TurboTax Deliberately Hides Its Free File Page From Search Engines

[mahatmakanejeeves]

David Fahrenthold Retweeted

NEW: We found TurboTax has *deliberately* hidden from Google its free option for lower-income Americans.

@Intuit did this by adding "robots" code that tells search engines not to find the free page.

Many folks who could file for free were charged.

https://www.propublica.org/article/turbotax-deliberately-hides-its-free-file-page-from-search-engines …

Link to tweet

TurboTax Deliberately Hides Its Free File Page From Search Engines
The makers of TurboTax as well as H&R Block promised the IRS to offer free filing for many Americans. But they’re keeping Google from seeing it.
by Justin Elliott April 26, 10:32 a.m. EDT

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom based in New York. Sign up for ProPublica's Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox as soon as they are published.

This week, we reported on how TurboTax uses deceptive design and misleading advertising to trick lower-income Americans into paying to file their taxes, even though they are eligible to do it for free.

There’s a new wrinkle: It turns out, Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, is deliberately hiding the truly free edition — TurboTax Free File — from Google Search.

Intuit has done that by adding code on its site telling Google and other search engines not to list TurboTax Free File in search results. ... “It’s deliberately saying: ‘Google, we don’t want you here. Do not bring us traffic,’” said Jared Spool, a veteran web design and user experience expert.

The code in question, which can be found in a file called robots.txt or in an HTML tag, has to be actively added to a site, as Intuit has done. It is typically used on pages that designers want to hide from the open internet, such as those that are for internal use only. Without that code, Google and other search engines default to adding a site to their search results.
....

Dozens of ProPublica readers whom TurboTax charged even though they were eligible to file for free have reported getting refunds by calling the company.

Update, April 26, 2019: Following publication of this story, an Intuit spokesman said in a statement that the company is “undertaking a thorough review of our search practices to ensure we are achieving our goal of increasing eligible taxpayers’ awareness of the IRS Free File Program and its availability.”

The statement added, “TurboTax offers two free tax filing products: TurboTax Free Edition and TurboTax Free File Program, which is part of IRS Free File. Our intent in implementing our search practices was to make clear the distinction between these products by educating customers so they could find the product they were looking for. We did this by generating original content and publishing answers to frequently asked questions about the IRS Free File Program and the TurboTax Free File product, and optimizing that content to rank highly in organic search.”

Send us tips: Do you have information about the Intuit, Free File or the tax preparation industry? Contact Justin Elliott at [e-mail] or via Signal at 774-826-6240.

Get the latest news from ProPublica every afternoon.

Justin Elliott is a ProPublica reporter covering politics and government accountability. To securely send Justin documents or other files online, visit our SecureDrop page.

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Justin Elliott
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[CurtEastPoint]

1. They touted 'free' and I went thru the whole thing and at the end they said I had to buy

something for 39 and another for 39. Fuck that. If I'm gonna pay a machine 78 bucks, I'm gonna go to my tax preparer and pay him a little more and have it done in person.

Greedy mofos.

[OnlinePoker]

2. I typed in "turbotax free" on Ecosia and it was right there

Ecosia uses the Bing engine, I believe.

[progree]

3. Isn't TurboTax's response bullshit? Based on the article you posted yesterday

From https://www.democraticunderground.com/111685268

A spokesman for Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, ... He also said “TurboTax Free File Program and TurboTax Free Edition are wholly separate products.”

Intuit and other tax software companies promised the IRS to offer free versions of their products to most Americans as part of a program called Free File. In exchange, the IRS has pledged not to compete with the companies by creating its own free, online system. But, as ProPublica has previously reported, very few of those eligible — under 3% — actually use Free File. ... We showed on Monday how TurboTax buries the landing page for the real Free File edition and instead systematically pushes users to the “Free Edition,” which actually puts many people on track to pay.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. I don't use TT, so I don't know the distinctions between

Last edited Mon Apr 29, 2019, 09:57 AM - Edit history (1)

the various versions.

I filed my Virginia taxes yesterday. Virginia's filing day is May 1.

And good afternoon.

[nitpicker]

5. There's always "paper" filing

There are several ways to download or print out forms from the IRS website. Many libraries offer free computer time to local residents. Then, just fill them out, attach W2s/1099s/retirement statements/etc. and mail them. The IRS pushes electronic filing because they have to have people manually enter paper return information into computers, but if there's no urgency about (hopefully) getting a refund, paper is one way to go. I know that the move to add six schedules is a pain, but one can read the Form 1040 and its instructions to find out about what (if any) to send in beyond the new basic Form 1040.

