If You Paid TurboTax but Make Under $34,000, You Could Get a Refund.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Wed Apr 24, 2019, 01:13 PM - Edit history (1)

David Fahrenthold Retweeted

I like how ProPublica is telling readers about the impact its reporting had in real-time.

Link to tweet

Readers have been calling @teamturbotax (888-777-3066) get refunds after our story on how the company tricks people into paying to file taxes, even when they’re eligible for free filing.

“All I had to do was mention ProPublica” somebody told us.

Link to tweet

If You Paid TurboTax but Make Under $34,000, You Could Get a Refund. Here’s How.
“I just had to mention ProPublica,” one reader said.
by Justin Elliott April 23, 1:57 p.m. EDT

We recently laid out how TurboTax uses deceptive design and misleading ads to get people to pay to file their taxes, even when they are eligible to file for free. ... But you might be able to get your money back. ... In response to our story, roughly 10 readers said they called TurboTax to complain. And, they said, TurboTax agreed to refund their money.

How to Ask For a Refund

Readers said they called the company at 888-777-3066 and asked for their money back. ... If you are one of the millions of Americans who made under $34,000 last year, you should have been able to use a free version of TurboTax. If TurboTax directed you to a paid version, it’s worth giving the company a call. ... “I called today and they are issuing a refund on my credit card,” one reader said. “I just had to mention ProPublica.”
....

A spokesman for Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, didn’t answer questions about refunds but said eligibility requirements “are outlined in the product descriptions and the associated products suitable for filing.” He also said “TurboTax Free File Program and TurboTax Free Edition are wholly separate products.”

Intuit and other tax software companies promised the IRS to offer free versions of their products to most Americans as part of a program called Free File. In exchange, the IRS has pledged not to compete with the companies by creating its own free, online system. But, as ProPublica has previously reported, very few of those eligible — under 3% — actually use Free File. ... We showed on Monday how TurboTax buries the landing page for the real Free File edition and instead systematically pushes users to the “Free Edition,” which actually puts many people on track to pay.

Who Is Affected and How It Works

{snip}

Do you have information about the Intuit, Free File or the tax preparation industry? Contact Justin Elliott at [e-mail] or via Signal at 774-826-6240.

[Indykatie]

1. I Use and Like the Turbo Tax Product But Their Hard Sale Practices During Use Need to Stop.

I use a different version of the product b/c I have rental property income but I'm pushed to add other higher price services right up to the time I'm ready to transmit. I also noticed the "Free" version couldn't be used for a college student with $2500 in income because she had student loan interest to report. That feature makes the Free version useless to millions of low income individuals.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. So we have a tax payer supported Gov. agency that could provide free tax help

but it won't do it, it will give a private company the right to sell tax help.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. TurboTax has *deliberately* hidden from Google its free option for lower-income Americans.

David Fahrenthold Retweeted

NEW: We found TurboTax has *deliberately* hidden from Google its free option for lower-income Americans.

@Intuit did this by adding "robots" code that tells search engines not to find the free page.

Many folks who could file for free were charged.

https://www.propublica.org/article/turbotax-deliberately-hides-its-free-file-page-from-search-engines …

Link to tweet

TurboTax Deliberately Hides Its Free File Page From Search Engines
The makers of TurboTax as well as H&R Block promised the IRS to offer free filing for many Americans. But they’re keeping Google from seeing it.
by Justin Elliott April 26, 10:32 a.m. EDT

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom based in New York. Sign up for ProPublica's Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox as soon as they are published.

This week, we reported on how TurboTax uses deceptive design and misleading advertising to trick lower-income Americans into paying to file their taxes, even though they are eligible to do it for free.

There’s a new wrinkle: It turns out, Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, is deliberately hiding the truly free edition — TurboTax Free File — from Google Search.

Intuit has done that by adding code on its site telling Google and other search engines not to list TurboTax Free File in search results. ... “It’s deliberately saying: ‘Google, we don’t want you here. Do not bring us traffic,’” said Jared Spool, a veteran web design and user experience expert.

The code in question, which can be found in a file called robots.txt or in an HTML tag, has to be actively added to a site, as Intuit has done. It is typically used on pages that designers want to hide from the open internet, such as those that are for internal use only. Without that code, Google and other search engines default to adding a site to their search results.
....

Dozens of ProPublica readers whom TurboTax charged even though they were eligible to file for free have reported getting refunds by calling the company.

Update, April 26, 2019: Following publication of this story, an Intuit spokesman said in a statement that the company is “undertaking a thorough review of our search practices to ensure we are achieving our goal of increasing eligible taxpayers’ awareness of the IRS Free File Program and its availability.”

The statement added, “TurboTax offers two free tax filing products: TurboTax Free Edition and TurboTax Free File Program, which is part of IRS Free File. Our intent in implementing our search practices was to make clear the distinction between these products by educating customers so they could find the product they were looking for. We did this by generating original content and publishing answers to frequently asked questions about the IRS Free File Program and the TurboTax Free File product, and optimizing that content to rank highly in organic search.”

Send us tips: Do you have information about the Intuit, Free File or the tax preparation industry? Contact Justin Elliott at [e-mail] or via Signal at 774-826-6240.

Get the latest news from ProPublica every afternoon.

Justin Elliott is a ProPublica reporter covering politics and government accountability. To securely send Justin documents or other files online, visit our SecureDrop page.

[e-mail]

Justin Elliott
@justinelliott

917-512-0223
Signal: 774-826-6240