New York State accuses tax prep companies of hiding free software
Summary
A over the past year by the investigative news site ProPublica have documented how Intuit and H&R Block have steered search engines like Google away from the free versions of their tax software, although they are still available to users who go directly to the IRS’s . “The Free File Program is broken and was exploited by commercial tax preparer companies to drive their own profits at the expense of low-income taxpayers,” said Linda A. Lacewell, New York State’s superintendent of financial services, in a statement Wednesday. “Intuit appreciates and fully cooperated with NY DFS’s review of the IRS Free File program,” said a statement forwarded by Intuit spokesman Rick Heineman. TurboTax prominently and transparently discloses the price of its paid products and is at all times clear and fair with its customers.” H&R Block, TaxSlayer, Drake and TaxHawk did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Taxpayers have been confused when trying to navigating through commercial tax prep software makers’ websites while in search of the Free File option.