Intuit’s aggressive lobbying efforts have had a profoundly negative impact on the tax filing landscape in the United States. While the full details of their influence remain opaque, it is clear that their actions played a significant role in the demise of the IRS Direct File program—an initiative that once offered Americans a straightforward, affordable, government-backed option for filing taxes. The elimination of this program has effectively forced taxpayers into relying on Intuit’s products, severely limiting competition and consumer choice. The TurboTax application itself is deeply flawed. Its web design is often frustrating and unintuitive, with frequent issues such as difficulty reversing changes and presenting confusing information that risks costly mistakes. For instance, the way TurboTax conflates Standard IRA deductions with 401(k) deductions under vague labels like 'Standard' and 'ROTH' retirement accounts is misleading and can easily result in filing errors or audits. What is truly infuriating is that despite these significant shortcomings, there are virtually no affordable alternatives for Americans to fulfill their legal tax obligations. This situation raises serious questions about the outsized influence of corporate lobbying on public policy and the erosion of fair market competition. Intuit’s dominance in this space is not just a business success—it is a troubling example of how lobbying can undermine public interest and consumer rights. It is imperative that regulators and lawmakers scrutinize Intuit’s lobbying practices and the broader consequences for taxpayers. The American public deserves transparency, accountability, and genuine options—not a monopolized system shaped by corporate power.

While it is a decent tax filing software, the sheer numb of screens and boxes that present marketing, advertising and other useless products to you is annoying since it is not a free product. Then their wording can led you to inadvertently authorize them t hare your information. Not an honest product.

We had a simple return, that said was free, yet at the last second, it said we had special business and mortgage extra deductions requiring a mandatory upgrade. That was bulldookie enough, but they still wanted $40 more to pay our fee with our return? So, a simple, free return is now $138..........what the heck man?

The process is simple and easy and quick. It is malicious how badly you try and gain my consent to use all of my personal data for your gain and masking it as a benefit to me. Then you massively overcharge me for the simplest service that should not come at such a premium.

I have not had to pay before to file an EZ form. It stated because of extra Medicare taxes, then charged me 49, 40 and then 35 to for my refund direct deposit. This has not happened before. Total was 124 to file an EZ return when I could have filed directly with the IRS. Will be doing this next year.

My taxes said I owed 6126 dollars, but at the end I was directed back to the mistake I did not know I made and surprise, a refund is on the way HURRAY!!! Thanks for the review and mistake locator. The step by step process of filing makes it easy to enter information and the final reviews help pull everything together

They guide you step by step on all needed parts of your return filing. There are even add on deductions you can include with the standard deduction selected. Saving your progress automatically helps you pick up where you left off when you revisit on a later time. The program takes you to the finish and has helpful links to show you more information on the key words you need to know.

Frustrating when free filing is advertised but then charged once getting to the end of the process. Overall product is good and the only reason I used it this year was because it had my information from it year. When I am qualifying for the standard deduction, it makes it less worth it to continue to use the platform. And the lobbying the company does, is unethical to me.

I have used TurboTax for many years and I appreciate the stress free process of having my information stored from last year and my imported W2. I feel that TurboTax is accurate in the guidance provided to complete my taxes. I have and do, highly recommend Turbo Tax for filing your taxes. Thank you Turbo Tax!

I was very frustrated in the wages/income section. It allowed me to enter my social security and it wouldn't allow me to enter my retirement income. I had to start over as if I never entered it before. Very frustrating and used a lot of my time going back and forth. Other than that I love doing my taxes on Turbo Tax.