TurboTax intentionally masks its free tax return service in Google's search results

Tax Day may have already come and gone, but that does not mean ProPublica is done highlighting the dubious tactics of TurboTax's parent company, Intuit. According to a new report, Intuit deliberately prevented Google from including its free tax return service in search results in order to direct all consumers – regardless of their income – to the company's paid services. Intuit added code to the robots.txt file on its website that told Google not to use TurboTax Free in the search results.

The Free File service was born of an agreement between the IRS and the tax software vendors, including Intuit and H & R Block. The last thing these companies want is for the IRS to create a free electronic filing process, managed by the government. To avoid this, they are committed to providing a free level of service. But obviously, they do not want this route to have the same referencing as ranking services that bring in huge revenues.

Both companies offer their consumer income tax products free of charge, but users almost always end up paying federal and state taxes at the end of their service if they use the standard service. The Free File option, on the other hand, is legitimately free for those who qualify. ProPublica found that H & R Block similarly prevented Google from including its own truly free service in search results

A bill submitted to Congress would permanently stump the IRS and prevent it from creating an alternative to TurboTax. The taxpayer's law at first asks the private tax industry to continue with the Free File program, but if one is not concerned about making the free level easily accessible now, the situation may worsen if the bill is signed.

"Preventing eligible taxpayers from depositing or freezing the free files page in the search results violates the spirit of the agreement and seriously questions the rationale for the program," said Senator Ron. Wyden (D-OR) bill, says ProPublica.