Idaho residents deceived by TurboTax ads to get checks
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho residents who were deceived by misleading promises of free tax-filing services by the company behind the TurboTax tax-filing program will receive money following a settlement.
Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden announced Wednesday that Idaho will get $843,000 as part of the $141 million settlement signed by attorney generals in all 50 states.
Under the terms of the settlement, Mountain View, California-based Intuit Inc. will suspend TurboTax’s “free, free, free” ad campaign and pay restitution to nearly 4.4 million taxpayers. In Idaho, just over 27,000 customers will automatically receive notices and a roughly $30 check by mail.
“Intuit tricked thousands of Idahoans into paying for services that should have been free,” Wasden said. “But the company got caught, and this settlement now forces it to pay for its misdeeds. I’m very pleased with this result for those affected.”
An investigation into Intuit was sparked by a 2019 ProPublica report that found the company was using deceptive tactics to steer low-income tax filers away from the federally supported free services for which they qualified and toward its own commercial products instead.
According to documents obtained by ProPublica, Intuit executives knew they were deceiving customers by advertising free services that were not free to everyone.