[progree]

6. I would find it impossible to get it right doing it all by hand, and I'm a numerically oriented

engineer.

I've looked at all the intermediate forms and worksheets full of intermediate numbers and calculations, and there are so many calculations and lines that have if blah blah, do this, otherwise do that. And any mistake or change would probably cause several changes across a number of other worksheets and forms. I honestly don't know how people and tax preparers did it 30 or so years ago all by hand, something as complicated as mine. (Back in the pre-software days my tax returns were simple -- my income was salary and some interest and that was about it).

My tax preparer couldn't get it right even with software, at least not in the last couple of years (which is why I decided to go with TurboTax after 35 years -- it seemed like it might be easier for me to do it with TurboTax rather than tediously checking draft after draft of his).

TurboTax won't show the actual forms until one has paid, so one can't just use TurboTax, not pay, and just fill in the forms by hand since forms aren't displayed. Not until one has paid. Which was frustrating because 2018 taxes was my first time with TurboTax, and I was confused by some (many) of the input screens, and wanted for example to see line 17c of some form to make sure it was coming out the way it should, and I couldn't. Not until I paid. Grrr.

And I didn't want to pay until I was sure that it could handle all of my tax issues. But eventually I had invested so much time in it that I really had no choice. Anyway, I managed to get it all to come out the way I think it should have.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. Good morning. I still do mine by hand.

Last edited Mon Apr 29, 2019, 10:39 AM - Edit history (1)

I have no problem with going to an accountant or using TurboTax. I understand entirely why people do that. It's just that I've been doing them by hand for decades, and I got used to it. The real reason is that 90 percent of the work involved in working up my returns is correctly allocating a cost basis to fractional shares that have been issued for various buyouts a reverse splits. I figure that TurboTax won't do that. Since I've already done most of the work, what do I need TurboTax for?

Also, I am averse to handing over my financial information to a bunch of strangers. What does TurboTax do with all that information they have on you? What happens if they gets hacked?

Yes, I make mistakes. I overpaid last year. The IRS thoughtfully noticed that and sent me a check. I'm not claiming perfection.

I usually use an [link:Hewlett-Packard Voyager series|HP-11C or HP-15C calculator] to do the calculations, but the cells in it finally starting going out -- after thirty years. So, I installed Thomas Okken's HP-42S emulator on my Kindle Fire and did all my calculations using that. The keypad is slightly different than that on the 11 and the 15, but I got used to it.

Free42 : An HP-42S Calculator Simulator

I get confused when I try to use a calculator that does not run on Reverse Polish Notation. There's an online manual for the HP-42S.

An Alternative HP-42S/Free42 Manual

I have had Edward Falk's HP-11C-like RPN calculator emulator installed on my Fire and Android devices for years. The "action" of the 42S emulator seems more like that of a real calculator than the action of the 11C calculator emulator, so I stuck with the 42S emulator.

The HP 15C Scientific Calculator from HP has a simulated click, the site states, but it's $17. For that, I'll replace the SR44 cells in my real calculator.

I cannot imagine that these emulators are not available for Apple devices too.

I had to generate an Excel spreadsheet to handle adjustments needed for my Virginia taxes. I've never had to use Excel for financial purposes, but the online help is fantastic. The spreadsheet went right together. If you have to do a Schedule D worksheet, Excel or its equivalent is essential. Doing that by hand is asking for trouble. I made a spreadsheet for that too.

I come from a long line of accountants. My father used to do taxes without the aid of a calculator. So did I, but they were a lot simpler then.

No, taxes were not easier to do this year, and I paid a lot more.

Full disclosure: I am not an accountant.

[progree]

8. No, TurboTax doesn't calculate cost basis of stocks, mutual funds, etc., at least I don't think it

attempts to. I didn't have any sales of anything in 2018 (my first and only TurboTax year), so I never bothered (or could) check that out -- my understanding is that any sales of anything would have forced me into the highest tier of TurboTax and cost me more.

I have an Excel spreadsheet for that to keep track of cost basis. I also make life simpler for myself -- in my taxable accounts I don't have automatic reinvesting of dividends. So I end up with dividends and capital gains distributions getting swept into near-zero interest settlement accounts (well they were near zero-interest for many many years, now they are about 2.5% interest). But that cuts down on my accounting work, and anyway I redeploy such distributions into where I want to, rather than being automatically reinvested in the same thing.

