FTC judge rules Intuit broke law, must stop advertising TurboTax as “free”
FTC judge rules Intuit broke law, must stop advertising TurboTax as “free”

FTC judge rules Intuit broke law, must stop advertising TurboTax as “free”

FTC judge rules Intuit broke law, must stop advertising TurboTax as “free”::Intuit plans appeal, slams FTC's "predetermined decision."
The 'gotacha' up-charge 70% of the way through your taxes where you can't use the form you legally need to fill out unless you give them $40 did extract money from me. Got tired of that shit and went to Free Tax USA.
The fact that the govt has the balls to tell me to figure out how much I owe them is hysterical. Especially when they supposedly know (at least roughly) how much I should owe
I think the irs is piloting its own tax filing software this year.
I think it’s still in beta, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Companies like TurboTax bribe politicians to not pass laws that would require you be told how much you owe
Yeah in Sweden we just get the information and have to sign it or correct faults in their calculations (things they couldn't have known etc). Takes 5 minutes for most people and can be done in the phone with digital identification.
Why is the US like this? I'm not from there and am very confused... how is it the citizen's responsibility?
I think in most of Europe (speaking from UK here) if you have one job then it's on the employer to sort your tax out. You get a form at the end of the year to add any other other gains (including benefit in kind etc). If you owe more they adjust your tax code next year to cover it. If they owe you they send a cheque, and then I have to remember how to deposit such ancient technology.
IRS: Guess how much you owe.
Me: $20,000?
IRS: Nope!
Me: Okay how much do I owe?
IRS: You have to guess!
I think the idea is that if you do it and they do it, when they match, they can assume they are both right, and when they don't, they can compare and update their side or suggest/demand correction on yours. And if things look fishy, have a closer look at everything with an audit.
Wasn't there a site at some point like turbotaxsucks.org
Edit: https://turbotaxsucksass.org/
I went through "doing" my taxes 3 times last year. Once at H&R block when I saw how much it was I basically called back and said don't file them I'm not paying that much. Once self filed through "free" TurboTax, then found out it wasn't free when they snuck a 40 dollar fee in, go fuck yourself TurboTax. Finally landed on free tax use where it was actually free.
They did that to me once. I got much of the way through filing, when the site informed me that I needed to "upgrade" to the $40 tier to file a 1098-E form for student loan interest. The deduction would've saved me less than $40, though, so I just didn't file that form. If the IRS audited my return, I could point out that I overpaid my tax.