<story><title>TurboTax’s fight against free tax filing</title><url>https://slate.com/technology/2022/04/turbotax-free-file-online-ftc.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>makecheck</author><text>The upsells on TurboTax are getting a lot more shameless in recent years.  I saw the exact same one pop up at least 2-3 times.&lt;p&gt;The one that really aggravated me though was the one at the &lt;i&gt;end&lt;/i&gt;: &lt;i&gt;after&lt;/i&gt; you FILE your taxes, they present this damned progress-bar looking thing as if you are somehow “not done” yet, as if this totally optional product sale is a required step!!  No, no, no, that is just misleading garbage, and it is so annoying to have to constantly hunt around the page for the magic text to get around these things.  I mean, I couldn’t even reach the page that lets me download my forms as PDF until I skipped this upsell.&lt;p&gt;What’s more, the product itself is getting more expensive but worse.  On desktop, the whole thing is just a blown-up mobile UI (are that many people doing taxes on their phones!?) with all kinds of things unnecessarily hidden.  On page after page, there is more than enough space to show everything but instead it’s giant white space everywhere; they HIDE things behind disclosure arrows, and with no logic whatsoever; e.g. on one page it shows the 2020 numbers by default but hides all the 2021 numbers behind arrows!?&lt;p&gt;Guess what isn’t an insultingly-small, truncated experience on desktop?  The ads, the upsells.  THOSE are full-page, taking full advantage of screen space and even scrolling off the edges.&lt;p&gt;Really shows their priorities.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>otikik</author><text>I agree that all those are bad, but the main problem I have with it is that it should be a state-provided (or federal government-provided, I don&amp;#x27;t care) service. If a country wants taxes the minimum it should do is tell its citizens how much each of them owns. Relying on a private company to provide that &amp;quot;for free&amp;quot; (as long as you jump through the hoops) is ... shameful.</text></comment>
<story><title>TurboTax’s fight against free tax filing</title><url>https://slate.com/technology/2022/04/turbotax-free-file-online-ftc.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>makecheck</author><text>The upsells on TurboTax are getting a lot more shameless in recent years.  I saw the exact same one pop up at least 2-3 times.&lt;p&gt;The one that really aggravated me though was the one at the &lt;i&gt;end&lt;/i&gt;: &lt;i&gt;after&lt;/i&gt; you FILE your taxes, they present this damned progress-bar looking thing as if you are somehow “not done” yet, as if this totally optional product sale is a required step!!  No, no, no, that is just misleading garbage, and it is so annoying to have to constantly hunt around the page for the magic text to get around these things.  I mean, I couldn’t even reach the page that lets me download my forms as PDF until I skipped this upsell.&lt;p&gt;What’s more, the product itself is getting more expensive but worse.  On desktop, the whole thing is just a blown-up mobile UI (are that many people doing taxes on their phones!?) with all kinds of things unnecessarily hidden.  On page after page, there is more than enough space to show everything but instead it’s giant white space everywhere; they HIDE things behind disclosure arrows, and with no logic whatsoever; e.g. on one page it shows the 2020 numbers by default but hides all the 2021 numbers behind arrows!?&lt;p&gt;Guess what isn’t an insultingly-small, truncated experience on desktop?  The ads, the upsells.  THOSE are full-page, taking full advantage of screen space and even scrolling off the edges.&lt;p&gt;Really shows their priorities.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ozzythecat</author><text>You hit the nail on the head. Actually, we used TurboTax, got annoyed with the constant upsells, and the $80 fee (it was advertised as free), and then my husband redid our taxes using another website (freetaxusa). It was actually free.</text></comment>