INTU Stock Sinks Amid Earnings & IRS-Run Filing System

Intuit Inc (INTU:US) shares fell as much as 8% during trading after announcing a mixed earnings report. While the company beat EPS expectations, it fell short of the revenue expectations, generating a negative response from the market.

One of the reasons for the lower revenue was a lower number of tax filers this season. Intuit’s explanation for this was related to the pandemic. The company thinks most of the people who filed their returns just to receive the pandemic stimulus money did not file their returns this tax season.

But there is a larger force at play. And one that threatens the Intuit business directly. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is launching its own tax filing software that will allow people to file their taxes for free. 

Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi raised the point that such a tax filing system will cost the taxpayer a lot of money. But the government seems to be in no mood to listen to that argument, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen telling the IRS recently to go ahead with the system prototype.

Despite the recent setbacks to the stock, Congressman Ro Khanna is sitting on a profitable trade. His spouse bought between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of Intuit stock in January when the stock closed at $395.34 per share. 

Other politicians have not been that lucky with their trades. Both Michael McCaul - between $30,000 - $100,000 on March 27 when the stock closed at $426.94 - and Kathy Manning - between $2,000 - $30,000 on April 28 when INTU closed at $443.95 - are currently in the red on their/their family members’ respective trades.