$2.5M is a remarkably low percentage. If this means that 98% of the fine actually goes back to consumers, that's better than I've ever heard of from a class action lawsuit.
"Class action lawsuits" are a weirdly American thing as well.
Bit like short-sellers.
Ideally government/state would enforce fair play - but instead it's left to private enterprise (financiers and lawyers) to patrol, for the potentially ridiculous returns that can make for wrong-doing.
Makes me think of old "Wanted Posters", just for "Wrongdoers" and the reward being "Ridiculous"
Does also make me wonder how much blackmail goes on, unnoticed. There must be more than a few "reports" that got bought be a company for a large consultancy fee..
Not sure I understand.. if they used the Free Edition, shouldn't they not have paid anything? I'm guessing that is the crux of the issue, but I guess I always assumed Turbo Tax got you started on the Free Edition then tried to upsell you. Sounds like they charge you money while keeping you on the Free Edition?
The Free Edition doesn't support most use cases so it's not really free. According to the article, iirc, it supports less than a quarter of tax returns.
>nder the agreement, Intuit will provide restitution to nearly 4.4 million 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 IRS Free File program offered through TurboTax. 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.
$30/year per person who shouldn't have paid TurboTax is not nothing.... especially for people who would have qualified for the free filing program. Getting $60 back is a pretty good day for them. That's a days work at minimum wage.
Bit like short-sellers.
Ideally government/state would enforce fair play - but instead it's left to private enterprise (financiers and lawyers) to patrol, for the potentially ridiculous returns that can make for wrong-doing. Makes me think of old "Wanted Posters", just for "Wrongdoers" and the reward being "Ridiculous"
Does also make me wonder how much blackmail goes on, unnoticed. There must be more than a few "reports" that got bought be a company for a large consultancy fee..