Intuit sells three professional tax products to accounting and tax firms in the United States. ProSeries and Lacerte are Windows desktop programs licensed one tax season at a time. ProConnect Tax is a cloud service licensed by user log-ins and banks of returns.[1][2][3] All three share the Intuit Section A platform terms and add a product Section B. The Section B “will prevail over any conflict or inconsistency” with Section A.[1] Each licence is tied to the firm. The grant is “non-exclusive, personal, non-transferable, limited, revocable” and covers only preparing valid federal and supported state returns for which the fees have been paid.[1]
Editions
| Product | Editions or options in the agreement | Licence unit | Catalog SKUs |
|---|---|---|---|
| ProSeries | ProSeries Basic (20 returns, 50 returns, Unlimited); ProSeries Professional (including PowerTax Lite and Professional Choice); network licence | Licensed Location per Tax Year; returns for limited versions | ProSeries Basic 20, ProSeries Basic 50, ProSeries Basic Unlimited, ProSeries Professional, ProSeries network license |
| Lacerte | Host Office licence; Branch Office licence; LAN licence; WAN or application hosting licence | Office location per Tax Year | Lacerte Branch Office license |
| ProConnect Tax | Tax returns individually or in volume tiers; User Access licences | User log-in per calendar year; returns per Tax Year | none |
ProSeries Basic is the “entry-level package for handling individual returns”. ProSeries Professional is the “expert-level package for handling individual and business returns”.[1] Lacerte is designed “to tackle complex individual and business returns”.[2] None of the agreements contains prices. ProConnect points to its website for “Current pricing and bundle offerings”.[3]
Metrics
| Metric | Product | Vendor wording |
|---|---|---|
| ProSeries Licensed Location | ProSeries | a separate licence “for each additional address”[1] |
| Lacerte Host Office and Branch Office license | Lacerte | Host Office is “the primary business name and location of Licensee where the Software is physically installed and used”[2] |
| Tax return | ProSeries return-limited versions, Pay-Per-Return | returns are consumed when a federal form is printed or e-filed[1] |
| Fast Path license per EFIN | ProSeries, Lacerte | “Only one license to Fast Path Services for each Electronic Filing Identification Number”[1] |
| ProConnect User Access license | ProConnect | “for a single user log-in and only provides access for the purchased calendar year”[3] |
| ProConnect Tax Return Bank return | ProConnect | returns bought “individually or in volume-based tiers”[3] |
Counting / floors
Tax Year licences (ProSeries and Lacerte)
Both desktop products are licensed for one Tax Year and the calendar-year Service Period that follows it. For Tax Year 2025 the Service Period runs from 2026-01-01 to 2026-12-31. “Software for any subsequent tax years or Service Periods shall require a separate end user license agreement and payment of the then-current license fee.”[1][2] E-filing goes through Fast Path Services. These include support, e-file and Pay-Per-Return access, and only one Fast Path licence is permitted per EFIN.[1] E-filing even for earlier tax years “is only supported if you license the Software (including Fast Path Services) for the Service Period”.[1] A firm that stops renewing therefore loses e-file for all years. Catalog proof: ProSeries and Lacerte licences cover one Tax Year and Service Period; One Fast Path Services licence per EFIN.
ProSeries
- Per address. The name and address on each return must match Intuit’s records and the firm’s IRS EFIN registration. “Licensee must purchase a separate license for each additional address.”[1] Catalog proof: ProSeries needs a separate licence for each preparer address.
- Employed preparers only. Only the licensee and preparers it employs may use the Software, solely for the licensee firm and on computers it owns, manages or controls. “Licensee may not share or provide access to the Software with or to any other tax preparers not employed by Licensee.”[1] Catalog proof: ProSeries may be used only by the licensee and its employed preparers on firm computers.
- Network licence. LAN use requires a network licence. It is sold only with ProSeries Professional, must be bought for each Licensed Location, and covers computers at that location only. “Independent practitioners or separate firms that occupy or share the same office space” may not use it.[1] Catalog proof: ProSeries on a LAN requires a network licence per Licensed Location (Professional only).
- Return counting. Return-limited versions such as Basic 20, Basic 50 and Professional Choice track printed and e-filed returns. “The number of tax returns purchased will be consumed if either a business or individual federal form is printed or electronically filed.” After the limit, returns can still be prepared but not printed or e-filed.[1] Catalog proof: ProSeries return-limited versions consume a return when a federal form is printed or e-filed.
- State limits. Professional with PowerTax Lite and Basic Unlimited allow four states, Basic 50 allows two, and Basic 20 allows one.[1] Catalog proof: ProSeries versions cap the number of states selectable.
Lacerte
Lacerte is licensed to offices rather than addresses on returns. It may be used only “on Licensee-owned computers physically located at the licensed Host Office and at each licensed Branch Office”. A Branch Office licence requires a Host Office licence, and a firm may have at most four Branch Offices. LAN use needs its own licence.[2] Two allowances extend use beyond the office.
