new account.

"The integration of TurboTax into Credit Karma and QuickBooks helps us meet our customers where they are so they can file with complete confidence knowing they are getting their best tax outcome, all in a familiar product experience," Mark Notarainni, executive vice president and general manager of Intuit's consumer group, said in a Jan. 8 statement. 

The move works to further connect Intuit's digital ecosystem, which also includes the mail marketing service Mailchimp that the company acquired in November 2021.

Intuit is also incentivizing Credit Karma users to try out the integration and file taxes through TurboTax by allowing them to file their state and federal taxes for free, regardless of tax complexity, Intuit told CNET in an email. You won't qualify if you filed a return with TurboTax last year.

How the TurboTax integration works on Credit Karma

I tested the integration (along with another CNET Money editor) and found that it works as anticipated. If you're a Credit Karma user who has not filed with TurboTax before, log in and click on the Taxes & Income tab on your browser or in the settings menu on the Credit Karma mobile app.

From there, your basic info is pulled from Credit Karma and used to get you started. The experience is nearly identical to filing with TurboTax online, though the branding colors are slightly different. The Credit Karma version also does not have noticeable TurboTax branding.

Here's how the experience looks when filing with TurboTax directly:

Here's how it looks when filing through the Credit Karma app:

On both the mobile app and browser, you'll be asked to answer basic questions about your 2023 tax year and some additional personal information.

Credit Karma users like myself who have an existing TurboTax account can also use this service. You'll see last year's tax information automatically populate if you filed your taxes with TurboTax in 2023. 

For those filers who prefer additional assistance when completing their returns, expert tax assistance is available at an additional cost. We were presented with upgrade options early on in the process.

While we were never prompted to leave the Credit Karma app, if you file by browser, you'll be redirected to a TurboTax URL. However, you'll still see Credit Karma's familiar green and white color scheme while using TurboTax's online software. 

What TurboTax's integration means for QuickBooks Online customers

Without a QuickBooks Online account or eligible business expenses, it was tricky to fully test the experience for users of this accounting software. From what I could test, the integration with QuickBooks Online seems to work largely the same. Customers will log on and navigate to Taxes on the left navigation panel to commence filing self-employment or business returns. 

QuickBooks Online customers are required to use QuickBooks Live Tax to take advantage of the new TurboTax integration experience. 

Business owners will be offered one of two options depending on their business structure. Sole proprietors and single-member LLCs will use QuickBooks Live Assisted Tax, which offers unlimited expert advice. Meanwhile, S-Corps, multi-person LLCs and partnerships will hand off their taxes to a tax expert through QuickBooks Live Full-Service Tax. 

Unlike the Credit Karma offer, there's no free filing option; the price tag starts at $169. On the plus side, QuickBooks Live Tax provides all businesses year-round access to a tax professional for expert advice. That's in addition to services QuickBooks Online customers already receive, including tax deduction identification, receipt capture and mileage tracking.