I signed on to Intuit's TurboTax site as a check on my already completed 2010 Federal income tax return. A "Free" version was being touted to answer my tax questions. 3/4 into filling out forms, I was informed by the program that they could not complete my taxes using the "Free" version, but that if I purchased the $19.95 basic version, the job would be done.
What the heck! Twenty bucks seemed a fair enough deal... So I proceeded. Finished my taxes, e-filed Federal and two States. Great! Not so fast. After receiving e-mails from Intuit stating that my returns had been accepted by the various taxing agencies, I received another e-mail from another Intuit address, billing me, not only the $19.95 as originally disclosed, but two additional charges of $36.95 each for both States. Nowhere did I see any such charges disclosed to me prior to my acceptance or payment.in fact, had these charges been apparent, I would most certainly not have continued.
Intuit is at the very least, deceptive in their business practices. At worst, they are perpetrators of fraud and should be punished as such. Use them at your own peril.
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