Reuters
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Monday asked a court to enter an injunction preventing Intuit, owner of tax preparation software TurboTax, from misleadingly advertising free tax returns when many people have to pay.
In the lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, the FTC, which enforces antitrust and false advertising laws, said it already had an internal administrative proceeding on the matter.
The complaint states that ads for TurboTax repeatedly emphasize that the service is free.
“In truth, TurboTax is only free for some users based on the tax forms they need. For many others, after investing the time and effort in gathering and entering their sensitive personal and financial information into TurboTax to prepare their tax returns, Intuit tells Intuit that they cannot continue for free; You need to upgrade to a paid TurboTax service,” the complaint reads.
Intuit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.