As Americans go through their annual Tax Day ceremony, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has reminded the FTC that tax software biz Intuit is banking on "junk fees."
Sen Warren Charges TurboTax for 'Swindling Taxpayers'
The FTC has been after Intuit, the operators of TurboTax, for years now and in January concluded a two-year investigation and banned the tax filing system from falsely representing itself as free. Warren applauded the move in her letter to the regulator, but said research by her office had shown that the American people are still being misled and unnecessarily burdened.
"Intuit continues to try to trick and trap TurboTax users into paying junk fees to file even very simple tax returns," Warren wrote [PDF]. "Filing taxes should be free and easy. But instead, Americans spend an average of nine hours, and $150, filing their taxes, thanks to junk fees charged by Intuit and others."
This isn't the first time Intuit has been in the crosshairs. In 2022, it agreed to pay $141 million to settle a case brought by all 50 states that claimed the tax filing software misled people about its so-called "free" filing services.