(As you probably know, any purchases of shares, including as the result of automatic reinvestment of dividends and other distributions, changes one's cost basis, and failure to account for that generally results in one paying unnecessarily higher capital gains taxes -- essentially paying taxes twice on the distributions. Much higher capital gains taxes for things one has had held for decades).

For stocks, equity ETFs, and equity mutual funds, since 2012 the brokerages have been required to track cost basis and report that to the IRS. So one doesn't have to do this accounting anymore for purchases made in 2012 and after (though I do it anyway as a check on the brokerages figures -- which was very revealing re: Schwab, but that's another story). But they don't have that information for shares bought before 2012. So one still needs to know the cost basis of these shares.

(For other types of investments there are different dates than 2012, e.g. bonds in 2011 or something like that, more exotic stuff after 2012).

I did a LOT of spreadsheet work before seeing my tax preparer, or before beginning TurboTax. (I itemize deductions so that's one big reason for that).

I know for a fact with absolute metaphysical certainty that I couldn't do my tax returns by hand and get it right. And I'm an engineer with far above average math and numeric skills than the average person.

Like I said, my tax preparer -- an enrolled agent with decades of experience -- couldn't get it right either, even with software, more often than not.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

9. "I don't have automatic reinvesting of dividends."

I have a few DRIPs. I dread what would I would have to face if I sold those.

I involuntarily sold some stock that my grandmother had started buying decades ago. One company took over another company, and it was an all-cash offer. My cost basis was stepped up when I got the shares, so it's not as if I had to go back and find out what she had paid for them. Still, for reasons known only to itself, Vanguard recorded the transaction as two transactions. In one of those transactions, they got the cost basis almost right, but in the other, they were way off. I had to fill out a Form 8949, noting the adjustments to the cost basis. The two transactions were reported in different places on the 8949. Again, I don't know what Vanguard was thinking.

I might be the only person you've ever met who bought shares of AOL and made money on them. What a convoluted affair that turned into. At any rate, AT&T took over one of the spinoffs in a partially-cash, partially-shares-of-AT&T basis. I ended up with a fractional share of AT&T. Had AT&T not provided an online worksheet, I don't know what I would have done.

Get a load of this: Information Regarding U.S. Federal Income Tax Calculations in Connection with the Acquisition of Time Warner by AT&T

What a lifesaver. I never could have come up with an answer without that.

I have some shares where I had to go to the DC Public Library and go through reels of microfilm to derive a cost basis.

Good times!

[progree]

10. Would you be talking about the QDACT (Qualified Dividends and Capital Gains Tax) worksheet?

I had to generate an Excel spreadsheet to handle adjustments needed for my Virginia taxes. I've never had to use Excel for financial purposes, but the online help is fantastic. The spreadsheet went right together. If you have to do a Schedule D worksheet, Excel or its equivalent is essential. Doing that by hand is asking for trouble. I made a spreadsheet for that too.

Yeah, that's one example (of many) of the more icky tedious forms / worksheets to get right.

I love Excel more and more every day, and I've been using it for a lot of things since about 1988 or so, or whenever it was that it started beating out Lotus 123 (which I used heavily since about 1983 or so).

[mahatmakanejeeves]

12. No. That's close, but it's another worksheet.

Brothers and sisters, let us open our Instructions for Schedule D (Form 1040) and turn to pages D-16 and D-17.

Schedule D Tax Worksheet Keep for Your Records
Complete this worksheet only if line 18 or line 19 of Schedule D is more than zero and lines 15 and 16 of Schedule D are gains.

Line 19 on my Schedule, "Unrecaptured Section 1250 Gain," was greater than zero and lines 15 and 16 of Schedule D were gains, so yes indeedy, I got to fill out the Schedule D Tax Worksheet.

Once you translate that to Excel, though, you're off to the races. I you find ex post facto that there was one last thing that you should have thrown in, just throw it in. Excel does all the rest.

My two most valuable apps for the 2019 tax season were the HP-42S emulator and Excel.

[progree]

11. If TurboTax gets hacked

Also, I am averse to handing over my financial information to a bunch of strangers. What does TurboTax do with all that information they have on you? What happens if they gets hacked?

Ick. That would include account information (including account numbers?) too on all one's financial accounts ...

I wonder if this is a problem for the downloadable version of TurboTax -- that way TurboTax doesn't have this stuff...?