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Tax-Related Web Sites Captured 7.6 Million Internet Users This Past Week

Traffic Peaked In Early February After Distribution Of W-2 Forms, Indicating Web Users Began The Tax Planning Process Earlier Than Later In The Season, According To Nielsen//Netratings

NEW YORKApril 15, 2005 Nielsen//NetRatings, the global standard for Internet audience measurement and analysis, reported today that in the last minute scramble to file income taxes by the April 15 deadline, more than 7.6 million combined home and work Internet users, or six percent of the active Internet universe, visited tax sites including TurboTax and hrblock.com, which both jumped double digits in a week-over-week and year-over-year comparison during the week ending April 10. While traffic to tax sites has been growing during the past several weeks, the first week of February found the highest peak in tax traffic after W-2 forms were sent to employees.
After receiving W-2s, taxpayers spread filing over the ensuing weeks leading up to April 15, said Iris Cumberbatch, senior financial services analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings. The IRS estimated that of the 120 million returns they expect to be filed on time this year; 88 million had already come in by April 8a week ahead of the deadline.

Online Stock Market Trading This year, taxpayers are notably taking advantage of the free federal e-filing offered by the IRS to save time, continued Cumberbatch.

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Stock Investing Course TurboTax drew 1.1 million at-home only unique visitors during the week ending April 10, rising 47 percent from the week prior. Twenty-one percent of the sites audience visited the Tax Freedom page outlining how to file a free federal tax return, with nearly two-thirds of the traffic referred by the IRS.gov site. In a year-over-year comparison, TurboTax spiked 73 percent in the week leading up to the filing deadline.

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Stock Market Game Hrblock.com jumped 47 percent in at-home traffic from the week prior, attracting more than half a million unique visitors during the week ending April 10. Nearly 60 percent of the sites audience logged onto the secure login page to access their return. Hrblock.com grew 19 percent in a year-over-year comparison for the weeks leading up to the filing deadline.

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Stock Investing Game In March 2005, two out of the top five online personal accounting advertisers focused on promoting income tax services, according to the Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance service (see Table 3). H&R Block ranked No. 1, and rendered more than 150 million ad impressions, while 24HourTaxRefund followed, delivering more than 82 million ad impressions.

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Stock Market News Nielsen//NetRatings, a service provided by NetRatings, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTRT), is the global standard for Internet audience measurement and analysis and is the industry's premier source for online advertising intelligence with its NetView, AdRelevance, @Plan, WebRF, MegaPanel and SiteCensus services. Covering 70 percent of the world's Internet usage, the Nielsen//NetRatings services offer syndicated Internet and digital media research reports and custom-tailored data to help companies gain valuable insight into their business. For more information, please visit www.nielsen-netratings.com.

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