11/11/2022 0 Comments Turbotax refundConsumers are expected to receive a direct payment of approximately $30 for each year that they were deceived into paying for filing services. #Turbotax refund for freeUnder the agreement, Intuit will provide restitution to millions of consumers who started using TurboTax’s Free Edition for tax years 2016 through 2018 and were told that they had to pay to file even though they were eligible to file for free using the version of TurboTax offered as part of the IRS’s free filing program. taxpayers and did not contain adequate disclosures that the product most likely would cost consumers money. These ads, however, promoted an Intuit tax preparation product that was free to only approximately one-third of U.S. In some ads, the company repeated the word “free” dozens of times in ads as short as 30 seconds. The state’s investigation also revealed the misleading nature of Intuit’s widespread advertising campaigns. The company is also accused of occasionally making its free filing product deliberately inaccessible from search engines, even when consumers searched for free tax preparation services. Intuit is also accused of bidding on paid search advertisements to deceptively direct consumers who were looking for free tax preparation services to its for-pay service instead. The lawsuit alleged Intuit’s for-pay service was deceptively branded and titled as being free, using the name “TurboTax Free Edition,” while the company’s free filing program that it offered under its agreement with the IRS and was actually free did not indicate that the service was free. Intuit was required to provide a free tax-filing program to low-income taxpayers in exchange, the IRS agreed not to compete with Intuit and other tax-prep companies by providing its own electronic tax preparation and filing services. They will be getting at least partial refunds under the settlement.Īccording to a press release, the settlement comes after nearly two years of investigation. Prosecutors say the ad campaign lured customers in with promises of free tax prep services, only to push them into paying for services that were initially promised as free.Īs many as 60,000 Minnesotans were eligible for free filing but were defrauded into paying. TurboTax parent company Intuit will have to pay $141 million in restitution and suspend its “free, free, free” advertising campaign as part of the settlement agreement. They will automatically receive notices and checks by mail.(KNSI) - Thousands of taxpayers who used TurboTax from Intuit to file are likely due a refund after a settlement with the online tax preparer.Īttorneys General from all 50 states and the District of Columbia signed onto a lawsuit saying the company deceived consumers into paying for tax services that should have been free. Under the agreement, Intuit will provide restitution to consumers who used the commercial TurboTax Free Edition for tax years 2016 through 2018 and were told they had to pay to file even though they were eligible for the version of TurboTax offered as part of the IRS Free File program.Ĭonsumers are expected to receive a direct payment of approximately $30 for each year that they were deceived into paying for filing services, James said. The paper return system needs an overhaul. IRS BACKLOG: IRS backlog won't end after tax deadline. “Customers are getting upset.”ĬRYPTO SCAM: Woman swindled out of $390,000 in crypto scam by man she met on dating app “The website lists Free, Free, Free and the customers are assuming their return will be free,” an internal company PowerPoint presentation said. The company also offers a commercial product called “TurboTax Free Edition” that is only for taxpayers with “simple returns,” as defined by Intuit.Īccording to documents obtained by ProPublica, Intuit executives knew they were deceiving customers by advertising free services that were not free to everyone. WHERE'S MY REFUND TOOL: Taxpayers waiting for refunds find little help from IRS 'Where's My Refund' tool TWO-YEAR WAIT: We fought the IRS, sort of, and finally got someone to answer the phone The Fed announced these aggressive moves to fight it INFLATION FIGHT: Inflation is at a 40-year high. James said her investigation into Intuit was sparked by a ProPublica report in 2019 that found the company used deceptive tactics to steer low-income tax filers away from the federally supported free services for which they qualified – and toward Intuit's own commercial products. Under the terms of a settlement signed by the attorneys general of all 50 states, Mountain View, California-based Intuit will suspend TurboTax’s “free, free, free” ad campaign and pay restitution to nearly 4.4 million taxpayers, New York Attorney General Letitia James said. NEW YORK – The company behind the TurboTax tax-filing program will pay $141 million to customers deceived by misleading promises of free tax-filing services, New York's attorney general announced Wednesday.
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