Intuit (TurboTax / QuickBooks / Mint / Credit Karma) OA is a "take-home + SQL case + Karat live coding" trio. DS and SDE tracks differ in question style but both lean real business decision-making over pure algorithms. Below: 2026 spring-cycle latest signals + 5-day sprint.
Intuit OA Snapshot (2026)
| Dimension | Detail |
|---|---|
| Platform | Karat (live) + self-hosted take-home |
| Duration | Take-home 24–48 hr + Karat 1 hr |
| Questions | 1 take-home case + 2–3 Karat problems |
| Difficulty | LC Medium pace + business reasoning |
| Grading | Auto + business-conclusion quality |
Line 1: Take-home Case (DS Track)
Prompt
A TurboTax user-behavior CSV (100K rows). Tasks:
- EDA + data-quality assessment
- Hypothesis: "why is H1 filing-conversion 8% higher than H2?"
- Design an experiment to validate
Response Framework
import pandas as pd
def eda(df):
print(df.shape, df.dtypes)
print(df.isnull().sum().sort_values(ascending=False).head(10))
print(df.describe(include='all').T)
for col in ['half_year', 'is_returning', 'device', 'tax_year']:
rates = df.groupby(col)['filed'].mean()
print(col, rates.to_dict())
return df
Intuit grades business-conclusion soundness + experiment executability, not just code. Surface H1/H2 user-mix differences early in EDA.
Line 2: SQL Business Case
WITH active_months AS (
SELECT
s.user_id,
s.plan,
DATE_PART('month', AGE(COALESCE(s.churned_at, CURRENT_DATE), s.started_at))
+ DATE_PART('year', AGE(COALESCE(s.churned_at, CURRENT_DATE), s.started_at)) * 12
AS months_active
FROM subscription s
WHERE s.started_at >= DATE '2025-01-01'
), revenue AS (
SELECT user_id, SUM(amount) AS total_rev
FROM charge
WHERE ts >= DATE '2025-01-01'
GROUP BY user_id
), per_user_ltv AS (
SELECT
a.plan,
a.user_id,
CASE
WHEN a.months_active = 0 THEN COALESCE(r.total_rev, 0)
ELSE COALESCE(r.total_rev, 0) / a.months_active * LEAST(a.months_active, 12)
END AS ltv12
FROM active_months a
LEFT JOIN revenue r ON a.user_id = r.user_id
)
SELECT plan, AVG(ltv12) AS ltv_avg, COUNT(*) AS n
FROM per_user_ltv
GROUP BY plan
ORDER BY ltv_avg DESC;
AGE → months + LEAST(months_active, 12) for window cap + NULL handling.
Line 3: Karat Live Coding (SDE Track)
def validate_tax_fields(form):
rules = {
'income': lambda v: isinstance(v, (int, float)) and v >= 0,
'ssn': lambda v: isinstance(v, str) and len(v) == 11 and v[3] == '-' and v[6] == '-',
'filing_status': lambda v: v in {'single', 'mfj', 'mfs', 'hoh', 'qw'},
'dependents': lambda v: isinstance(v, int) and 0 <= v <= 20,
}
errors = []
for field, check in rules.items():
if field not in form:
errors.append(f'missing: {field}')
elif not check(form[field]):
errors.append(f'invalid: {field}={form[field]}')
return errors
5-Day Sprint
| Day | Task |
|---|---|
| D1 | EDA template + Pandas groupby + missing data — 5 problems |
| D2 | SQL multi-JOIN + DATE_TRUNC + LTV / cohort — 4 problems |
| D3 | Karat live: LC 200 / 207 / 215 / 994 |
| D4 | Full take-home mock (4 hours) |
| D5 | Take-home conclusion debrief + craft-demo verbal prep |
FAQ
Need TurboTax background for Intuit DS?
Not required. Take-home uses tax terms (AGI, itemized deduction, refundable credit) — pre-skim these or you'll burn EDA time.
Karat language?
Python / Java / Go / JavaScript / Ruby. DS: ~95% Python. SDE: ~70% Python, ~25% Java.
Take-home pass criterion?
Technical correctness > business intuition > delivery. ~70% pass-through to onsite per community reports.
Result timeline?
Usually 7–14 days; take-home is reviewed by 1–2 graders + Karat performance.
Preparing Intuit OA / VO?
We were glad to help this cohort pass the Intuit Data Scientist OA. Many candidates told us the take-home challenge isn't code — it's "land a PM-convincing business conclusion in 4 hours" — something LC grinding never builds.
If you're prepping Intuit, TurboTax, QuickBooks, Mint, or Credit Karma DS / SDE OA / VO and feel directionless on business-case delivery, contact oavoservice. We tailor OA / VO assistance to your gaps.
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Contact
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