Consumer Rights Wiki

FTC Lawsuit against Turbo Tax free software

Revision as of 15:56, 25 March 2026 by Ctcopple (talk | contribs) (→[Incident]: added background summary ** not finished ** , added header at top, cited main summary and added 2 citations to background)

Turbo Tax (Intuit inc.) Free ad challenged by FTC

The Federal Trade Commission Took action against Intuit Inc., the maker of the popular TurboTax tax filing software, [1]by issuing an administrative complaint against the company for deceiving consumers with bogus advertisements pitching “free” tax filing that millions of consumers could not use. In addition, to prevent ongoing harm to consumers rushing to file their taxes, the Commission also filed a federal district court complaint asking a court to order Intuit to halt its deceptive advertising immediately.

Background

Since 2015 Intuit inc. (makers of the popular turbo tax software) has ran commercials stating customers could file for free. Most of the ads people have seen are as the FTC complaint put " usse the word almost exclusivly ". People v. Intuit (LA City) filed May 6, 2019 saught to remidy the comercials as many people found that they would be charged to file with the popular tax software and later found 2/3 of all people would not be able to even use the free version of the software. A settelment of 28 million was offered but declined as inadiquite in late 2021. At the same time as the LA lawsiut began the FTC filed a C.I.D (Civil Investigation Demand).Class Action Prelim. Approval Denied Mar. 5, 2021 marks the end of the lawsuit for the time. Intuit's chair meeting concluded on march 24 2022 and by march 28 the ftc started the offical lawsiut.

Noted by the FTC [2] , They have reason to believe that the named defendants are violating or are about to violate the law and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. The case will be decided by the court.

The Administrative complaint [3] had 122 paragraphs of statments brought by the ftc, Most of these paragraphs are evidence of the free wording used and the non disclosures of payments needed to use the software. Later in the documents Intuit had denied any wrong do-ing.

[Incident]

Change this section's title to be descriptive of the incident.

Impartial and complete description of the events, including actions taken by the company, and the timeline of the incident coming to the public's attention.

Add your text below this box. Once this section is complete, delete this box by clicking on it and pressing backspace.


[Company]'s response

If applicable, add the proposed solution to the issues by the company.

Add your text below this box. Once this section is complete, delete this box by clicking on it and pressing backspace.



Lawsuit

If applicable, add any information regarding litigation around the incident here.

Claims

Main claims of the suit.

Rebuttal

The response of the company or counterclaims.

Outcome

The outcome of the suit, if any.

Add your text below this box. Once this section is complete, delete this box by clicking on it and pressing backspace.


[4]

Consumer response

Summary and key issues of prevailing sentiment from the consumers and commentators that can be documented via articles, emails to support, reviews and forum posts.

Add your text below this box. Once this section is complete, delete this box by clicking on it and pressing backspace.



References

  1. ↑ "FTC Official Press release". FTC.gov. 2022-03-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ↑ "FTC notes: they have reason to belive".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ↑ "Admin complaint part 3" (PDF). 2022-03-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ↑ "FTC Intuit inc procedings".


Add a category with the same name as the product, service, website, software, product line or company that this article is about.

The "Incidents" category is not needed.

Add your text below this box. Once this section is complete, delete this box by clicking on it and pressing backspace.


Retrieved from "https://consumerrights.wiki/index.php?title=FTC_Lawsuit_against_Turbo_Tax_free_software&oldid=47140"