Audit finds TurboTax, H&R Block charged 14 million people for tax prep that should have been free

In 2019, more than 14 million Americans paid for tax preparation software that should have been free, ProPublica reports.

The IRS has partnered with H&R Block and Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, to offer Free File, and an audit by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that few people took advantage of the program because it is "fraught with complexity and confusion." As a result, tax software companies steered taxpayers away from this free program for their paid services, and ended up making about a billion dollars in revenue, ProPublica reports.

In December, the IRS prohibited tax preparation companies from hiding their free products from search engines and lifted the restriction that kept the IRS from creating its own free online filing system.

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