As we enter February, so too do we enter what is perhaps the most universally disliked part of the year: tax season. W2s have been sent out, overly complicated tax forms need to be filed, and it’s all due in just a few short months. Amidst all the confusing forms, the one major shining beacon of hope is a website called TurboTax, which claims to let you file your taxes quickly, easily, and for free. TurboTax claims to ultimately make our lives easier, and it is a tool that many of us happily use each winter.

But is TurboTax actually making our lives easier?

Unfortunately, the answer seems to be no. In fact, TurboTax seems to be actively making things even more difficult for the average person.

There are many controversies surrounding TurboTax, with the most well-known being the predatory and scam-like pricing practices that TurboTax engages in. TurboTax has a history of actively hiding its free tax-filing program from search engines while heavily pushing their paid tax-filing program towards users who have been promised free tax filing. TurboTax is also well known for engaging in deceptive marketing, such as their FREE ad campaign, that claims that their users can use the site to file taxes for free when, in actuality, only some of their users will qualify for IRS Free File.

The most harmful of these, however, lies not solely with TurboTax itself but with its parent company, Intuit.

Intuit is a massive company focusing on financial programs that they claim help the average American, with programs spanning from TurboTax to other well-known products like CreditKarma and QuickBooks. Intuit also runs a massive million-dollar lobbying campaign that focuses on preventing the IRS from creating its own free tax-filing system. In 2023, Intuit’s lobbying campaign spent $980,000 to prevent such a program from existing. As a result of their lobbying campaigns, Intuit has gained over $492 million in federal research credits over the past five years and has saved over $250 million from tax breaks in 2025 alone.

To put it simply, it is Intuit, and by extension, TurboTax, that is spending millions of dollars to ensure that the tax filing system remains confusing and overly complex. This, in turn, is making the American public’s life much, much more difficult every tax season.

Thankfully, while TurboTax remains the most popular option when it comes to filing taxes for free, it is far from the only option out there. If you wish to avoid Intuit and its predatory tax filing program, there are several various options to choose from. One rather popular option is FreeTaxUSA, which lets you file your taxes easily and without complication if you make less than $51,000 a year or are a U.S. veteran and make less than $89,000 a year. Other sites like TaxSlayer and TaxAct allow you to file your taxes for free if you make $89,000 or less.

So, as April 15, 2026 draws closer, remember that TurboTax does not have your best interests at heart, and look into other tax filing programs. And make sure to inform your friends and family to avoid using the site and to look into other options as well!