Some IL Taxpayers Will Receive Share Of $141M TurboTax Settlement

ILLINOIS — More than 143,000 Illinois residents 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.

In Illinois, Attorney General Kwame Raoul said that the 143,000 people who used TurboTax will share $4.38 million as part of the settlement.

“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.”

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.

“Intuit deceived customers into paying for their products while attempting to diminish free tax services available through the federal government,” Raoul said in a statement released by his office. “I am pleased that consumers will start to receive checks under the settlement, which holds Intuit accountable for intentionally deceiving taxpayers simply to increase sales of their products.

Illinois 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 is found on the settlement website.