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Is TurboTax Really Free This Year?

You may have seen the TV ads for TurboTax this year promising completely free service tax preparation and filing.

Every year, Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, advertises some type of free service but it often comes under scrutiny of consumer regulators for poorly disclosed catches as the FTC found last year. This year’s offer is bolder than ever. It promises tax preparation and filing that is 100% free if you didn’t file using TurboTax last year. While the TV ads are very clear this year, here is a summary of the catches.

*MOUSE PRINT:

  • You must use the TurboTax app to start your taxes.

  • You must file your taxes using the TurboTax app by February 18, 2025.

  • You must not have used TT last year, but use of it prior to that is okay.

  • TurboTax Live is not free.

  • The app is not appropriate for more complex tax situations such as for itemized deductions, business income, investment sales, etc. However, as long as you begin your tax prep in the app, you can switch to do it on your computer even in a more expensive product like TurboTax Deluxe or higher, whose fees will be waived, they say. But you then have to return to the app to file your taxes by the February 18th deadline.

  • It is unclear if their usual fee to file your state return is being waived.

    • Perhaps those folks with very simple returns will find this to be a tempting offer, but I can’t imagine how tedious it could become for more complex situations doing it on a cellphone.

    Here’s another option for people with simple returns. Uncle Sam has expanded its new Direct File free program to 25 states this year.

    Regular TurboTax offline users, like MrConsumer, face a number of challenges this year as well. Amazon did not run its usual sale for TurboTax Deluxe discs at the end of the year. And many people missed their November 30th sale when it was $45.99 with a $10 Amazon gift card. Also changed this year, TurboTax Deluxe is a download only product — the disc version has been discontinued.

    Costco advertised in its January Connection magazine that from January 18 to February 7 it will be offering $11 off of TurboTax Deluxe (making it $44.99), $18 off of Premier, and $20 off Home & Business. Sam’s Club will have a similar offer.

    UPDATE: Amazon has matched Costco’s price and upped the ante! The Amazon offer includes a $10 Amazon gift card when you buy TurboTax 2024 Deluxe plus State for $44.99. This will be the lowest price of the tax season if history is any guide. BUT… Amazon only offered this deal for one day, Saturday, January 18th. Now it is $44.99 without the gift card.

    [Consumer World will earn a small commission if you purchase from this link.]

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    Were Cyber Monday Deals Really One Day Only?

    Much is made of the supposed great deals available to shoppers offered during last month’s Cyber Monday sales. But were the advertised prices that day really one-day only and did you save as much as they claimed?

    Cyber Monday Only Sales

    We decided to do a little spot-check of a few of the prices advertised on Cyber Monday, and in some cases they were even “Cyber Monday only” prices. We selected three items advertised in Cyber Monday ads at six major retailers — Macy’s, Walmart, Best Buy, Kohl’s, Target, and Amazon. We compared the Cyber Monday price to the price that same retailer was charging two days later, December 4th, and again a full week after Cyber Monday on December 9th.

    *MOUSE PRINT:

    — Of the 18 products we checked, only two of them reverted to the so-called regular price by the Wednesday after Cyber Monday.

    — In 10 of the cases, the items continued to be offered at the same Cyber Monday price two days later .

    — A week after Cyber Monday, five of the products were still at the Cyber Monday price.

    Walmart is the only chain that never raised its price on any of the items above the Cyber Monday price during this time period. On the other hand, Target, Amazon, and Best Buy each had one item that reverted to the so-called regular price a week after the sale, and Kohl’s had two. MrConsumer is surprised that that many reverted.

    Here is the price comparison chart of all the items checked and their prices on the dates surveyed:

    Cyber Monday comparison

    So, the two takeaways from this little experiment are that one-day only sales are rarely one-day only, and don’t expect to actually save as much money as retailers claim because the so-called “regular price” is rarely charged.

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    Stop & Shop Makes Digital Coupons Easy

    Stop & Shop Savings Center KioskTwo years ago, five national consumer advocacy organizations, including Consumer World and Consumer Reports, called on a dozen supermarket CEOs to stop digital discrimination and make digital coupons more accessible to less tech-savvy shoppers. There are significant numbers of seniors and lower income folks who do not use the internet or have smartphones and thus they they have been shut out of advertised digital-only offers.

    Sample digital coupon

    Digital coupons like the one above are advertised in a chain’s weekly sale circular. Generally stores have required shoppers to go to the coupon section of the store’s website or app, and then find and e-clip each particular coupon individually that they want.

    Now, one supermarket chain finally heard our call and took decisive action to fix this. Last week, Stop & Shop, the largest supermarket chain in the Northeast, announced it was rolling out “Savings Station” kiosks to the entire chain after successfully completing a one-year test of them in a handful of stores. Installation will be complete by the end of January.

    The kiosk is essentially a freestanding screen and barcode reader located at the front of the store. All a customer has to do is scan their loyalty card or enter their phone number on the device, and then all that week’s advertised digital coupons are automatically loaded onto their card or account. It takes as little as five seconds! No more futsing with apps or the coupon section of the store’s website (except for manufacturers coupons). This is NOT a computer in the store where you have to go through all the steps of loading coupons as you would at home. [See earlier video demo.]

    This should come as welcome news to the 70-percent of Consumer World readers who told us in a 2022 survey that they would prefer an easy offline in-store method to activate digital coupon savings. Frankly, even for those of us for whom doing stuff online comes more easily, this is a huge time saver.

    Hat tip to EntryPoint, the company that developed these kiosks and has launched them in other chains like Food Lion and Winn Dixie also.

    We applaud Stop & Shop for taking this innovative step to help digitally-disconnected shoppers finally be able to access digital discounts and to cut their ever-climbing grocery bill.

    Now it’s time for other supermarket chains to follow Stop & Shop’s lead and help all their customers get easier access to digital discounts. Albertsons… hello? Kroger… hello?