The Federal Trade Commission ruled in a final order and opinion Monday that TurboTax, the popular tax filing software, engaged in deceptive advertising and banned the company from advertising its services for free unless it is free for all customers.
By running ads for “free” tax services that many customers were not qualified for, the tax filing software violated the FTC Act and deceived consumers, the agency said.
The FTC had first sued Intuit, TurboTax’s owner, for its deceptive advertising in 2022. The FTC staff alleged most tax filers couldn’t use the company’s “free” services — “such as those who get a 1099 form for work in the gig economy, or those who earn farm income.” TurboTax advertising their products as free misled those customers, according to the FTC.
I do this too. It doesn’t take long and I shop around, because I honestly don’t trust the calculations given.
Only once in my 15 years did I compare three tax software services and all three gave me dollar values that actually align.
I think people just need to see it to believe it if they’ve become accustomed to one brand of tax software. I find that they often have the exact same order of data entry. So just opened up 2 or 3 browsers and fill them all out at once. If your tax situation is simple, it goes pretty quick if you have all of your tax documents on hand.