TurboTax

[Jazzy]

The Federal Trade Commission ruled in a final order and opinion Monday that TurboTax, the popular tax filing software, engaged in deceptive advertising and banned the company from advertising its services for free unless it is free for all customers.

By running ads for “free” tax services that many customers were not qualified for, the tax filing software violated the FTC Act and deceived consumers, the agency said.

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Do you use TurboTax?

If yes, have they ever charged you to file?

 

[tango]

I used it to create my first ever tax return but told it to print the forms so I could do it myself later on. It took a little while to figure out which numbers from which forms went where, but the first time I ever used it I didn't care for being presented with one cost to file a return, then another cost to file a return (it charged separately for federal and state returns), so I didn't even look to see if there would be a third cost to file a local return.

If it's going to be free for everyone I might look at it again. It's handy having everything in one place so if I spot a typo in an early entry it can automatically recalculate everything rather than me having to do it all manually.

I was always under the impression that TurboTax was free if your income was below a certain threshold and even then the free version would only offer a few limited forms and credits. It doesn't seem hugely unreasonable to say that if your income is low and your return is simple you can file for free but if you have a high income or a complex return you need to use the paid version.