The Federal Trade Commission has sued the owner of TurboTax in the federal court for ‘bogus’ advertising
The FTC claims Intuit is deceiving its customers by pitching its tax filing software, TurboTax as “free”.
“TurboTax is bombarding consumers with ads for ‘free’ tax filing services, and then hitting them with charges when it’s time to file.”
Samuel Levine, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection
The FTC alleges in 2020 “approximately two-thirds of tax filers could not use TurboTax’s free product.” This includes independent contractors with a 1,099 tax form among others.
The commission has also filed an administrative complaint and wants the Federal Court to halt Intuits’ false advertising.
But Intuit says the allegations are “untrue”.
“Over the past eight years, TurboTax products have helped nearly 100 million Americans file their taxes for free,” the company says in a statement.
The technology platform plans on fighting the allegations in court.
Rijul Baath contributed to this report
