175K NYers Charged For 'Free' TurboTax Service Get Settlement: AG

New York City NY

04 May, 2022

4:39 PM

Description

NEW YORK CITY — Low-income New Yorkers charged for supposedly "free" TurboTax services will be refunded fees after the site's parent company agreed to pay a $141 million settlement, Attorney General Letitia James announced Wednesday. Roughly 176,000 New Yorkers will receive about $5.4 million from TurboTax's owner Intuit in restitution for charges rendered for services advertised as "free, free, free," the New York Attorney General said. "Every state in the nation is holding Intuit accountable for scamming millions of taxpayers," James said. "We're putting millions of dollars back into the pockets of impacted Americans." TurboTax users in every state will split the $141 million total, receiving approximately $30 for each year that they were deceived into paying for filing services, according to the Attorney General. The agreement benefits consumers who used TurboTax's Free Edition from 2016 through 2018 but were told they had to pay to file, despite eligibility for the IRS's Free File Program. A ProPublic investigation that found the company misled low-income users away from its federally-supported free service prompted the New York Attorney General to look into TurboTax's policies, she said. Intuit, in a blog post Wednesday, noted the settlement did not serve as an admission of wrongdoing. "Intuit is clear and fair with its customers," said Kerry McLean, Intuit's executive vice president and general counsel. "We admitted no wrongdoing and are pleased to be able to continue our strong partnership with governments to best serve the needs of taxpayers across the country." The Associated Press contributed to this report.