Credit: PA Internet News Service
Intuit, the parent company of TurboTax, will soon reimburse consumers as part of a $141 million multistate settlement after being accused of tricking consumers into paying for free tax services.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry announced this week that approximately 4.4 million consumers nationwide will receive checks as a result of the settlement, with eligible Pennsylvania residents expected to receive more than $4.76 million.
The amount each consumer receives will depend on the number of tax years for which they qualify, with most consumers expected to receive between $29 and $30.
Consumers who paid to file their federal tax returns through TurboTax for tax years 2016, 2017, and 2018, but were eligible to file for free through the IRS Free File Program, will automatically receive a check in the mail without having to file a claim. Eligible consumers will be contacted by email about the settlement, and checks are expected to be mailed in May, the attorney general’s office said.
Intuit’s aggressive advertising campaign and deceptive practices were deemed unnecessary and illegal by the attorney general’s office, especially given that the IRS offers free tax-return services for eligible consumers.
The settlement was reached after attorneys general from Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, North Carolina, New York, Texas, and Washington accused Intuit of deceiving millions of low-income Americans into paying for tax services that should have been free.
All 50 states and the District of Columbia have signed onto the agreement, which will provide relief to the 158,779 consumers in Pennsylvania who were tricked into paying for a service that was supposed to be free.
For more information about the settlement fund, visit AGTurboTaxSettlement.com.
Previously, this news organization published stories from nonprofit news organization ProPublica that documented how TurboTax tricked consumers with the promise of “free” tax filing, but ended up getting them to pay.
