From ExtremeTech: Ah, tax season: an approximately three-month chunk of the year in which we all bite our nails in front of an accountant or our computer, awaiting our financial fate. For those of us who go the DIY route, software like Intuit’s TurboTax claim to make our lives a little easier—but are their claims actually true?
Perhaps not. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken issue with Intuit’s advertising of TurboTax, specifically with the way the software is marketed as “free.” In a lawsuit filed Monday, the FTC claimed TurboTax traps customers with its deceptive advertising and pushes them toward paid products, even when some of those customers would have qualified for the actual zero-cost Free File option reserved for those with low to moderate income.
“For many [users], Intuit tells them, after they have invested time and effort gathering and inputting into TurboTax their sensitive personal and financial information to prepare their tax returns, that they cannot continue for free; they will need to upgrade to a paid TurboTax service to complete and file their taxes,” the complaint reads. Those who have income other than W-2 income (which includes business owners, rideshare and delivery drivers, and—ahem—freelancers, among others) are forced to pay extra for self-employment filing. The same goes for those who own a farm, received a state refund the year prior, or have recently sold a home.
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