Microsoft and Ernst & Young Ease Tax-Time Woes Through Money 98 Financial Suite and America’s Best-Selling Tax Guide

Microsoft and Ernst & Young Ease Tax-Time Woes Through Money 98 Financial Suite and America’s Best-Selling Tax Guide

REDMOND, Wash., Jan. 20, 1998 — Microsoft Corp. and Ernst & Young LLP today announced that America’s best-selling tax guide, the Ernst & Young Tax Guide, is available free to consumers who obtain Microsoft® Money 98 Financial Suite from Jan. 1 through March 15, 1998. With new tax laws complicating this year’s tax preparation, Money 98 Financial Suite consumers will get guidance and answers to the most frequently asked tax questions from the popular Ernst & Young Tax Guide.

A retail value of $15.95 that contains over 600 pages of detailed information and required tax forms, the Ernst & Young Tax Guide offers a tremendous amount of tax guidance to the Money 98 Financial Suite user. Combined with Money 98’s helpful editorial content, the perennial best-selling tax guide helps even novice users prepare their tax returns successfully.

“Money 98 Financial Suite and the Tax Guide help ease the stress of preparing taxes with the free Tax Guide,” said Rich Bray, product unit manager of Money 98 Financial Suite at Microsoft. “At the beginning of the new year, consumers are committed to organizing their finances, and Money 98 Financial Suite’s numerous tax features, such as Advisor FYI
™
and the Tax Worksheet, alleviate the headache associated with tax preparation.”

Free Tax Guides for Money 98 Financial Suite Consumers

The Tax Guide is redeemable with a mail-in coupon displayed next to the Money 98 Financial Suite product in major retail chains such as Best Buy, CompUSA and Egghead Computer. Users must mail the coupon to Microsoft Money 98 Free Ernst & Young Tax Guide Offer 1998, P.O. Box 52995, Dept. 12117, Phoenix, AZ 85072-2995.

“The recent changes in the tax laws offer many new opportunities for individuals from a tax and investment point of view,” said Robert J. Garner, national director of personal financial counseling at Ernst & Young. “However, the complexity of the new laws means that individuals need the guidance that these two products offer.”

Money 98 Financial Suite: The One-Stop Tax Professional

With the Ernst & Young Tax Guide, Money 98 Financial Suite users can fully prepare for the tax season year-round with various built-in features:

  • Tax-deduction feature: Money 98 Financial Suite allows consumers to track tax deductions throughout the year and prepare a report reflecting the deductions at tax time.

  • Money Insider: Microsoft’s interactive Web site, Money Insider
    ™
    , offers over 100 articles of helpful financial information on the Money 98 Financial Suite CD-ROM, as well as up-to-date tax information on the Web site. Also included is a Tax Worksheet that enables consumers to estimate their potential tax liability based on user data, with current tax-rate changes downloaded from the Internet.

  • Export capabilities: Money 98 Financial Suite can export key financial information to the top tax preparation software, such as Tax Cut and Turbo Tax.

  • Advisor FYI: The new, intelligent Advisor FYI feature provides users with personalized guidance based on their financial situations and decisions. For example, as a user draws closer to a higher tax bracket, Advisor FYI informs the user and offers smart financial options.


Consumers Prefer Money 98 Financial Suite

Consumer preference for the breakthrough Money 98 Financial Suite is growing over Quicken, which historically has been the leader in the personal finance management software category. In an independent research study conducted by Burke Marketing Research, half of current Quicken users say they would select Money 98 Financial Suite over Quicken Deluxe 98 the next time they acquire financial software.* To date, Money 98 Financial Suite is the fastest-growing personal finance management product on the market, nearly doubling its market share in 1997. In addition, Microsoft has introduced a version of Money 98 Financial Suite for customers in Canada.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

About Ernst & Young

Ernst & Young LLP provides assurance and advisory business services, tax services and consulting solutions for domestic and global clients. The firm has 27,000 people in 89 U.S. cities. Visit the Ernst & Young Web site at (http://www.ey.com/) .

Microsoft, Advisor FYI and Money Insider are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

* Burke Marketing Research conducted the head-to-head comparison among 202 Quicken users in Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, New York and Phoenix in late October and early November 1997.

Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages.

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