The parent company of TurboTax is in hot water across the United States, including here in the state of Iowa. The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that Intuit will pay hundreds of millions of dollars in fines for misleading taxpayers about the cost of the TurboTax service.

I will admit that I have used the TurboTax software to do my taxes for the past several years. I find it easy to follow and I haven't been audited yet! But I will admit that I was often confused whenever I saw the plentiful ads all over TV about TurboTax getting your taxes done for 'free'.

I don't know about you, but I know it always cost me to do my taxes through TurboTax. And that is why Intuit is paying the fines they are. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller says that TurboTax will pay over $1 million to over 33,000 Iowans who were misled about getting their taxes done for free, according to the Gazette. TurboTax must also stop their 'free, free, free' ad campaign.

The Gazette reports that customers who used the free edition of TurboTax for tax years 2016 through 2018 and were told they had to pay even though they were eligible for the free version will receive payments from Intuit. The company will send them $30 for every year that they "deceived into paying for filing services" according to the Attorney General's Office.

I always knew that TurboTax was trying to upsell me into getting one of their premium products. But to promise something is free and then make people pay for it is wrong.

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