Checks Coming To Some PA Taxpayers Under $141M TurboTax Settlement

PENNSYLVANIA — Some people in Pennsylvania who used TurboTax to file their income taxes will soon receive checks under a $141 million class action lawsuit settlement with Intuit, the creator of the online tax preparation service, over claims it misled customers into paying for free tax services.

Taxpayers who paid for the service in tax years 2016, 2017 and 2018, but qualified for the Internal Revenue Service’s Free File Program, will receive the checks. The settlement came after attorneys general for all 50 states and the District of Columbia sued Intuit last year.

State Attorney General Michelle Henry said Pennsylvania will receive more than $4.76 million, for the 158,779 consumers "who were tricked into paying to file their federal tax return."

“By requiring consumers to pay for tax-return services that should have been available for free, Intuit cheated taxpayers out of their hard earned money,” said Henry. “Intuit’s deceptive practices and aggressive advertising campaign were unnecessary and illegal; especially when the IRS offers free tax-return services for eligible consumers.”

About 4.4 million people nationwide will receive a payment, which will range from $29 for customers who used the service one of the three years to $85 for those who used it all three years.

Pennsylvania taxpayers who used the service during those years don’t need to do anything.Those eligible for payment will be notified by email by Rust Consulting Inc., the fund settlement administrator. The checks will be mailed the second week in May and will continue arriving throughout the month.

However, eligible taxpayers who don’t receive payments by mid-June should contact the fund administrator through the website with their claimant ID, which is noted in the email.

There’s no need to file a claim, or to provide banking or other information.

More information can be found on the settlement website.

“TurboTax's predatory and deceptive marketing cheated millions of low-income Americans who were trying to fulfill their legal duties to file their taxes,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, who led the investigation, said in a statement Thursday when the settlement was announced. “Today we are righting that wrong and putting money back into the pockets of hardworking taxpayers who should have never paid to file their taxes.”

Patch's national desk contributed to this report.