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Elizabeth Warren and Other Senators Call for Refunds and Investigations of TurboTax and H&R Block
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In letters to the IRS and the FTC, the senators are seeking inquiries into whether the companies have deceived customers and violated restraint-of-trade laws.
by Justin Elliott and Paul Kiel May 3, 12:49 p.m. EDT
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom based in New York. Sign up for ProPublicas Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox as soon as they are published.
Several senators led by Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., are calling for the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate five tax software companies efforts to hide their truly free filing options from search engines.
Hiding Free File from the public clearly aligns with the financial interests of these companies, because taxpayers are more likely to encounter and use their fee-based services, which are easily found through search engines, the letter says, citing ProPublicas reporting on Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, and H&R Block.
For the same reason, it has likely increased prices for low-income consumers who should have had access to Free File but were understandably unaware of the specific IRS website that may have led them there.
Congressional staff found that the websites of three other companies that have signed on to the IRS Free File program TaxSlayer, TaxHawk Inc.s FreeTaxUSA and Drake Softwares 1040.com had used similar code to hide their truly free offerings from Google and other search engines.
FULL story: https://www.propublica.org/article/elizabeth-warren-and-other-senators-call-for-refunds-and-investigations-of-turbotax-and-h-r-block
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
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Elizabeth Warren and Other Senators Call for Refunds and Investigations of TurboTax and H&R Block (Original Post)
Omaha Steve
May 2019
OP
Nice to see you post, Steve. Hope all is well! As to the content of the post,
PatrickforO
May 2019
#1
PatrickforO
(14,570 posts)1. Nice to see you post, Steve. Hope all is well! As to the content of the post,
it is reprehensible, but not surprising in a culture that values shareholders over workers, consumers and the environment.
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
appalachiablue
(41,127 posts)2. K & R
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided