An El Cajon, Calif.-based tax preparer has pleaded guilty to preparing returns that cheated the Internal Revenue Service of more than $1.2 million. Marla Cunningham, age 50, ower of Cunningham's Tax Service admitted to preparing bogus returns between 2008 and 2010.

Continuing its efforts with self-employed individuals, Intuit has introduced TurboTax Self Employed. The new application integrates with QuickBooks Self-Employed which provides expense tracking.

Credit Karma, known for its credit score services, has launched Credit Karma Tax, an online tax preparation service. The company describes the service as providing always-free federal and state tax preparation and efiling.