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FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

ftc.gov

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Re: FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

#91

Post by mywittyname »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #28

Not just TurboTax, H&R Block does this shit as well. "File your taxes free! Oh, you have to file an HSA contribution? Sorry, you'll have to buy H&R Block DELUXE ($79.99) to do that!" Kinda feels like blackmail, really. If I don't file my HSA contribution I'm technically committing fraud, right?

> If I don't file my HSA contribution I'm technically committing fraud, right?

The IRS will send you a corrected tax return, you sign it and mail them a check and you'll hear nothing from them again. Maybe you didn't get the form, or didn't understand the software, etc, etc. There are lots of honest ways to screw up your taxes. The IRS isn't going to assume fraud unless you refuse to pay them when they point it out.

I've screwed up my taxes a lot of times. Not maliciously, but not having all of my forms, I've had clients report paying me a different amount than they told the IRS, forgot stock trades I made, etc. Every time, they've sent a letter asking to pay a balance, plus maybe a small fee, and all is good.

Re: FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

#92

Post by Jxl180 »

ensignavenger wrote: post #69
ed_elliott_asc wrote: post #6

Is there a way to do your taxes without paying any money?

For most folks, CashApp Tax works fine. Its 100% Free. I have used it since it came out (originally Credit Karma Tax).

I own an LLC, traded stocks and crypto and CashApp handled it all flawlessly.

Re: FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

#93

Post by sillysaurusx »

mywittyname wrote: post #77

I found out from a friend that she paid $600 to have her taxes done because (presumably) she falls for the dark patterns that TurboTax uses. She's a low paid service worker whose tax return can probably be done for free. And it is a sizable portion of her income because of things like Earned income tax credits, child tax credits, etc. Fuck these companies.

Realistically, how would you do your tax return for free?

Keep in mind that every service worker is terrified of an audit. The cost is much higher when you don’t have resources.

EDIT: I think I didn't phrase this very well. My point was that the average service worker is trained to be terrified of the IRS. These people are already usually paying hefty fines because they missed their returns in prior years. That's why they take the path of least resistance, and just pay someone else as a shield against this.

So it's not particularly surprising that TurboTax has swindled this person out of $600 with their upsells. Nor should she be condemned as a fool. If you were in her shoes, you might do the same thing.

Re: FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

#94

Post by CogitoCogito »

flerchin wrote: post #4

Freetaxusa is so great.

Do you know if Freetaxusa supports declaring international income/taxes?

Edit: I looks like they don't :(

Items Not Supported

    Foreign employment income (Form 2555)
https://www.freetaxusa.com/supported_forms.jsp

Re: FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

#95

Post by wnevets »

jeffwask wrote: post #30
wnevets wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sad thing is its not even a lot of money if you consider how much profit they make. Politicians are surprisingly cheap

True. Large on people scale not corporation scale which is why treating corporations like people is a terrible idea.

maybe the rest of us should start a gofundme so we can pool together our funds and buy a few politicians.

Re: FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

#96

Post by Jxl180 »

mindslight wrote: post #60
ed_elliott_asc wrote: post #6

Is there a way to do your taxes without paying any money?

Just pirate TurboTax. Torrent it, set up a fresh windows VM with Internet access via VPN, install/update turbotax, crack it to get the state version, make sure it's got live versions of all the forms you need, disconnect Internet access (never to be reconnected), copy previous year's data files to VM, do taxes, print out and file by mail, copy data files off to long term storage, save VM image in case you need to rev…

Or just use CashApp Tax. Your procedure makes it sound like Turbo Tax is the only game in town. Turbo Tax isn’t worth any of the effort you mentioned.

Re: FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

#97

Post by UncleMeat »

vuln wrote: post #23
mynameisash wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not confident in my ability to get my taxes right (mostly due to my wife and I having owned small businesses plus my day job's stock awards and ESPP), so I've paid a local CPA to do our taxes for years now. He always did an incredible job, was happy to answer my questions for me (tax-related or not), helped us refi our house at an amazing price, and so on. His fees were something on the order of $400 or maybe eve…

Hiring a CPA was one of the best decisions I have made in my entire adult life.

My experience with CPAs has been poor. "I dunno, just put what you think is right" is how the last person I paid told me to handle a mismatch between my wife's actually grant payments and her 1098-T.

Re: FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

#98

Post by goosedragons »

belval wrote: post #13

I know that ship has sailed, but I really wish politicians would go back to making promises that have an impact on everyone like abolishing tax fillings. It might be different in the US, but in Canada I file my taxes using the CRA's data directly. TurboTax even fetches it directly from their website. What's the point? They have my T4, my T2202 (studies) and everything else. Just send me a letter telling me how much m…

I missed including my T2202 one year and thought I owned a ton. They then sent me a letter saying lol, no we owe you. So pointless.

What annoys me now is that if you want a paper booklet you have to request one in advance if you did not use one previously but otherwise there is no free to everyone option to do it. You either request a paper booklet or use 3rd party software.

Re: FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

#99

Post by kstrauser »

throwawayboise wrote: post #47
mynameisash wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not confident in my ability to get my taxes right (mostly due to my wife and I having owned small businesses plus my day job's stock awards and ESPP), so I've paid a local CPA to do our taxes for years now. He always did an incredible job, was happy to answer my questions for me (tax-related or not), helped us refi our house at an amazing price, and so on. His fees were something on the order of $400 or maybe eve…

It's not like an honest mistake is the end of the world. I've made tax mistakes. You get a letter from the IRS, with the amount you owe or are due back, and you settle up. There are no draconian penalties or full audits unless they suspect intentional fraud.

They're usually shockingly pleasant to deal with, too. Having owned a couple of small businesses over the years, our taxes can get complex. There were a couple of times where the IRS had questions about our filed returns, and the clerks we dealt with have always been genuinely nice, helpful to work with, and authorized to exercise decent human judgment.

Them: It says here you spent $X on healthcare expenses.

Me: I've got 4 kids. I always hit my deductible.

Them, literally laughing: Yeah, kids are expensive. OK, moving on...

Re: FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

#100

Post by Ekaros »

cranekam wrote: post #76
kaitai wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I manually filed taxes on paper (federal) last year and they still have not been processed. Got a letter that the IRS is sitting on my 5-figure tax payment but haven't gone through the 1040 yet. There is an institutional (mainly Republican) commitment to strangling the IRS here in the US. Filing taxes should be free and easy.

> Filing taxes should be free and easy. Or, ideally, not needed at all. In the UK having an average financial situation like a job (one that doesn’t pay megabucks, anyway), a pension, a tax-efficient savings account and a student doesn’t require any filing at all. Everything happens through payroll. If you do earn a lot or have other things that trigger the need to file it’s free and not overly onerous — certainly wi…

Same in Finland.

They get my income, loans for future capital gain deductions, have calculated in the basic deductions and so on.

I wanted some extra deductions this year, so I simply went and inserted those on their own web site with simple boxes to fill. Even before the tax season. No problems...

It is great when the tax agency isn't actually adversarial, but instead ready to help and even work with you if you are having troubles.

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