Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced more than $4 million in relief for Illinois consumers who were deceived into paying for tax services that were available for free. As a result of a bipartisan agreement between all 50 states and the owner of TurboTax, Intuit Inc. (Intuit), Intuit will pay $141 million as restitution to millions of Americans, including more than 130,000 in Illinois. In addition, Intuit must end its TurboTax “free, free, free” ad campaign that lured customers with promises of free tax preparation services, only to mislead them into paying. States opened an investigation into Intuit following reports that the company was using deceptive digital tactics to steer low-income consumers toward its commercial products and away from federally-supported free tax services.

Intuit has offered two free versions of TurboTax. Under the agreement, Intuit will pay $141 million in restitution, of which roughly $2.5 million will be used for administrative fund costs. Specifically, Intuit will provide  restitution to millions of consumers who started using TurboTax’s Free Edition for tax years 2016 through 2018 and were told that they had to pay to file even though they were eligible to file for free using the version of TurboTax offered as part of the IRS Free File Program. Consumers are expected to receive a direct payment of approximately $30 for each year that they were deceived into paying for filing services. Impacted consumers will automatically receive notices and a check by mail.  Intuit withdrew from the IRS Free File program in July 2021.