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TurboTax, H&R Block tried to hide free tax filing tools, lawsuit alleges

Taxpayers making under $66,000 can file for free, but those services aren't always easy to find, says the suit.

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Abrar Al-Heeti Video producer / CNET
Abrar Al-Heeti is a video host and producer for CNET, with an interest in internet trends, entertainment, pop culture and digital accessibility. Before joining the video team, she was a writer for CNET's culture team. She graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Though Illinois is home, she now loves San Francisco -- steep inclines and all.
Expertise Abrar has spent her career at CNET breaking down the latest trends on TikTok, Twitter and Instagram, while also reporting on diversity and inclusion initiatives in Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Credentials
  • Named a Tech Media Trailblazer by the Consumer Technology Association in 2019, a winner of SPJ NorCal's Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2022 and has twice been a finalist in the LA Press Club's National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards.
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Abrar Al-Heeti
2 min read
TurboTax

Got free, if you can find it. That's how a current lawsuit might characterize the situation.

 Kimberly White/Getty Images

Tax preparation companies H&R Block and Intuit, which makes TurboTax, were sued Monday for allegedly making their free tax filing tools hard to find.

Taxpayers with incomes below $66,000 are eligible to file their taxes for free as part of a partnership between the Internal Revenue Service and Intuit, H&R Block and other companies. Under the agreement, the IRS has agreed not to make online tax filing free as long as the tax-preparation companies provide the service.

Still, only 3% of Americans reportedly file their taxes for free every year, and locating those services can be difficult.

Last month, ProPublica reported that searches for terms like "irs free file taxes" directed people to paid versions of Intuit's service. Free options were tough to pin down, according to the report.

In the suit, Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer said TurboTax and H&R Block have used "deceptive and misleading advertising and design schemes" to lead taxpayers to unnecessarily purchasing their products. He added that the companies have "for years defrauded the lowest earning 70 percent of American taxpayers ... by actively undermining public access to the IRS' 'Free File' program."

For years, Intuit and H&R Block have lobbied to block the IRS from building its own free online tax filing system because it would compete with their products, according to ProPublica. Congress members have reportedly pushed to keep the IRS from providing free online filing.

"Any suggestion that Intuit does not support the IRS Free File Program is flat wrong," said TurboTax spokesman Rick Heineman. "We stand behind our actions as being both appropriate and consistent with our values."

An H&R Block representative said the company has "helped millions of Americans" with its free tax filing options, adding that use of its Free File program grew 8% this tax season.

You can read the lawsuits against Intuit and H&R Block below:

Intuit lawsuit by jonathan_skillings on Scribd

H&R Block lawsuit by jonathan_skillings on Scribd