Moreover, TurboTax’s website included a “Products and Pricing” page that stated it would “recommend the right tax solution,” but never displayed or recommended the IRS Free File program, even when consumers were eligible for the free product. Intuit also purposefully blocked its IRS Free File landing page from search engine results during the 2019 tax filing season, effectively shutting out eligible taxpayers from filing their taxes for free. Intuit bid on paid search advertisements to direct consumers who were looking for the IRS Free File product to the TurboTax “freemium” product instead. The company used confusingly similar names for both its IRS Free File product and its commercial “freemium” product. The multistate investigation found that Intuit engaged in several deceptive and unfair trade practices that limited consumers’ participation in the IRS Free File Program. In contrast, the IRS Free File product was free for 70 percent of taxpayers. However, the TurboTax “freemium” product is only free for approximately one-third of U.S. In addition, Intuit offers a commercial product called “TurboTax Free Edition,” which is only free for taxpayers with “simple returns” as defined by Intuit. In exchange for participating in the program, the IRS agreed not to compete with Intuit and other tax-prep companies by providing its own electronic tax preparation and filing services to American taxpayers. One was through its participation in the IRS Free File Program, a public-private partnership with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which allows taxpayers earning roughly $34,000 and members of the military to file their taxes for free. Intuit has offered two free versions of TurboTax. I’m very pleased with this result for those affected.”Īn investigation into Intuit began after ProPublica reported that the company was using deceptive digital tactics to steer low-income consumers toward its commercial products and away from federally-supported free tax services. “But the company got caught and this settlement now forces it to pay for its misdeeds. “Intuit tricked thousands of Idahoans into paying for services that should have been free,” Wasden said. In addition to the payments, Intuit must suspend TurboTax’s “free, free, free” ad campaign that lured customers with promises of free tax preparation services, only to deceive them into paying for services. Affected consumers will automatically receive notices and a check by mail. In Idaho, 27,237 customers will receive checks for about $30 each. (BOISE) – General Lawrence Wasden today secured approximately $843,000 from the owner of TurboTax, Intuit, for deceiving consumers into paying for tax services that should have been free.Īs a result of the multistate agreement, Intuit will pay $141 million in restitution. Home Newsroom Wasden Secures More than $800k for Idahoans Deceived by TurboTax
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