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

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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.

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Justin Elliott
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[INdemo]

1. We started using Turbo Tax and discovered that Nothing is Free

so I stopped before giving pertinent info and finally got rid of all the email spam etc.

[Hoyt]

2. Go through the IRS site to Turbo Tax or other free filing sites.

[BigmanPigman]

4. Is that just during tax time or all year?

I do my taxes myself and I am low income (poverty for CA but not the rest of the country). I wonder if I can do it and if I can figure it out. This was the first year I did the new forms and my dad died suddenly a month ago just before I was going to do them with him as we normally do. Since he was healthy I was, and still am in shock. I know I screwed up the taxes since I did the new forms on my own and I was crying the whole 13 hours that it took to do them. It usually took us 2 hours. I am afraid Mr IRS is going to come knocking on my door with an audit paper in his hand.

I still have the IRS booklet. Is the site listed in there? How would I find it?

[Hoyt]

5. Sorry about your dad. Go to this DU discussion, there are some links.

Don’t know anything about your dad’s income, but nowadays if you did screwup, most income would have been reported by the payer to IRS. If so, they’ll send you a bill if you undereported income.

If he had a complicated estate, you probably need to talk to someone. But I’m no tax expert, and bought a new Bourbon today. Good luck.

Here’s link to discussion, https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=12052585

[BigmanPigman]

6. Thank you, I just saved it.

The taxes were just mine, not my dad's and not any of his stuff at all. My taxes should be simple but the ACA tax subsidies made them more confusing. I will definately look into these next year or when Mr. IRS arrives.

Enjoy your bourbon.

[PoliticAverse]

3. In other news, companies/stores don't put their best coupons/discounts on the front page. n/t