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

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

#231

Post by didntcheck »

mfi wrote: post #168

In Sweden, for most citizen the tax authority does the tax declaration for you. If you don't want to do any changes (which most people doesn't have to), you simply write a text to them [1]. [1] https://skatteverket.se/servicelankar/otherlanguages/inengli...

To 1-up a bit, in the UK (and probably several other countries) you usually do nothing at all. The tax is deducted by your employer at time of pay and you just get annual statements that you usually do nothing with. If you are due a refund (e.g. salary went down so your projected yearly income was wrong), you usually get refunded automatically by giro or cheque (or possibly compensatory tax code changes for the next year. Not sure)

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

#232

Post by filoleg »

halJordan wrote: post #28
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…

I agree on every level, but I'm compelled to remind you this is the America where wendy's (?) had to revert to a 1/4 pounder from a 1/3 pounder bc people thought they were getting less meat. And let's not forget the ever-present anti-education cohort that can't be convinced math is good even when you tell them it's how you calculate discounts or tips.

You say “this is America”, but my mother (who grew up in USSR/Russia and was in her mid 30s at the time) was seriously asking middle-schooled me on multiple occasions whether 0.7 liters of milk was less than 0.55 liters. I don’t remember the exact numbers, i just remember that the smaller volume one had 2 digits past the decimal, and the larger one just had 1 digit.

And no, she wasn’t testing my knowledge, she was seriously confused, as she would ask me that even later in life. Mind you, she has a masters degree. She is in her early 50s right now, and she is fully of sound mind to this day, not senile or anything like that.

Imo, this type of silliness is rather common across many different places, but Americans just tend to own it and not be afraid of coming off silly (if that’s how they genuinely end up behaving in a given situation).

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

#233

Post by smohare »

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…

[dead]

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

#234

Post by linsomniac »

ok_dad wrote: post #82
linsomniac wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using https://www.freetaxusa.com/ the last couple years and plan to continue this year. It is free for Federal (though I usually pay for an upgrade), and state is $15. The only option I know of for free state is to do the forms manually.

I second this suggestion. The free federal taxes and $15 state actually mean free federal and $15 for state! You can certainly add on the "pro service" or "audit protection" or whatever if you want, but it is simple to say NO to those and just do the forms. This year, I opted for the "audit protection" because of some new tax forms I had to fill out, but overall I only paid $45 with the sales tax. I used to use Turbo…

Which reminds me... In previous years I had used TurboTax and paid for their "have a tax expert answer any questions you have" upgrade. I asked a question and all the dude they connected me with did was to read the the field from the form to me. "What does it mean?" "It says ." In retrospect, I should have contacted support and asked them to remove the upcharge.

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

#235

Post by Zambyte »

While they're at it, they should go after services that include "free benefits" as a part of the service. The word "free" occurs 24 times in this list of what you get access to by paying $150 a year: https://web.archive.org/web/20240123132728/https://www.amazo...

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

#236

Post by cheeseomlit »

tasty_freeze wrote: post #97
apengwin wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Increasing the IRS budget is an unequivocal good!

50% of the country believes tax is theft, and they also imagine if there were no taxes and the IRS abolished we'd somehow still continue to support an army, have a federal court system, a patent office, etc, etc, and that their state will continue to get federal subsidies. That was the entire point of Obama's speech that republican news sources and libertarians eviscerated him for: "You didn't build that". He wasn't…

Every dollar I've ever paid in federal taxes has been thrown into a black hole of debt never to be seen again, their actual spending is fueled by debasement of the currency (IE. money printing). The only purpose of taxation in such a system is to reduce inflationary pressure caused by their own malfeasance, I can't imagine they actually need the revenue since there seems to be no relationship between revenue and spending anyways. This all makes our current system of taxation feel less like a civic duty and more like a scam.

>50% of the country believes tax is theft, and they also imagine if there were no taxes and the IRS abolished we'd somehow still continue to support an army, have a federal court system, a patent office, etc, etc, and that their state will continue to get federal subsidies.

That is not at all what 50% of the country believes, its a hyperbolic strawman. Obviously taxation is necessary to fund public services, just because someone criticizes the litany of flaws in our specific system doesn't mean they don't believe in the concept of taxation. Funny that you go on to complain about lack of nuance.

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

#238

Post by ghaff »

Dalewyn wrote: post #195
ghaff wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

>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. I hire a CPA to do my dead simple returns that I can do myself. Why? Because I don't trust myself to have done it correctly. No, I can't sincerely swear everything written is true and correct to the best of my knowledge because I do not trust myself. That's why I hire a CPA, because I need someone I can point…

I've always used one myself. When it was simple, it was also cheap because I basically got my taxes done as a sideline for the CPA doing my family's taxes.

But if that's your concern I'm not sure automated or fill in the blanks tax software, free or not, is necessarily a good substitute.

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

#239

Post by antisthenes »

redrove wrote: post #210
termy wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone makes that kind of money :(.

Absolutely true and a valid point, I’m just trying to add some nuance to the conversation. I’ve noticed the North American heavy online bubbles fetishizing Europe in that regard, and the reality is far more grim.

You added some nuance and completely lost most of other nuance.

It's completely evident that the salary differences in the EU/US are not from the convenience of the govt calculating taxes for you, and that's the point you tried to make in your origin post.

On the other hand, you'd make great advertisements for TurboTax.

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

#240

Post by calvinmorrison »

ghaff wrote: post #145
calvinmorrison wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And an understanding of tax law

I know the tax code has probably gotten more complicated, but when did people start to get the idea that even super-straightforward taxes (like just a W-2 or maybe a 1099) requires an accountant, tax software, or a degree in tax law? My taxes have been pretty complicated for a while but I don't get the perceived need for TurboTax for even the simplest of returns. Now maybe you miss out on some deductions if you just…

because if you mess up, and most people doing a 1040EZ could, easily mess up, there can be consequences
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