Most prople who tried to use the program were deceived by Intuit. Intuit settled numerous lawsuits for their lies. Their expensive settlement is why Intuit left the program. Here’s a relevant exerpt from an Ars Technica article on the topic:
Meanwhile, the federal government and US states have taken action against Intuit for its allegedly deceptive promises of “free” tax filing to lower-income taxpayers. In a May 2022 settlement with all 50 US states and the District of Columbia, Intuit agreed to pay $141 million in restitution to millions of consumers.
Intuit also agreed in the settlement to stop its “free, free, free” ad campaign. The firm was accused of steering customers away from the IRS Free File program that is free to 70 percent of taxpayers while using misleading ads to promote a separate “freemium” TurboTax product that isn’t actually free for most people.
Separately, the Federal Trade Commission’s chief administrative law judge ruled last month that Intuit violated US law with deceptive advertising and should be forced to stop promoting TurboTax as “free” unless all conditions imposed on the free offer are immediately and conspicuously displayed to consumers.
I would argue that the IRS wasn’t at fault here, though. Like the article said, people were steered away from the Free File Program, so people having to pay wasn’t a fault of the Free File Program but rather a fault of Intuit’s deceptive practices of marketing their alternative freemium versions of their software.
Most prople who tried to use the program were deceived by Intuit. Intuit settled numerous lawsuits for their lies. Their expensive settlement is why Intuit left the program. Here’s a relevant exerpt from an Ars Technica article on the topic:
I would argue that the IRS wasn’t at fault here, though. Like the article said, people were steered away from the Free File Program, so people having to pay wasn’t a fault of the Free File Program but rather a fault of Intuit’s deceptive practices of marketing their alternative freemium versions of their software.