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Remember H&R Block, TurboTax, etc have all been caught tricking people into paying for free services, so watch out when using them if you are expecting free filing.

Of course, this doesn't change the US Tax code being intentionally designed to be easy to make errors that can lead to significant fines.

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Yes, they lobby for convoluted tax code so they can sell software.

The reason I would go with a company rather than the free IRS stuff is because they offer audit protection and representation.

I've been using TT for decades. Their "tricks" are basically asking you 2 or three times during the process if you want to pay for a new feature. Pretty lame for tricks. But annoying still.

Also: just be rich. They don't investigate non-billionaires. Jeez.

ProPublica reported extensively on the deceptive tactics they actually use, such as marketing paid services as free, and making the actually free filing site hidden from search engines.

Eventually they ended their participation in the IRS’s free filing program after all 50 states sued them for $141M for scamming the lowest income tax payers into paying unnecessarily.

https://www.propublica.org/series/the-turbotax-trap

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