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FTC Is Investigating Intuit over TurboTax Practices

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Re: FTC Is Investigating Intuit over TurboTax Practices

#151

Post by ceejayoz »

rootusrootus wrote: post #110
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure payroll taxes are things taxed at the source: I'm not sure there is a less painful way to tax for, say, social security or military spending. I'd honestly be happy changing some things into payroll taxes, honestly: Gasoline taxes, for example, aren't going to fund roads as much in the future (and efficient cars are already causing issues). Folks that work use roads in most cases, though, even if they…

> This method of "filing taxes" makes it easy to comply with filing and I'm guessing it makes collection rates better with less work. This is by design, in the US the anti-tax crowd wants filing taxes to be harder and more inefficient. It serves their purposes. And they are a powerful lobbying group.

I'm not sure why you're being downvoted. In 2005, Grover Norquist had this to say:

> Doing taxes keeps citizens aware of the tax burden imposed upon them by the government.

https://theweek.com/articles/825902/how-republicans-trapped-...

Re: FTC Is Investigating Intuit over TurboTax Practices

#152

Post by mikem170 »

wffurr wrote: post #61

What's the least scammy alternative to TurboTax? I keep paying for it every year because it's what I'm used to, and I have capital gains and all that junk so I can't free file.

I'll put in a good word for https://olt.com

I've been using them for years. It would cost most people $10-20 for fed 1040a and state taxes, extra help is available for extra money. In an income tax-free state I paid $0 to file my federal return and have it direct deposited to my bank account. No dark patterns.

And their privacy policy was decent. I was not happy with what I saw on Intuit's site, especially given the data I'd be trusting them with.

Re: FTC Is Investigating Intuit over TurboTax Practices

#153

Post by bityard »

loosescrews wrote: post #137
klmadfejno wrote: post #50

God I hope this suit is successful. Lots of people here are discussing the regulatory trap they've got, and that's a big problem. But the actual problem mentioned in the suit is deceptive marketing. TurboTax is the worst in this regard. Last year, I, at every step of the process, declined the expensive options that say "maybe you'll save more money if you permanently switch into this paid mode". Yet after a couple ho…

I have tried nearly all of the DIY tax offerings out there. CreditKarma has a relatively new completely free offering that I feel rivals TurboTax in ease of use. I also feel that it is superior to paid offerings such as H&R Block. Another completely free offering is freetax.com. I used them for a few years, and while not quite as easy to use, it works well. Note that both of these free offerings include free state ta…

Did you mean freetaxusa.com? (freetax.com goes to a site called DIY Tax which doesn't look like they offer free returns anymore.)

I've used freetaxusa.com for the past couple of years. They don't do the same level of hand-holding that TurboTax and TaxAct are famous for. So what I have done in the past is fill out the tricky parts in TaxAct using a free account and if the number look right, copy them into FreeTaxUSA.

I used to use TaxAct until their prices, tiers, and upsells got to be flat-out usurious. FreeTaxUSA federal filing is free but you have to pay a small (around $15) fee if you want to e-file for state. _That_ is a price I can live with. I don't mind paying it at all if it means escaping the TurboTax and TaxAct traps.

Re: FTC Is Investigating Intuit over TurboTax Practices

#154

Post by ultrarunner »

save_ferris wrote: post #80
ultrarunner wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not here to argue that "everything the government does is bad" because I think it's a very nuanced situation. That said, I feel like the Hoover Dam needs to be mentioned in the same breath as Hoovervilles, and as a precursor to the Great Depression. Arguably, this high-level decision making is the only part that the government did , and should receive credit for, as the Six Companies consortium actually executed…

> Arguably, this high-level decision making is the only part that the government did, and should receive credit for, as the Six Companies consortium actually executed the construction. I agree with this, but couldn't it also be applied inversely? If a government project experiences cost overruns due to a private contractor poorly estimating the project, shouldn't blame also be placed on said contractor? Success is so…

Sure, absolutely, and this is a good point. However, much of that comes from changing requirements or an unrealistic bid process to begin with. Shady business practices by government contractors should absolutely be scrutinized. It’s a complicated undertaking all the way around.

Re: FTC Is Investigating Intuit over TurboTax Practices

#155

Post by koolba »

qppo wrote: post #150
neilfrndes wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why doesn't IRS have a web app like Turbotax? Because of great lobbying by Intuit. This planet money episode goes into the details: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/03/709656642/epis...

It's the wrong question too. Why do we have to file a tax return at all? Shouldn't the government be filing a tax return with us instead? Same answer of course.

It’s also FUD about how complex, or really how simple, doing your own taxes can be. Filling out a 1040 for the overwhelmingly common situation of a single job is a cake walk. The vast majority of people would be taking the standard deduction now as well.

Re: FTC Is Investigating Intuit over TurboTax Practices

#156

Post by bityard »

qppo wrote: post #150
neilfrndes wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why doesn't IRS have a web app like Turbotax? Because of great lobbying by Intuit. This planet money episode goes into the details: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/03/709656642/epis...

It's the wrong question too. Why do we have to file a tax return at all? Shouldn't the government be filing a tax return with us instead? Same answer of course.

They answer that in the NPR podcast the parent linked to. But it essentially boils down to the fact that taxes are constitutionally voluntary yet tax evasion is illegal.

Re: FTC Is Investigating Intuit over TurboTax Practices

#157

Post by qppo »

bityard wrote: post #156
qppo wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the wrong question too. Why do we have to file a tax return at all? Shouldn't the government be filing a tax return with us instead? Same answer of course.

They answer that in the NPR podcast the parent linked to. But it essentially boils down to the fact that taxes are constitutionally voluntary yet tax evasion is illegal.

I'm no constitutional scholar but I don't think the IRS is constitutionally prohibited from sending me a filled out tax form and asking me if it's correct.

Re: FTC Is Investigating Intuit over TurboTax Practices

#158

Post by loosescrews »

dragontamer wrote: post #139
loosescrews wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have tried nearly all of the DIY tax offerings out there. CreditKarma has a relatively new completely free offering that I feel rivals TurboTax in ease of use. I also feel that it is superior to paid offerings such as H&R Block. Another completely free offering is freetax.com. I used them for a few years, and while not quite as easy to use, it works well. Note that both of these free offerings include free state ta…

I use TaxAct personally.

I tried TaxAct. It was the hardest to use of the bunch. In many cases it just has you fill out the real tax forms. Anyone who wants to fill out the tax forms themselves can do that for free, and TaxAct isn't even much cheaper than its significantly easier to use competitors.

Re: FTC Is Investigating Intuit over TurboTax Practices

#159

Post by [deleted] »

supernova87a wrote: post #72

Why are we bothering with the small potatoes in the room (TurboTax not putting URLs to free tax filing, etc. etc) when the elephant is: "Why isn't the IRS giving people a way to prepopulate and file taxes for free with the financial info that the IRS already has on everyone?" Well, I suppose it's just a product of the corporate interests and congressional deadlock that prevents us from doing a multitude of things rig…

[deleted]
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