However, the TurboTax "freemium” product is only free for approximately one-third of US taxpayers. In some ads, the company repeated the word "free” dozens of times in as short as 30 seconds. In recent years, TurboTax has marketed this "freemium” product aggressively, including through ad campaigns where "free” is the most prominent or sometimes the only selling point. 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. My office will continue to aggressively go after bad actors that hurt Virginia consumers, because they must be held accountable,” said Attorney General Miyares.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. I'm proud of the role my office played to secure substantial relief for the Virginia consumers that TurboTax misled. "TurboTax took advantage of and deceived Virginians. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have signed onto the agreement. Virginia will receive approximately $3.5 million for consumers who were deceived into paying to file their federal tax return. In addition, 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. As a result of a multistate agreement, Intuit will pay $141 million in restitution to millions of consumers across the nation who were unfairly charged. (Intuit) for deceiving Virginia consumers into paying for tax services that were advertised as free. RICHMOND, VA – Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares today announced that approximately $3.5 million has been secured from the owner of TurboTax, Intuit Inc. ~ Attorney General Miyares joins all 50 states in agreement with TurboTax wwner Intuit for deceiving low-income Americans into paying for free tax services ~ You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Īttorney General Miyares Announces ~$3.5 Million Secured For Virginia Consumers Deceived by Turbo Tax This email address is being protected from spambots.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |