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.
By running ads for “free” tax services that many customers were not qualified for, the tax filing software violated the FTC Act and deceived consumers, the agency said.
The FTC had first sued Intuit, TurboTax’s owner, for its deceptive advertising in 2022. The FTC staff alleged most tax filers couldn’t use the company’s “free” services — “such as those who get a 1099 form for work in the gig economy, or those who earn farm income.” TurboTax advertising their products as free misled those customers, according to the FTC.
You can also download the forms directly from the federal and state revenue services and paper file for the price of printing and postage. For people with just W2 income, a 1040 EZ and the equivalent state form is very easy to fill out. All IRS forms have accompanying instruction documents.
The whole mysterious tax credit thing is a FOMO tactic by the software companies. The majority of people should be taking the standard deduction and probably don’t qualify for any credits.
i’ve always just filed by mail. standard deductions, simple eic look-up. even the se and c forms are a breeze. can use previous year’s forms to eyeball what numbers go where–unless they change the damn forms like they did a couple years back. one of the few benefits to not having anything and not making much.