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WebSitePulse 2009 Tax Performance and Uptime Report
WebSitePulse is monitoring thirteen of the most popular tax websites for the 2009 Tax season. The measurement results indicate the performance levels and the availability of the websites related to the increased Internet traffic and online e-filing services during the selected period. According to comScore the traffic to tax sites surged in the beginning of the year as season began. January marked the beginning of tax season driving millions of Americans to the Tax category in preparation of filing their 2008 returns. The category witnessed a 176-percent gain to 24.7 million visitors, making it the top-gaining category for the month.
In March '09 The Internal Revenue Service announced that the number of visitors to IRS.gov is up more than 24 percent compared with last year, and more taxpayers rely on the Internal Revenue Service’s online resources to get answers to tax questions on the economic recovery legislation and to prepare and file tax returns accurately and timely.
Continuous web monitoring for all fourteen websites covers the period between April 05 and April 15, 2009. The reports and the charts are updated daily, displaying the results from the previous day and for the entire monitoring period to the current date. You can read more about the methodology we use to prepare this report.
Daily Report for April 15, 2009
See report for:
WebSitePulse reports the following results from web performance measurement of the leading US Tax Websites:
The daily Average Response time from all monitored websites was 0.988 sec.
The Average Response time as measured from the US East Coast (Washington, DC) was:
0.624 sec.
The Average Response time as measured from the US West Coast (San Francisco, CA) was:
0.957 sec.
The Average Response time as measured from US Central (Chicago, IL) was:
1.383 sec.
The Best Response time measured from US East Coast:
0.048 sec.
The Best Response time measured from US West Coast:
0.213 sec.
The Best Response time measured from US Central:
0.310 sec.
The typical shopping transaction took the least time for irs.gov visitors - 0.190 sec., while the visitors of taxact.com had to be the most patient, as the shopping transaction there took in average of 3.354 sec. Four of the monitored websites delivered above-the-average response times for their transactions, while nine of them demonstrated below-the-average daily performance.
The daily average uptime for the entire Group was 99.99%.
The Average Uptime as measured from the US East Coast (Washington, DC) was:
99.98%
The Average Uptime as measured from the US West Coast (San Francisco, CA) was:
100.00%
The Average Uptime as measured from US Central (Chicago, IL) was:
100.00%
Twelve websites were available with no interruptions - 100%. Twelve websites' availability was above the average, while one site dragged the average down with below-the-average availability.
Report Highlights
No events of particular importance or possible negative impact on the online visitors' interaction with the Websites included into the 2009 Tax Websites report were detected during the reported period, and according to WebSitePulse, the Group delivered the expected levels of End-User experience and Customer satisfaction.
Please, scroll down for Detailed Reports and Charts provided by WebSitePulse:
Daily Response Times
Legend:
completetax
efile
esmarttax
expresstaxrefund
hrblock
libertytax
olt
taxact
taxbrain
taxcut
turbotax
irs.gov
taxslayer
Average Response Times for April 15, 2009
#
Target
San Francisco
Chicago
Washington
Avg. resp. time
1
irs.gov
0.213
0.310
0.048
0.190
2
hrblock.com
0.551
0.446
0.455
0.484
3
completetax.com
0.770
0.515
0.518
0.601
4
taxbrain.com
0.487
0.818
0.850
0.718
5
taxslayer.com
1.178
0.715
0.389
0.761
6
esmarttax.com
1.002
0.882
0.425
0.770
7
olt.com
0.870
0.710
0.772
0.784
8
taxcut.com
0.961
0.745
0.721
0.809
9
libertytax.com
1.494
1.058
0.212
0.921
10
expresstaxrefund.com
1.399
0.986
0.644
1.010
11
turbotax.com
0.692
1.315
1.377
1.128
12
efile.com
1.728
1.330
0.885
1.314
13
taxact.com
1.093
8.152
0.816
3.354
Average Response Times April 05, 2009 - April 15, 2009
#
Target
San Francisco
Chicago
Washington
Avg. resp. time
1
irs.gov
0.192
0.302
0.065
0.187
2
hrblock.com
0.556
0.439
0.457
0.484
3
completetax.com
0.776
0.488
0.552
0.605
4
taxbrain.com
0.293
0.839
0.844
0.659
5
olt.com
0.820
0.656
