Some Michigan residents to get TurboTax settlement checks after being 'tricked'

LANSING, Mich. (FOX 2) - Over 100,000 people who live in Michigan can expect to get refund checks for paying TurboTax for help on their taxes, despite being eligible for the company's free service. 

More than 122,000 residents were "tricked" by TurboTax's owner Intuit into paying for services that should have been offered for free, the state attorney general said, and that Michigan should receive about $3.5 million from the multi-state settlement.

Affected people can expect an amount based on the number of tax years for which they qualified. Most will receive between $29 and $30. A website about who is covered by the settlement can be found here.

Who qualifies for a TurboTax settlement?

Those who qualify include taxpayers that paid to file their federal tax returns through TurboTax for the tax years of 2016, 2017, and 2018, but were also eligible for the free service option through the IRS Free File Program.

They include anyone whose yearly income is $73,000 or less.

Those who are eligible should be notified by email from the settlement fund administrator Rust Consulting. Checks are expected to arrive throughout May 2023.

"Intuit defrauded hard-working taxpayers for no other purpose than to increase its company’s profits," Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said. "This settlement should be a warning to all corporations that mislead the public that they will be held accountable for their deception and their professional reputation is likely to suffer."  

State attorneys general reached an agreement with Intuit after the New York AG launched a multi-state lawsuit alongside attorneys general in Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington. 

The total settlement reached was $141 million for some 4.4 million people.