Intuit, the owner of tax filing software TurboTax, has agreed to pay $141 million in a settlement with all 50 states for allegedly steering millions of low-income Americans away from free tax-filing services, with Attorney General Miyares confirming that 3.5 million of that will be paid to Virginians who were misled by ads for “free” tax-filing services.
TurboTax took advantage of Virginia consumers. I’m proud of the role my office played to secure approx. $3.5 million for the Virginians that TurboTax misled.
Bad actors must be held accountable.https://t.co/MKYul4wpw3
— Jason Miyares (@JasonMiyaresVA) May 4, 2022
According to a press release from Miyares, an investigation into Intuit began after ProPublica reported that the company was using deceptive digital tactics to steer low-income consumers toward its commercial products and away from federally-supported free tax services.
New York Attorney General Letitia James released a statement, saying:
“Intuit cheated millions of low-income Americans out of free tax filing services they were entitled to. For years, Intuit misled the most vulnerable among us to make a profit. Today, every state in the nation is holding Intuit accountable for scamming millions of taxpayers, and we’re putting millions of dollars back into the pockets of impacted Americans.”
Filers who used TurboTax’s Free Edition for tax years 2016 through 2018 will be mailed a check for approximately $30 for each year they were charged when they should have been able to use free services. In addition to the aforementioned $141 million to be paid to those affected by this lawsuit, Intuit must also suspend its “free, free, free” ad campaign because it falsely lured customers with the promise of free tax preparation services, the statement added.