- Home use. Staff based at the Host Office or a licensed Branch Office may use the Software at home. They may use it only for the licensee’s benefit, only for returns the licensee signs as paid preparer, and they may not meet clients at home.[2]
- Client sites. Firm laptops may be taken to a client’s location, provided the use “at any single client location does not exceed a total of five days in any calendar year”.[2]
A preparer who shares office space and expenses with the licensee but is not an employee or co-owner may not use the licensee’s copy. Under Shared Office terms “each firm must purchase its own, separate license”, and the second licence may be discounted.[2] Catalog proof: Lacerte use is limited to the Host Office and up to four licensed Branch Offices; Lacerte allows home use by office-based staff and client-site laptops up to five days per location; Preparers sharing an office each need their own Lacerte licence.
ProConnect Tax
ProConnect separates seats from consumption.
- User Access. “A minimum of one (1) user access license … must be purchased for each calendar year.” It is required to e-file or print Tax Year 2024 and later returns. Each licence is a single user log-in for one calendar year. “Standard users who do not need access to e-file or print tax returns, or other User Access features, can be added at no additional cost.”[3]
- Tax Return Bank. Returns are bought for a specific Tax Year. While the firm keeps buying User Access, unused returns stay usable for that Tax Year “for up to 3 calendar years, until fully consumed”. Current-year returns may be used for a prior year whose bank is empty, but never for a future year.[3]
- Refunds and reassignment. Unused returns and User Access can be refunded only within five business days of the later of the Software Release Date and the Payment Date, or of a Deferred Payment Date. “After the refund period, User Access licenses are not refundable but may be assigned to other users at your firm.”[3]
- Firm users only. “You may not share or provide access to the Services with or to any users outside of your firm.”[3]
Catalog proof: ProConnect needs at least one User Access licence per calendar year; each is one user log-in; ProConnect returns stay usable for their Tax Year for up to three calendar years; ProConnect refunds only within five business days; User Access can be reassigned within the firm.
Virtualization & partitioning
Lacerte has the most explicit rule of any Intuit product. Without a separate “WAN” or application hosting licence, no part of the Software may be placed on a wide area network, internet-enabled servers, file-sharing or timesharing services, “application hosting or virtualization servers or services”, or on an operating system other than Windows. Intuit offers such a licence “only at Intuit’s sole discretion”, with terms and pricing that depend on the proposed use.[2] ProSeries restricts installation to computers at the Licensed Location under the network licence.[1] Section A also prohibits making the Platform available on virtual desktop or application hosting services.[1] Catalog proof: Lacerte on a WAN, hosting or virtualization service needs a separate WAN or application hosting licence. See virtualization and partitioning.
Cloud / BYOL
ProConnect Tax is Intuit-hosted and has no BYOL route. ProSeries and Lacerte licences cannot be moved to a hosted desktop without the separate WAN or hosting licence described above.[2]
Programs
- Pay-Per-Return. ProSeries licensees with Fast Path Services can pay per return from a prepaid account. Each fee covers printing and e-filing “only that particular return for that particular client”. The account balance “is not refundable, is not transferable and may not be carried forward to another Tax Year”.[1] Lacerte’s equivalent is called “Remote Entry Processing” or REP.[2] Catalog proof: Pay-Per-Return balances are non-refundable and do not carry forward.
- ProSeries multi-year purchase agreement. Multi-year purchasing terms are licensed separately and supplement each year’s agreement.[1]
- Lacerte Shared Office pricing. This is a discounted second licence for an unrelated preparer at the same address.[2]
- Upgrades. ProSeries may be upgraded “from Pay-Per-Return to unlimited use”, from Basic 20 to 50 or unlimited returns, or from Basic to Professional, for additional fees.[1]
Practical counting notes
The following points are commentary based on the agreements.
- Keep one record per Tax Year. Each season is a new licence, so entitlements do not carry forward, apart from ProConnect returns within their three-year window.
- Map entitlements to addresses and EFINs. ProSeries Licensed Locations, Lacerte Host and Branch Offices, and Fast Path licences per EFIN are the units Intuit validates against IRS registration data.
- Remote and hosted access needs checking. Home use and client-site laptops are allowed only on Lacerte’s stated conditions. Hosted or virtual desktops need a separate Intuit licence.
Out of scope
- TurboTax and other consumer tax products.
- ProSeries and Lacerte agreements for tax years other than 2025, and EasyACCT, Intuit Link and Intuit Tax Advisor terms, which appear on the Intuit legal index.
- Prices, WAN or hosting licence terms, and multi-year purchasing terms, which are not public.
- Bank products such as Pay-by-Refund and eSignature add-ons, which have third-party terms.