New Mexicans who were eligible to file their taxes for free through the IRS but instead paid to file through a TurboTax product marketed as “free” are receiving payouts from a multistate settlement. Eligible consumers don’t need to do anything to receive a check in the mail this month.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez announced last week that New Mexico received a more than $900,000 chunk of the $141 million settlement.
At issue was that TurboTax had two products marketed as “free” for 2016, 2017 and 2018 — but only one actually was.
Its parent company, Intuit, had partnered with the Internal Revenue Service to provide the IRS Free File Program in exchange for the federal agency not offering it on its own competing platform. People who make around $34,000 and members of the military qualified for the federally-supported TurboTax Free File service, according to the New York Attorney General’s Office, which led the claim. However, some of those taxpayers instead used a commercial product that sounded quite similar — TurboTax Free Edition.
That catch is, “Free Edition” was only free to a point. Consumers entitled to file for free were prompted to purchase a premium version of TurboTax if they needed access to certain forms. These are the taxpayers getting settlement money.
Spokesperson for the AG’s Office Lauren Rodriguez says 30,628 New Mexicans qualify for a payout. She says some have already received checks and they’ll continue to be mailed out through the end of the month.
Rodriguez says those who are eligible will receive an email from Rust Consulting, which is administering the funds, to inform them it’s not a scam, but there’s no need to respond or otherwise file a claim to receive a check.
How much money a person receives will depend on how many times they filed this way, though Torrez says most will get around $30.
