ATLANTA, Ga. — Georgia is part of a $141 million settlement with TurboTax’s parent company Intuit.
The settlement was announced last year after a report by ProPublica found that TurboTax’s parent company, Intuit, persuaded low-income taxpayers to use its fee-based filing, even after promoting access to no-cost options through its “free, free, free” advertisements.
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“Frequently ‘free’ didn’t mean free at all,” ProPublica reported. “Many who started in TurboTax Free Edition found that if their return required certain commonplace tax forms, they would have to upgrade to a paid edition in order to file.”
In 2022, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced a $141 million multistate agreement with Intuit for deceiving millions of low-income Americans into paying for tax services that should have been free. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have signed onto the agreement.
“Georgia will continue to hold accountable any business that seeks to exploit financially vulnerable consumers,” said Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr. “Thanks to the dedicated efforts of our Consumer Protection Division, more than $4.4 million in restitution will now be rightfully returned to the thousands of hardworking Georgians who were purposefully misled by TurboTax.”
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145,788 Georgians will receive checks as part of $4.4 million in restitution, according to a news release from Carr’s office.
People who paid to file their federal tax returns through TurboTax for tax years 2016, 2017, and 2018 but were eligible to file for free through the IRS Free File Program are part of the settlement. If you are eligible for a payment, the settlement fund administrator, Rust Consulting, will notify you. These consumers will receive a check in the mail automatically, without filing a claim, according to the release, according to the news release.
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The maximum income to use the IRS Free File system was $64,000 in 2016.
The amount each consumer receives will be based on the number of tax years for which they qualify. Most consumers are expected to receive between $29 and $30. For more information about the settlement fund and who is covered, visit www.AGTurboTaxSettlement.com.
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