First Class Action Lawsuit Accuses TurboTax of Scheme to Deceive Taxpayers with Its “Free to File” Program

TurboTax intentionally hid its government-mandated free filing
services from taxpayers, according to lawsuit

OAKLAND, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/search?q=%24INTU&src=ctag” target=”_blank”gt;$INTUlt;/agt; lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/taxes?src=hash” target=”_blank”gt;#taxeslt;/agt;–Gibbs Law Group LLP and Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP have filed the first
nationwide class action lawsuit on behalf of low-income taxpayers
who were tricked into paying for tax-filing services that should have
been free to them through a government-mandated agreement between
TurboTax and the IRS. The lawsuit alleges that TurboTax’s parent Intuit,
Inc. created a large-scale marketing campaign to promote its “Free
Guaranteed” tax-filing program but then intentionally hid those services
from qualified taxpayers, and purposely diverted them to its paid
product offerings. This scheme resulted in TurboTax collecting millions
of dollars in revenue from low-income taxpayers who should have been
able to file their taxes at no cost, according to the lawsuit. Attorneys
at Gibbs Law Group and Stueve Siegel Hanson are reviewing potential
claims on behalf of additional taxpayers throughout the country who were
affected by the TurboTax “free to file” scheme.

The victims assert that TurboTax violated an agreement with the IRS,
which required TurboTax and several other tax preparation providers to
cumulatively offer 70% of U.S. taxpayers the option to file their taxes
for free based on their income level. According to the lawsuit, TurboTax
intentionally violated that agreement and broke the law by hiding its
free file webpage from the TurboTax website, preventing the free-filing
services from being found by consumers through Google and other search
engines, and only alerting customers that they would be charged money at
the very end of the filing process after they had spent hours inputting
their personal information on the platform.

Intuit also tries to advance its scheme by imposing forced arbitration
on consumers. In prior cases, TurboTax has utilized a forced arbitration
clause in its online Terms of Service to prevent customers from joining
together as part of a class action and suing in court.

“The victims of this scheme were intentionally misled and deprived of
the opportunity to make an informed decision about their tax-filing
service,” said Eric Gibbs of Gibbs Law Group LLP.

“Given the significant number of low-income taxpayers who were affected
by TurboTax’s conduct, we call upon TurboTax to join tech companies like
Google, Facebook, and Apple and disclaim the use of forced arbitration
in customer contracts affecting our country’s most vulnerable citizens,”
added Norman Siegel of Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP.

Taxpayers who believe they were wrongfully charged for TurboTax
tax-filing services and would like to learn more about their legal
rights in the Turbo
Tax Free-to-File Class Action Lawsuit may contact our team at
866-344-1901.

About Gibbs Law Group

Gibbs
Law Group is a national litigation firm representing consumers in
lawsuits in state and federal courts. The firm serves individuals in
cases involving financial fraud and consumer protection laws. Gibbs Law
Group’s attorneys have been named among the Best Lawyers in America ©
and have been recognized among the Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar and
Top Plaintiff Lawyers in California.

About Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP

Stueve Siegel Hanson represents individuals and businesses nationwide on
a contingency basis. The firm has recovered over $1 billion for its
clients, and has appeared back-to-back years in the National Law
Journal’s list of Top 100 Jury Verdicts for its work representing
victims of corporate fraud.

Contacts

EILEEN EPSTEIN
PHONE: 510.350.9728
EMAIL: EJE@CLASSLAWGROUP.COM