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.
The FTC Administrative Law Judge D. Michael Chappell announced the initial decision in September, which the commission upheld Monday.
In a statement Monday, Intuit said it has appealed “this deeply flawed decision” to federal circuit court outside of the FTC.
“The order also prohibits Intuit from misrepresenting any material facts about its products or services such as the price, refund policies or consumers’ ability to claim a tax credit or deduction or to file their taxes online accurately without using TurboTax’s paid service,” the release from the FTC said.
The investigation opened after a 2019 ProPublica report that accused the company of steering eligible clients away from federally supported tax filing products by making them difficult to find in web searches — instead directing them toward the paid version of the company’s filing services.
“TurboTax’s predatory and deceptive marketing cheated millions of low-income Americans who were trying to fulfill their legal duties to file their taxes,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James in a May 4, 2023, press release.
“Today we are righting that wrong and putting money back into the pockets of hardworking taxpayers who should have never paid to file their taxes.”
The original article contains 560 words, the summary contains 192 words. Saved 66%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The FTC Administrative Law Judge D. Michael Chappell announced the initial decision in September, which the commission upheld Monday.
In a statement Monday, Intuit said it has appealed “this deeply flawed decision” to federal circuit court outside of the FTC.
“The order also prohibits Intuit from misrepresenting any material facts about its products or services such as the price, refund policies or consumers’ ability to claim a tax credit or deduction or to file their taxes online accurately without using TurboTax’s paid service,” the release from the FTC said.
The investigation opened after a 2019 ProPublica report that accused the company of steering eligible clients away from federally supported tax filing products by making them difficult to find in web searches — instead directing them toward the paid version of the company’s filing services.
“TurboTax’s predatory and deceptive marketing cheated millions of low-income Americans who were trying to fulfill their legal duties to file their taxes,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James in a May 4, 2023, press release.
“Today we are righting that wrong and putting money back into the pockets of hardworking taxpayers who should have never paid to file their taxes.”
The original article contains 560 words, the summary contains 192 words. Saved 66%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!