this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2024
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FTC bans TurboTax from advertising ‘free’ services, calls it deceptive (edition.cnn.com)
submitted 10 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
16 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

FTC bans TurboTax from advertising ‘free’ services, calls it deceptive::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.

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[–] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 65 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

Heck yeah. F you Intuit!

Freetaxusa.com for those who are looking for a much better alt.

[–] FenrirIII@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Free except if you're filing state taxes

[–] finestnothing@lemmy.world 23 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's a flat $15 for the state filing regardless of state or income, it's the main way they make money to be able to run (their optional support options are the other way they make money). I prefer the transparency of $0 federal $15 state to some ambiguous amount between $169 and $359 federal and $39-$64 state for TurboTax

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Wow, that’s crazy. I use TurboTax every year and federal tax filing has always been free (included in purchase) plus I think $30 for State filing. Every year for decades. Where are those huge fees coming from? Do you have a business or something?

[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 months ago

Yeah but who even bothers with those?

[–] maxy@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

The IRS is also piloting their own free direct filing system this year in a few states as well!

[–] demonsword@lemmy.world 29 points 10 months ago (5 children)

This is something I don't get. I live in a "third world shithole" (Brazil). Annually, we have to fill online form (that already comes pre-filled), for most people there's a minimal amount of work involved. Only very rich people need accountants and stuff. Why the USA can't (or won't) do something like that is beyond me.

[–] finestnothing@lemmy.world 42 points 10 months ago

It's not can't, it's won't. Tax companies like TurboTax pay a lot of money for lobbying to keep the IRS from making it free and simple

[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 13 points 10 months ago

It's just one of the many perks of living in a first world shithole country.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

US Taxes can be very complex and the gov’t does not know ahead of time all the details.

However:

  • salary and interest income are reported by employers
  • EZ form contains info the gov’t already knows
  • Newly increased standard deduction means that most people no longer can itemize (e

I’m not sure what’s missing to keep these from being simple and automatic for the majority: tipping income? State and local taxes? All the little nooks and crannies that make taxes complex are really not likely for most people.

I don’t know the limits are for TurboTax free filing but I’d expect most people to be able to now.

[–] 4onen@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Actually, the standard deduction doesn't mean people can't itemize, it means it doesn't make financial sense to itemize. Itemizing is worse for them. If they want to itemize, they're still allowed to.

... At least that's what TurboTax and the other FreeFile program I used claimed.

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 4 points 10 months ago

Americans are largely stupid and believe taxes are more complicated than they really are. The majority can use the standard deduction, and maybe have to add child tax credits. That can be done in less than an hour manually, the hardest part would be getting a physical copy of a 1040.

[–] Baku@aussie.zone 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This confuses me too as an Aussie. Partly because we do our taxes July-november, but also because it's just a simple form that's mostly pre-filled here too. Businesses I believe do have a more complicated form to fill out, but as an individual person you just hop online, read through a few pages of pre-filled info (or what most people do: just spam next through it) and you're done. They tell you how much they've recorded you paying in tax, you confirm it, then they tell you how much money you either need to pay or you get refunded (or nothing at all if you got your taxes spot on/don't need to pay tax)

[–] demonsword@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

yes, this is similar to how it's done here in Brazil too, except our taxes season is between March and May

[–] Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world 24 points 10 months ago

TurboTax has Supreme Court money. They may choose to purchase a SCOTUS ruling that allows them to ignore the FTC.