FTC judge rules Intuit broke law, must stop advertising TurboTax as “free” - eviltoast

FTC judge rules Intuit broke law, must stop advertising TurboTax as “free”::Intuit plans appeal, slams FTC’s “predetermined decision.”

  • BombOmOm@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    106
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    The ‘gotacha’ up-charge 70% of the way through your taxes where you can’t use the form you legally need to fill out unless you give them $40 did extract money from me. Got tired of that shit and went to Free Tax USA.

    • stevedidWHAT@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      46
      ·
      1 year ago

      The fact that the govt has the balls to tell me to figure out how much I owe them is hysterical. Especially when they supposedly know (at least roughly) how much I should owe

      • M500@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        30
        ·
        1 year ago

        I think the irs is piloting its own tax filing software this year.

        I think it’s still in beta, but it’s a step in the right direction.

        • stevedidWHAT@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          17
          ·
          1 year ago

          I was gonna say some snarky shit about govt software being ass but I think you’re right ultimately. It’s not perfect, it’ll probably suck, but it’s better than letting people like turbo tax profit off something we legally have to fucking do and is complicated for most people to do.

          There are lots of other free options to help file out there however, I will say that.

        • Altima NEO@lemmy.zip
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          Cant wait to try that. Real tired of the bullshit of dealing with tax prep software companies. Their bullshit, fake smiley happy cheery “were looking to do what we can to save you the most money”. My ass they do.

          • M500@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            1 year ago

            Yeah, it’s so tiring figuring it all out. And I messaged an accountant that wanted like $700 to do my taxes.

            What the hell!? I’d rather just make a mistake and over pay too much.

      • Hikiru@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        24
        ·
        1 year ago

        Companies like TurboTax bribe politicians to not pass laws that would require you be told how much you owe

      • no banana@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yeah in Sweden we just get the information and have to sign it or correct faults in their calculations (things they couldn’t have known etc). Takes 5 minutes for most people and can be done in the phone with digital identification.

        • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          UK ex-pat here. I was self employed. You typed in the numbers of what you earned, what you spent, hit send. That’s it. The American system is so fucked.

          • stevedidWHAT@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            This is basically what we do also but we have a bunch of other fields and whatnot for other services and so on and so forth.

            It’s just more bs paperwork to trip up poor people on and let rich people navigate through.

        • tony@lemmy.hoyle.me.uk
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          1 year ago

          Most people in the UK don’t think about tax, it just happens without their input.

          If you have a small business or something more complex there are forms, but they’re not that complex… you mostly just tick boxes.

          The US sounds like a dystopian nightmare the way they talk about tax.

      • r00ty@kbin.life
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        I think in most of Europe (speaking from UK here) if you have one job then it’s on the employer to sort your tax out. You get a form at the end of the year to add any other other gains (including benefit in kind etc). If you owe more they adjust your tax code next year to cover it. If they owe you they send a cheque, and then I have to remember how to deposit such ancient technology.

      • triptrapper@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        IRS: Guess how much you owe.

        Me: $20,000?

        IRS: Nope!

        Me: Okay how much do I owe?

        IRS: You have to guess!

      • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        I think the idea is that if you do it and they do it, when they match, they can assume they are both right, and when they don’t, they can compare and update their side or suggest/demand correction on yours. And if things look fishy, have a closer look at everything with an audit.

        • PeachMan@lemmy.one
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          12
          ·
          1 year ago

          Okay, how bout they do the math, I check their work, and if I disagree I let them know? And what if that process didn’t involve a bunch of complicated bullshit rules, and what if I didn’t have to put money into garbage tax companies’ pockets?

          I have one source of income and I am not rich. I don’t have a trust, or investments, or multiple jobs. My taxes should be simple as hell, easy to file, and free.

        • Rolder@reddthat.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          I feel that taxes should just be automatic unless you do unusual things like own a personal business or trade a lot of stocks or some such. Doing taxes for those makes sense since you need to write off business expenses and similar

    • woodenskewer@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      I went through “doing” my taxes 3 times last year. Once at H&R block when I saw how much it was I basically called back and said don’t file them I’m not paying that much. Once self filed through “free” TurboTax, then found out it wasn’t free when they snuck a 40 dollar fee in, go fuck yourself TurboTax. Finally landed on free tax use where it was actually free.

    • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      They did that to me once. I got much of the way through filing, when the site informed me that I needed to “upgrade” to the $40 tier to file a 1098-E form for student loan interest. The deduction would’ve saved me less than $40, though, so I just didn’t file that form. If the IRS audited my return, I could point out that I overpaid my tax.

  • shadow@lemmy.sdf.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    55
    ·
    1 year ago

    Why can’t we just do it like the rest of the world where the IRS (or equivalent) does it and you just sign off on it being correct? They should already have all the data they need from corporate quarterly filings.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    The initial decision by Administrative Law Judge D. Michael Chappell was released today and is subject to an automatic review by the full commission.

    Moreover, if an Intuit good or service is not free for most US taxpayers, that fact must be “disclosed clearly and conspicuously at the outset of any disclosures required” by the order.

    The ruling said that “Intuit had removed several of the most plausibly deceptive advertisements—that is, three videos that repeated the word ‘free’ a dozen or more times over 30 seconds before a very brief disclaimer.”

    “However, if Intuit resumes its full advertising campaign… or the facts on the ground change significantly, the FTC may return to this Court to request relief,” US District Judge Charles Breyer wrote.

    In its response to the administrative law judge’s decision, Intuit said it expected the ruling because of the FTC’s “flawed and highly questionable process, Chair Lina Khan’s previous public and prejudicial statements against Intuit, and the fact that the FTC has ruled in its own favor in nearly every consumer protection case for the last two decades.”

    “We believe the FTC’s decision is improper, wholly ignores the facts, and tramples on the foundations of an independent American judicial system with its serving as prosecutor, judge, and jury on its own matters,” Intuit said.


    The original article contains 860 words, the summary contains 216 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • saltesc@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    Does the exoenditure of the people then spool the intake to bring more economic ignition back into to eonomy, resulting in significant gains in GDP? Or are we back in the '90s again, where it’s cool to put the word “turbo” on everything.

    • citrusface@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      1 year ago

      May have come out of your return - also it only does federal, there is a fee for state. And it only does federal for free if you meet a whole slew of requirements, otherwise, you are required to pay a premium.

      • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I’ll look at the paperwork again, I definitely didn’t see anything about any charges and I did federal and 2 states. It prompted me a few times to go up to the paid tier but I declined it. I didn’t get enough of a return for them to take out of.