TurboTax (Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for TurboTax)
Although income tax-filing season is officially over, leading tax-preparing company TurboTax is at the center of new headlines due to a massive amount of money they must pay former customers. Following a recent court order, TurboTax must pay over $140 million to low-income customers for allegedly directing them not to use free tax-filing services that were available.
@CNN reports, due to a recent court judgement, TurboTax has been ordered to pay out a jaw-dropping $141 millionsettlement with all 50 states because the company allegedly steered millions of its low-income customers away from free tax-filing services throughout a two-year period. Those who filed taxes with the TurboTax Free Edition between the years of 2016 through 2018 will receive a check via USPS for approximately $30 for every year they were charged when they were able to use free services instead.
In response to the settlement terms, TurboTax (via statement) “admitted no wrongdoing” and that the company is “clear and fair with its customers, including with the nearly 100 million Americans who filed their taxes free of charge with our products over the last 8 years — more than all other tax prep software companies combined.” Reportedly, an estimated 4.4 million customers were “unfairly charged.”
The investigation was initiated by New York Attorney General Letitia James, after the company was accused of turning eligible customers away from federally supported tax-filing products by making them difficult to find in Internet searches — and instead directing them toward the paid version of the company’s tax services.
Speaking about the multi-million judgement, James said “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.”
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