It is unlikely anyone would call the market for indirect tax products exciting. But in the last few months it has become much more interesting as the outlines of global competition for customers in this arena has started emerging. And it has gotten more interesting because of the amount of money invested in the battle in response to worldwide trends.

Sage is preparing to release a new software product, Sage Life, that will be available in the cloud. Built on the SalesForce 1 platform, the application is anticipated to be ready for general availability when Sage hosts its annual Summit conference in late July. The company said pricing will be available with the general release.

Jçackson Hewitt was the only one of three national tax store chains reporting significant growth in the number of returns prepared. The Parsippany, N.J.-based franchisor said total returns were up by nearly 3 percent, although the same store assisted returns were up by only .5 percent. And all totals reported indicate Intuit's TurboTax won the recent consumer tax season in a rout.