Intuit, which is the father company of TurboTax has settled with all 50 states in an agreement to pay almost $150 million dollars to their users. This is after allegations that the tax filing service drove millions of low-income Americans away from free filing.
Settlement Announced
The announcement of the settlement came last week in New York from the states Attorney general Letitia James. She states that over 4 million customers were wrongfully charged and went further to say that Intuit’s “free, free, free, campaign.” James said the campaign is being suspended under the grounds of falsely luring customer with the false promise of free tax services.
“Intuit cheated millions of low-income Americans out of free tax filing services they were entitled to,” James wrote in a press release. “For years, Intuit misled the most vulnerable among us to make a profit. 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.”
Intuit Responds
A release from Intuit states that they have been “clear and fair with its customers, including with the nearly 100 million Americans who filed their taxes free of charge with our products over the last 8 years — more than all other tax prep software companies combined.” They went further to say they “admitted no wrongdoing” and expects “minimal impact to its business”
Restitution For TurboTax Customers
Any user of TurboTax’s Free Edition from the two year span of 2016-2018 will receive a check of approximately $30 in the mail. Checks will be received for each year that the filer was charged when they shouldn’t have been.
Wrap Up
It is important to always be careful when offered free tax services, because it is most likely to good to be true. Having a trusted accountant do your tax return will ensure that you get you money’s worth by doing all the work required to give you a maximum refund.