0.687
0.721
6
taxslayer.com
1.111
0.706
0.409
0.742
7
esmarttax.com
0.971
0.874
0.552
0.799
8
taxcut.com
0.950
0.751
0.742
0.814
9
expresstaxrefund.com
1.258
0.805
0.510
0.858
10
libertytax.com
1.601
1.069
0.200
0.957
11
turbotax.com
0.626
1.244
1.299
1.056
12
efile.com
1.621
1.225
0.857
1.234
13
taxact.com
1.116
1.881
0.826
1.274
Hourly Average Response Times Select individual website to display:
Legend:
individual site response times
monitored group average response times
Average response times by hour for April 15, 2009
Target
Hours
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
completetax
0.57
0.56
0.58
-
-
-
0.61
0.59
0.56
0.60
0.58
1.00
0.60
0.61
0.61
0.61
0.57
0.57
0.58
0.59
0.56
0.57
0.56
0.54
efile
1.53
1.39
1.15
-
-
-
1.06
1.58
1.31
1.06
1.71
0.88
1.25
1.43
1.22
1.56
1.17
0.92
1.52
1.22
1.66
1.04
1.54
1.39
esmarttax
0.78
1.00
0.73
-
-
-
0.80
0.76
1.00
0.70
0.80
0.83
0.84
0.77
0.69
0.76
0.74
0.72
0.69
0.77
0.71
0.63
0.68
0.77
expresstaxrefund
0.94
0.83
0.80
-
-
-
0.83
0.85
0.87
0.89
0.87
0.94
0.93
0.96
1.00
1.06
1.02
0.97
0.96
1.15
1.13
1.59
1.40
1.21
hrblock
0.53
0.52
0.46
-
-
-
0.49
0.47
0.47
0.50
0.50
0.49
0.46
0.45
0.48
0.46
0.49
0.50
0.49
0.51
0.45
0.51
0.47
0.47
irs.gov
0.23
0.14
0.12
-
-
-
0.15
0.22
0.33
0.18
0.26
0.15
0.16
0.19
0.17
0.16
0.15
0.14
0.35
0.18
0.18
0.14
0.17
0.25
libertytax
0.96
0.89
0.86
-
-
-
0.85
0.97
0.86
0.94
0.94
0.92
0.92
0.91
0.96
1.00
1.08
0.89
0.95
0.91
0.88
0.89
0.90
0.86
olt
0.72
0.76
0.70
-
-
-
0.71
0.80
0.70
0.68
0.75
0.80
0.75
0.77
0.77
0.85
0.77
0.77
0.75
0.90
0.88
0.89
0.88
0.87
taxact
6.10
2.59
0.87
-
-
-
0.76
0.82
0.79
0.79
1.00
1.90
3.71
3.42
7.01
3.66
3.72
6.87
4.76
4.80
2.90
4.42
3.76
5.78
taxbrain
0.64
0.72
0.60
-
-
-
0.60
0.62
0.61
0.62
0.69
0.62
0.62
0.63
0.62
0.73
0.70
0.66
0.62
0.65
1.16
1.68
0.63
0.65
taxcut
0.79
0.80
0.81
-
-
-
0.79
0.85
0.81
0.78
0.79
0.78
0.81
0.88
0.80
0.78
0.79
0.79
0.80
0.81
0.82
0.78
0.89
0.82
taxslayer
0.71
0.70
0.72
-
-
-
0.68
0.73
0.70
0.72
0.70
0.72
0.72
0.74
0.72
0.78
0.80
0.77
0.84
1.16
0.74
0.79
0.76
0.78
turbotax
1.16
1.01
0.99
-
-
-
0.95
1.00
1.03
1.08
1.19
1.07
1.16
1.07
1.17
1.32
1.18
1.16
1.21
1.18
1.12
1.13
1.24
1.28
Average response times by hour April 05, 2009 - April 15, 2009
Target
Hours
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
completetax
0.58
0.59
0.60
0.58
-
0.79
0.66
0.61
0.59
0.61
0.59
0.64
0.60
0.62
0.61
0.60
0.59
0.61
0.60
0.60
0.59
0.61
0.60
0.59
efile
1.26
1.25
1.29
1.13
-
1.04
1.12
1.30
1.10
1.17
1.33
1.16
1.20
1.27
1.26
1.18
1.21
1.16
1.27
1.28
1.32
1.27
1.29
1.26
esmarttax
0.82
0.87
0.80
0.73
-
0.67
0.81
0.80
0.81
0.78
0.74
0.80
0.80
0.85
0.80
0.81
0.78
0.77
0.77
0.84
0.80
0.78
0.79
0.79
expresstaxrefund
0.83
0.82
0.84
0.79
-
0.87
0.84
0.83
0.83
0.84
0.84
0.83
0.85
0.85
0.86
0.87
0.87
0.88
0.86
0.89
0.89
0.91
0.90
0.88
hrblock
0.49
0.49
0.48
0.44
-
0.45
0.48
0.47
0.49
0.48
0.48
0.48
0.47
0.51
0.49
0.48
0.47
0.50
0.47
0.48
0.50
0.49
0.48
0.48
irs.gov
0.19
0.21
0.17
0.17
-
0.24
0.21
0.18
0.21
0.18
0.17
0.16
0.18
0.17
0.17
0.16
0.21
0.18
0.20
0.20
0.23
0.17
0.19
0.19
libertytax
0.93
0.91
1.05
0.98
-
0.88
0.93
0.93
0.93
0.97
1.00
0.96
0.96
1.03
0.96
0.98
0.99
0.97
0.94
0.95
0.94
0.93
0.92
0.92
olt
0.70
0.72
0.69
0.71
-
0.69
0.71
0.72
0.69
0.69
0.74
0.71
0.70
0.71
0.71
0.72
0.72
0.72
0.71
0.75
0.77
0.77
0.74
0.75
taxact
1.52
0.95
0.80
0.75
-
0.76
0.78
0.78
0.78
0.79
0.90
0.89
1.07
1.05
1.58
1.25
1.27
1.59
1.53
1.72
1.80
1.73
1.85
2.23
taxbrain
0.64
0.65
0.63
0.65
-
0.61
0.64
0.63
0.62
0.63
0.64
0.73
0.67
0.65
0.64
0.65
0.65
0.65
0.64
0.63
0.69
0.77
0.76
0.63
taxcut
0.79
0.80
0.80
0.85
-
0.81
0.82
0.81
0.80
0.81
0.81
0.79
0.81
0.82
0.83
0.83
0.84
0.83
0.84
0.81
0.81
0.81
0.81
0.83
taxslayer
0.72
0.72
0.72
0.72
-
0.73
0.78
0.72
0.71
0.72
0.71
0.71
0.73
0.73
0.85
0.76
0.74
0.73
0.74
0.78
0.79
0.74
0.75
0.73
turbotax
1.04
0.99
0.97
1.03
-
0.97
0.98
0.99
1.01
1.02
1.05
1.04
1.05
1.08
1.08
1.09
1.05
1.07
1.12
1.12
1.06
1.12
1.09
1.14
Uptime
Uptime April 15, 2009
#
Target
San Francisco
Chicago
Washington
Avg. uptime
1
taxcut.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
2
taxbrain.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
3
turbotax.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
4
irs.gov
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
5
taxslayer.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
6
taxact.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
7
olt.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
8
esmarttax.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
9
efile.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
10
expresstaxrefund.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
11
hrblock.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
12
completetax.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
13
libertytax.com
100.000%
100.000%
99.770%
99.923%
Uptime April 05, 2009 - April 15, 2009
#
Target
San Francisco
Chicago
Washington
Avg. uptime
1
esmarttax.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
2
taxcut.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
3
irs.gov
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
4
hrblock.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
5
olt.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
6
completetax.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
7
taxact.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
8
turbotax.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
9
expresstaxrefund.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
10
taxbrain.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
11
efile.com
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
12
libertytax.com
100.000%
100.000%
99.979%
99.993%
13
taxslayer.com
99.944%
99.943%
99.941%
99.942%
Methodology:
The 2009 Tax Reports reflect a complete web transaction, representative for the End Users' interactions with a website. The reporting period covers the dates between April 05 and April 15, 2009. Performance and availability measurements are made for a typical multi-step web transaction at 15 minute monitoring interval, every day between the hours of 6AM and 3AM EST. Between 3AM and 6AM is the time when a scheduled maintenance most likely will be performed by IT staff and that is why we automatically suspend the monitoring process during this time every day. The WebSitePulse application monitoring service is used to collect data and to create the reports.
The steps in each transaction are comparable for all websites, and reflect the real online user and tax e-filer experience. The simultaneous monitoring is performed from 3 US-based locations of the WebSitePulse monitoring network: San Francisco, CA, Chicago, IL, and Washington, DC. In case of a detected malfunction or unavailability, the system performs automated error verification from 3 independent resources and only after the above procedure is performed and has returned consistent results, the detected error is confirmed, recorded, and included in the daily performance reports. In these cases, an advanced WebSitePulse exclusive feature comes into play - Forced Monitoring -, which automatically switches to a 3 minute monitoring interval for increased accuracy.
About WebSitePulse:
WebSitePulse is a leading provider of global, independent, and objective availability and performance monitoring of web sites, servers, network components, web applications, e-business- and email round-trip transactions.
Contact:
For more information about this report please contact:
George T., CTO
phone: 1-407-380-1600
email:
Reproduction:
WebSitePulse launched the Performance and Uptime Reports program to keep the general public and the Internet community informed about the performance of specific websites and the challenges their webmasters, owners and operators are facing on a daily basis, especially when the web traffic intensifies due to some special events through the year. Some of the most popular web destinations, related to each particular event, are selected for the purpose of the Reports, and data from their performance measurements is made available on the WebSitePulse public website.
With the intention to broadly disseminate this information for the benefit of the Internet community, we encourage the use of this information without prior approval and under the following Terms and Conditions:
WebSitePulse should be referred as the "Source" of the information;
WebSitePulse should be acknowledged as the owner of the copyrights of the information in the Reports;
The texts of the Reports could be changed or altered to better suit the needs and the style of the publisher without prior notice to WebSitePulse. However, the integrity and the meaning of the information should be preserved;
The Data from the performance measurements cannot be changed or manipulated and should be used "as is".
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