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FTC bans TurboTax from advertising 'free' services, calls deceptive advertising

cnn.com

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Re: FTC bans TurboTax from advertising 'free' services, calls deceptive advertising

#101

Post by JadeNB »

ants_everywhere wrote: post #98
cityofdelusion wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This story has to be apocryphal, as fractions aren't _that_ rare, especially in the U.S. with its imperial system and third of a cup measurements or quarter inches or half miles and so on.

It's not that they're rare, it's that it legitimately is an easy error to make even if you understand it to be an error. Even people who work with equations every day will occasionally make careless mistakes like this. That's why mathematicians joke about how it's important to make an even number of sign errors. To not make this mistake, you have to be able to call to mind that the map x -> 1/x reverses the inequalit…

> To not make this mistake, you have to be able to call to mind that the map x -> 1/x reverses the inequality sign. That's a fairly abstract thing to remember especially if you haven't taken math for years. Yes you could draw it or write down the equation, or convert to decimal...

You absolutely don't have to remember that x |-> 1/x is order reversing, and, for most people, shouldn't—you immediately give two or three other methods (I don't understand what "write down the equation" means) that are a much better way for the average person to check this.

Re: FTC bans TurboTax from advertising 'free' services, calls deceptive advertising

#102

Post by garciasn »

supertrope wrote: post #90
logiduck wrote: post #22

I just saw an TurboTax Ad where a guy was like "I Like free stuff" and then it said he was "happy to read the disclaimer" on TurboTax and see that "Roughly 37% of taxpayers qualify" which he looks thoughtfully in the distance and says "Thats me!" I thought it was a funny commercial because 37% doesn't seem like a lot and Turbotax is portraying it as the average person will identify themselves as part of that 37% even…

This is distressingly common in marketing. "0% APR financing for well qualified buyers." Where well qualified means 720 FICO score, lower debt to income, and lower payment to income ratios. These details are not even in the fine print of the ad. Then there's ads that show a picture of the high end version of a product with text "starting from !" (that corresponds to the base model).

Less than a 720 FICO score is “fair” with 720 being “good”. I’m sorry but “fair” doesn’t make you a well-qualified buyer IMO, so I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make.

Re: FTC bans TurboTax from advertising 'free' services, calls deceptive advertising

#103

Post by JadeNB »

cityofdelusion wrote: post #54
sharps1 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had to look this up as I didn’t grow up in the States. It was A&W. https://www.snopes.com/news/2022/06/17/third-pound-burger-fr... Crazy.

This story has to be apocryphal, as fractions aren't _that_ rare, especially in the U.S. with its imperial system and third of a cup measurements or quarter inches or half miles and so on.

> This story has to be apocryphal, as fractions aren't _that_ rare, especially in the U.S. with its imperial system and third of a cup measurements or quarter inches or half miles and so on.

I literally had an argument with a room full of US university professors about whether or not 30% and 1/3 were the same thing.

Re: FTC bans TurboTax from advertising 'free' services, calls deceptive advertising

#105

Post by supertrope »

garciasn wrote: post #102
supertrope wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is distressingly common in marketing. "0% APR financing for well qualified buyers." Where well qualified means 720 FICO score, lower debt to income, and lower payment to income ratios. These details are not even in the fine print of the ad. Then there's ads that show a picture of the high end version of a product with text "starting from !" (that corresponds to the base model).

Less than a 720 FICO score is “fair” with 720 being “good”. I’m sorry but “fair” doesn’t make you a well-qualified buyer IMO, so I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make.

It's FICO & DTI & PTI. None of this is defined in the ad not even the fine print. I'm well aware that 700 is around the 50th percentile.

Re: FTC bans TurboTax from advertising 'free' services, calls deceptive advertising

#106

Post by JadeNB »

z3ugma wrote: post #24
mportela wrote: post #17

Any recommendations on how to really file taxes for free (federal and state)?

The most scam-sounding federal government website ever, Free File Fillable Forms https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-form...

At least it's under the irs.gov domain now. As recently as last year, I had to, or at least thought I had to, go to the even scammier-sounding https://www.freefilefillableforms.com.

Re: FTC bans TurboTax from advertising 'free' services, calls deceptive advertising

#107

Post by jrockway »

ghaff wrote: post #91
cj wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Half of the allure of turbo tax is figuring out if the standard deduction is more or less favorable than itemized. Maybe the IRS should start by building a tool that points you in the right direction before it tries to build a TurboTax clone.

I assume that information exists. It's mostly just totaling up some numbers. I know these days, for me, standard deduction works unless I have some outlier charitable/investment thing going on which I'm going to talk to my accountant about anyway. I assume there are other alternate energy credits and the like but not sure how they work and again aren't in play for most people in a given year.

Mortgage interest is the big one.

Re: FTC bans TurboTax from advertising 'free' services, calls deceptive advertising

#109

Post by bobro »

keepamovin wrote: post #39

Finally! This is only 30 years too late. Also, let’s hope the IRS’ current beta of self filing app is successful.

What was happening 30 years ago? I would have guessed the online filing stuff and advertising based on "free" was much more recent?

Re: FTC bans TurboTax from advertising 'free' services, calls deceptive advertising

#110

Post by al_borland »

ghaff wrote: post #49
WheelsAtLarge wrote: post #13

Finally, something is being done. Paying taxes should be free for most people. Especially if you only have to deal with the standard deductions.

If you're standard deduction and just have a few simple sources of income, filing is easily free. Should it be electronic and pre-filled? Yes. But this idea that you need an accountant or tax prep software if you have a W-2 and a 1099 just isn't true. The forms are free.

My issue is they advertise “free, free, free”, but only for federal. After you go through everything they hit you up for money to file with the state. To go elsewhere means doing everything again, so people just pay it.

It’s probably technically in the fine print, but it certainly felt like bait and switch the first time I ran into it over 20 years ago. I’m still bitter all these years later, and get reminded on a yearly basis, as it’s still standard practice. They can make federal “free”, because they can just lump all the costs in on the state taxes. Nothing is actually free.

It also makes no sense to me that it costs money to e-file, while sending in paperwork that a person needs to open and process is free. It seems so backward.

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