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
#2Definitely 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.
Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes
#3In 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 possible).
After struggling for a while, I called Turbotax support, which had me download screen-sharing software and kept telling me to press some button to cancel the paid plan, and it wouldn't work, telling me that it wasn't possible to switch back. He couldn't figure it out, couldn't switch it off on his end, and eventually told me I would have to create a new Turbotax account and start over.
Oh, and for the icing on the cake, he never stopped the screen-sharing session, and saw me input my SSN when I recreated my account. (Yes, I'm aware that I'm a fool for not closing it out myself, but I was really stressed, and it would've been professional to end the screen-sharing after we ended the call.)
Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes
#4I almost got burned by one of those myself. Until I checked the fine print at the end, I didn’t realize there was a separate $40 charge for paying for TurboTax out of your refund (rather than with a credit card). That can’t cost anything on their end and seems designed to target people who don’t have the money lying around.
Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes
#5Definitely 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.
> "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."
In the current environment where they appear to have enough political influence to block the IRS from allowing people to file their taxes online, it seems unlikely that any constraints will be imposed on their pursuit of profits.
Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes
#6Definitely 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.
> "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." In the current environment where they appear to have enough political influence to block the IRS from allowing people to file their taxes online, it seems unlikely that any constraints will be imposed on their pursuit of profits.
Realistically, if they can be required to provide free filing to eligible people, a significant benefit to them over the IRS helping directly remains intact: Most people who file their taxes for free will use the same app once they're no longer eligible.
Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes
#7I used the Free Fillable Forms to file my taxes this year. However, it seems that the backend for the free fillable forms is provided by Intuit. It seems you really can't escape them unless you file on paper and mail in the forms.
Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes
#8The real dark pattern is their ability to bribe the Congress into preventing IRS from implementing free filing.
Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes
#9In 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?
Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes
#10In 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?
Everyone should just use freetaxusa.com. I've used it for years, the UI looks almost the same as TurboTax and costs like 12$ total to file both state and federal.