FTC serves TurboTax with a suit, claims misleading ads

[HomebrewingNeko]

Just today, the FTC sued Intuit, the people who make the popular program TurboTax, due to the fact that the ads claiming TurboTax is free are false. The issue stems from the fact that most taxpayers in the USA, where the program is sold, cannot effectively use the free version of the program. People earning farm income, or people working in the gig economy under a 1099 form (tax form for freelance work), cannot use the program. The FTC states that 2/3 of taxpayers could not use TurboTax in 2020.

“TurboTax is bombarding consumers with ads for ‘free’ tax filing services, and then hitting them with charges when it’s time to file,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection. “We are asking a court to immediately halt this bait-and-switch, and to protect taxpayers at the peak of filing season.” ... In spite of [the TurboTax] advertising, many consumers who took the time to gather their documents, entrust their personal information to Intuit, and begin the filing process found that they could not file their taxes for free. ... The Commission is asking a federal court to put an immediate halt to Intuit’s false advertising and has also authorized the filing of an administrative complaint alleging that the company’s practices are illegal. Both complaints allege that Intuit’s practices violate the FTC Act.

Many people in the US have issues filing taxes, due to the complicated steps involving like getting required forms and filling out tax returns. Most countries don't require this, sending a bill with the required amount to pay listed, but due to heavy political lobbying by companies like Intuit, this is not how it works in the US.
SOURCE

 

[zoogie]

I played this game once, hope they port it to Switch.
It's nice to get your tax refund in the form of Gold Coins.

Also:
https://gbatemp.net/forums/world-news-current-events-politics.290/

 

[FAST6191]

While I am happy to once more point and laugh at the absurdity of the US tax filing system and see the fun with the FTC (granted they are a blunt instrument which is less than ideal)... I am at a loss for why this section. There have been times where I bring in random IP law case and whatever else stories but they usually have a direct line to an existing problem in gaming, a legacy one that might get revisited or one brewing.
The 1099/self employed aspect could be interesting but as making money streaming or similar for games is not exactly common in the grand scheme of things, to say nothing of real money for in game items being super super rare as a concept (last mainstream push probably being Diablo 3's real money auction house, not counting unregulated secondary markets in either CSGO skins or various MMO type games) or as resellers of second hand games/devices.

False/misleading advertising has come up once or twice in games, most notably for me the utter farce that was the attempt at a case for Mass Effect 3, but I am not sure what we have here -- while we did just see a nice bait and switch with Gran Turismo being paywalled hard that might be a stretch for this.

 

[FAST6191]

As it started then might as well have the finish
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-61328118
$141 million spread across all 50 states (mostly amounts to a refund of fees charged).
Video form if you like