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TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes

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Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes

#21

Post by [deleted] »

tylerrobinson wrote: post #14
untog wrote: post #11

They're not perfect, but I've had success filing with FreeTaxUSA - federal is free, state is $15: https://www.freetaxusa.com/ Obviously too late for people this year, and my tax situation is relatively straightforward so I can't speak to how well it handles edge cases, but the first year I used it I went through the process with both TurboTax and FreeTaxUSA and got the exact same estimated refund. The last straw with…

I'm no TurboTax apologist, but really? I think you always have access to the PDF versions of past years' tax returns upon signing in to your account.

[deleted]

Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes

#22

Post by mruts »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #2

Definitely experienced this helping a friend who qualified for FFA. I ended up contacting them on Twitter and they gave me a promo code after recognizing the site was misleading. The solution probably entails making it illegal for them to upsell folks below the income bar, and require them to provide the free filing option based on the forms entered.

Or people could, like, not use TurboTax if they don’t like it. My tax returns are pretty simple (my only income source is my salary) and it’s trivial to just file them myself. People have some mental block about taxes even though that for 90% of people, filing taxes yourself is trivial.

Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes

#23

Post by endtime »

untog wrote: post #11

They're not perfect, but I've had success filing with FreeTaxUSA - federal is free, state is $15: https://www.freetaxusa.com/ Obviously too late for people this year, and my tax situation is relatively straightforward so I can't speak to how well it handles edge cases, but the first year I used it I went through the process with both TurboTax and FreeTaxUSA and got the exact same estimated refund. The last straw with…

I used FreeTaxUSA last year and this year. Very cheap, the free support tier was quick and helpful, and they even saved me some time by prefilling applicable fields from last year.

Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes

#24

Post by b_tterc_p »

I used turbo tax and had to file multiple state returns. They showed a few blatant pages saying I could maybe get higher deductions with an upgraded version, although I suppose I knew enough to know that wouldn’t be the case. It wasn’t hard to file everything on the free tier. They won’t let me get a copy of the return without paying anymore which is dickish, but they did say that would happen pretty clearly so it’s just a matter of downloading a copy while it’s available. You can upload that pdf copy next year so that’s fairly convenient.

The dark patterns are bad... but I really have no reason to look elsewhere?

Well except passing bank login credentials. That was uncomfortable, but hey, just change them immediately after as it’s a one time service.

Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes

#25

Post by untog »

b_tterc_p wrote: post #24

I used turbo tax and had to file multiple state returns. They showed a few blatant pages saying I could maybe get higher deductions with an upgraded version, although I suppose I knew enough to know that wouldn’t be the case. It wasn’t hard to file everything on the free tier. They won’t let me get a copy of the return without paying anymore which is dickish, but they did say that would happen pretty clearly so it’s…

> I really have no reason to look elsewhere?

TurboTax actively lobbies the government to make filing taxes difficult. So one reason to look elsewhere is simply to avoid giving money to a company that behaves that way.

Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes

#26

Post by [deleted] »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #9
alehul wrote: post #3

In my experience this year, TurboTax prompted me that I could save money by upgrading to a paid plan via taking advantage of some extra deduction. I thought, "if it's going to save me more than I pay for it, why not?" I clicked through and found that this deduction wouldn't actually save me any money. I then couldn't find a way to get back to the free plan (they only charge you after you file, so this should be possi…

The paid plan upgrade is based on which forms you input, not necessarily which deduction you get. So hypothetically, even if your best choice is the standard deduction, they expect you to pay if you have some of those other tax forms. I guess my question is, if you know the standard deduction is the right choice, can you just not input the tax forms that you don't need for that?

[deleted]

Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes

#27

Post by argd678 »

I signed up for Inuit’s Self Employed Quicken that comes with TurboTax just to handle quarterly estimates, and it turns out they don’t support states. They told me there’s so many of them.

Not that I appreciate government websites, since the quality is pretty shoddy, but when a company has no incentive to handle any smaller markets how is this a good system?

Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes

#28

Post by tylerrobinson »

untog wrote: post #15
tylerrobinson wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no TurboTax apologist, but really? I think you always have access to the PDF versions of past years' tax returns upon signing in to your account.

Just tried it again: > It looks like you need to pay first to instantly access your TurboTax returns > For instructions on how to access your returns, click help in the upper right hand corner of your screen and type “Prior Year Return” into the search box and when I do that: > To access your prior year return before you file, you have to: > Be in an upgraded version of TurboTax (or add PLUS to TurboTax Free Edition)…

Interesting. Now that I think about it, maybe I've only attempted to do this after paying for the current year's software. I also pay for the self-employed version, which might play a part.

My original thinking was coming from going through the mortgage application process last year, and I was able to retrieve my previous PDFs mid-year without a problem.

Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes

#29

Post by holtalanm »

I have never used TurboTax, but I have used H&R Block online filing every year of my adult life, and haven't had any issues.

One year I was curious about my refund (thought I was paying more than I should) and brought my return in to an actual brick & mortar H & R Block office, and they told me that my return just about perfect, but they urged me to increase my monthly withholdings to avoid paying taxes at tax season, which turned out to be good advice for the next year (would have had to pay much, much more than the previous year, my withholdings were WAY too low).

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