TurboTax maker Intuit has filed a lawsuit against H&R Block, saying the tax prep chain made false and misleading claims about its pricing structure in its marketing materials.
The lawsuit concerns three specific matters that Intuit said H&R Block misrepresented on its web page:
- That the use of expert- and AI-guided help costs $89 for TurboTax users versus $35 for H&R Block customers, when Intuit says it offers this help for free to 60 million users;
- That TurboTax's Live Full Service product starts at $169, when Intuit says that in reality it starts at $89; and
- That the comparable product from H&R Block is actually more expensive than TurboTax, despite claims it is less. The lawsuit also claims that H&R Block's product functions more like a search engine than an assistant.
"Intuit brings this case to stop this false and misleading marketing through which H&R Block is attempting to gain an unfair competitive advantage and tarnish TurboTax's hard earned reputation in the online tax-preparation space," said the initial complaint.
According to the complaint, Intuit has tried to resolve the matter privately, but its concerns were not addressed, hence the litigation. The company is seeking damages as well as an order for H&R Block to stop making these statements.
Intuit filed the case on Jan. 15 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The case, 5:2024cv00253, is called Intuit Inc. v H&R Block Inc.
"H&R Block's misleading advertising uses inaccurate information to deceive American taxpayers," said Rick Heineman vice president of corporate communications at Intuit. "Intuit is pursuing this matter to ensure consumers have access to accurate information when making their tax and financial decisions.
H&R Block said it cannot comment on pending litigation matters.
