Something is wrong with your system. In one place it asks if I sold my vehicle to which I answered no and then it asks for a sales date and keeps saying I need to fix errors that should not even exist. This better not fall on me because I already got charged for my tax prep. I will go elsewhere next year.
It would be helpful to know where my taxes are going at each stage. We live in a time where tax money is being wasted like it's free. TurboTax has a large role to play in national tax revenue for the government from individuals who use their service. It would benefit TurboTax to take a stance against waste of taxpayer money in US government via calling out tax-free billionaires and abusive organizations, but instead it focuses on overt attempts to get more money from each and every person who uses their service.
Horrible experience this year. The AI assistant gave incorrect information and then gave me instructions on the wrong product. The live agent I spoke to was also incorrect. He kept referring to state forms as "from the IRS." The AI agent gave me bad information and then just tried to upsell me.
Using TurboTax felt like being trapped in a tax-themed sales funnel.
I declined upsells repeatedly, yet the software kept pushing them over and over. Pay from your refund? Extra fee. Branded financial product? Front and center. Plain direct deposit? Buried under a pile of Intuit-branded garbage. Then there was the email consent screen, which seemed designed to make marketing opt-ins look like routine tax communication. Despicable.
Then there’s the opaque pricing: $139 for a fairly simple business return, plus $69 for a basic state filing. But you won’t find those numbers clearly laid out on Intuit’s website. Instead, the real cost only becomes clear once you’re already deep into the process. That kind of aggressive monetization is something I’d expect from a liquor store that cashes checks, not a regulated financial services company.
What really stands out is that this fits a pattern. Intuit has already paid $141 million in a multistate settlement over misleading “free” filing claims, and the FTC has taken action over deceptive advertising. So if the experience feels manipulative, it’s probably because Intuit has spent years earning that reputation.
TurboTax no longer feels like tax software. It feels like a monetization engine wearing tax software as a costume. I won’t be surprised if, a few years from now, I get an email from some law firm offering me a class action settlement. I doubt the token payout will do much to wash away the sour taste this experience left behind.