In 2017, TurboTax Live was launched, allowing customers to reach out for help from a credentialed tax expert if they get stuck or have questions while preparing their returns. It’s an approach that TurboTax competitors, including H&R Block, have tried to emulate. Users can select topics relevant to them-such as moving, marriage, a new job or selling stock-and skip sections of the software that don’t apply to their situation. Back when other tax software options were asking the same series of questions to all users regardless of their tax situation, TurboTax pioneered a “click here if this applies to you” format. TurboTax has been the most popular do-it-yourself tax software option for decades thanks to the company’s focus on design and user experience. TurboTax, a product of the financial, tax and accounting software provider Intuit, is practically synonymous with DIY tax preparation, partly because it’s been around for nearly 40 years. 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 in fact free to everyone.On H&R Block's Website A Quick Look at TurboTax Intuit withdrew from the program in July 2021, saying in a blog post that the company could provide more benefits without the program’s limitations. One was through its participation in the Internal Revenue Service’s Free File Program, geared toward taxpayers earning roughly $34,000 and members of the military. Until last year, Intuit offered two free versions of TurboTax. “Intuit already adheres to most of these advertising practices and expects minimal impact to its business from implementing the remaining changes going forward.” “As part of the agreement, Intuit admitted no wrongdoing, agreed to pay $141 million to put this matter behind it, and made certain commitments regarding its advertising practices,” representatives for Intuit said in a blog post Wednesday. “This agreement should serve as a reminder to companies large and small that engaging in these deceptive marketing ploys is illegal.” Today, every state in the nation is holding Intuit accountable for scamming millions of taxpayers, and we’re putting millions of dollars back into the pockets of impacted Americans,” James said in a statement. “For years, Intuit misled the most vulnerable among us to make a profit. James said her investigation into Intuit was sparked by a 2019 ProPublica report that found the company was using deceptive tactics to steer low-income tax filers away from the federally supported free services for which they qualified - and toward its own commercial products, instead. 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. Under the terms of a settlement signed by the attorneys general of all 50 states, Mountain View, California-based Intuit Inc. NEW YORK (AP) - The company behind the TurboTax tax-filing program will pay $141 million to customers across the United States who were deceived by misleading promises of free tax-filing services, New York’s attorney general announced Wednesday.
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