Intuit, the parent company of tax reporting software TurboTax, will pay about 4.4 million Americans $141 million in refunds.
The 50 state settlementLed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, alleges that the company “tricked” low-income Americans by diverting them from free tax reporting services (which they may have been entitled to) and redirecting them to the paid version of its service, and was subsequently ” wrongly accused”.
“TurboTax’s predatory and deceptive marketing has defrauded millions of low-income Americans trying to fulfill their legal obligations to file their taxes,” James said in a statement. “Today we right those wrongs and put money back in the pockets of hard-working taxpayers who should never have paid to file their taxes.”
Eligible individuals include those who paid to file their federal taxes with TurboTax in 2016, 2017, and 2018 but were able to file for free through the IRS Free File Program — of which Intuit was a partner until about two years ago.
See Also: TurboTax Owner Intuit Slammed in FTC Lawsuit, Allegations of ‘Bait-and-Switch’ Advertising
In 2019, ProPublica a report claiming that since initiating its participation in the Free File program in 2003, Intuit has made extreme efforts to limit the program’s reach – from questionable lobbying tactics to adding code on the Free File landing page, who made it possible practically unattainable on search engines.
About two months after the story went public, the IRS issued a new rule prohibiting large tax software companies (like Intuit) from hiding free tax filing options from search engines.
Then in 2021Intuit has decided not to renew its participation in the Free File Program. The company assignment is Decision due to “limitations” in the program and “conflicting demands from outside the program”.
In a May 2022 blog entry Referring to the 50-state settlement, Intuit said, “When we reached a resolution on this matter, we have not admitted wrongdoing and look forward to continuing our strong partnership with governments to best serve the needs of taxpayers across the country to be fair.” In entrepreneur With the request for a statement on the allegations, the company referred to the above-mentioned post from last May.
Those affected by the settlement will be emailed and a check will be mailed by May 2023. Most eligible individuals earn around $30, but others can earn up to $85 depending on the number of years they qualify. More information about the settlement can be found here Here.
