NEW YORK (AP) — New York's attorney general announced Wednesday that the company behind the TurboTax tax-filing program will pay $141 million to customers across the United States who were deceived by misleading promises of free tax-filing services.
Under the terms of a settlement, signed by the attorneys general of all 50 states, Intuit Inc. will suspend TurboTax’s “free, free, free” ad campaign and pay restitution to nearly 4.4 million taxpayers.
“For years, Intuit misled the most vulnerable among us to make a profit. Today, every state in the nation is holding Intuit accountable for scamming millions of taxpayers, and we’re putting millions of dollars back into the pockets of impacted Americans," New York Attorney General Letitia James said.
Letitia James began investigating Intuit after the news organization ProPublica reported in 2019 that the company was charging low-income customers for tax services that they should have received for free.
“Intuit cheated millions of low-income Americans out of free tax filing services they were entitled to,” James said.
Customers should receive a $30 payment for each year they were deceived into paying for filing services. Those customers will be automatically contacted by mail, according to James.