Author: Gabriel

Just when you thought you could take a post-election breather from attack ads, here come the tax wars.

This is normally a frenetic time of year for tax preparers like H&R Block, Intuit’s TurboTax and Jackson Hewitt, which have fewer than four months until April 15 to convince customers their products and services are superior. And given the finite number of people who need their taxes prepared, the tried-and-true way to increase business is to steal market share from competitors. “That’s what’s been creating a more-intense marketing approach,” said Jay Baer, founder and president of Convince & Convert, a social-media and content consultancy.

This year is especially aggressive, thanks to changes in tax laws in 2013, which makes the process more complex and raises the stakes for marketers who “think this is the year they can acquire new customers for life,” Mr. Baer said. As a result, there has been name-calling and finger-pointing in ads that have landed some of the players in court.

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