May 23 (Reuters) - Intuit posted a rise in

third-quarter revenue and raised its annual forecasts on

Thursday, as the maker of tax filing software TurboTax benefited

from demand for its AI-integrated products during a robust tax

season.

The company's tax-preparation software, personal finance

portal Credit Karma and accounting software QuickBooks are in

demand from small businesses and individuals for managing their

finances.

Intuit also offers AI-powered Intuit Assist, which is

embedded across its products and helps small businesses and

customers to make financial decisions with personalized

recommendations.

"We're going to be testing Gen-AI driven SKUs (stock keeping

units) that do everything for you and you would pay extra for

it," Sasan Goodarzi told Reuters in an interview.

"This was first 'back to normal' tax season we've seen in

the industry for total tax filers. It feels like we are ... out

of the COVID-era," he said.

Intuit now expects annual revenue between $16.16 billion and

$16.20 billion, compared with its prior range of $15.89 billion

to $16.11 billion.

The mid-point of its updated annual revenue outlook was

above analysts' average estimate of $16.05 billion, according to

LSEG data.

The company forecast revenue between $3.06 billion and $3.10

billion for the fourth quarter, compared with estimates of $3.04

billion.

Its third-quarter revenue rose about 12% to $6.74 billion,

narrowly beating estimates of $6.65 billion. Excluding items, it

earned $9.88 per share, compared with estimates of $9.37.

In the third quarter, revenue at its consumer group, which

caters to individual customers, grew 9% to $3.7 billion

Revenue at its small business and self-employed group, which

offers products such as accounting software QuickBooks, rose 18%

to $2.4 billion.

Separately, the company said Joe Kauffman, president of

Credit Karma, will become its CEO from Aug. 1 as founder-CEO Ken

Lin plans to retire at the end of year.

(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed

Safi Shamsi and Arun Koyyur)