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FTC Fines H&R Block $7 Million, Orders Changes to Advertising, Service Practices
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Main points
- The Federal Trade Commission fined tax preparation company H&R Block $7 million, ordering it to stop what it called “unlawful” advertising and customer service practices.
- Federal regulators said H&R Block unfairly required customers looking for cheaper service to contact customer service and then deleted previously entered data when the customers were downgraded.
- Tax firms will also need to change their product advertising to include the number of taxpayers who qualify for free services.
this Federal Trade Commission H&R Block was fined (HRB) $7 million and requires the tax services company to cease its alleged “illegal” advertising and customer service practices before the 2025 tax filing season.
Federal regulators have said In 2024 complaint The company unfairly requires customers to contact customer service to downgrade to a cheaper product and deletes the customer’s previously entered tax preparation data after downgrading. The company also made misleading claims about its free products in ads, the government said.
The FTC said Wednesday that in addition to the $7 million in fines it will use to “compensate consumers harmed by the company’s unlawful conduct,” H&R Block must also offer customers the option of a chatbot or other automated means to make it easier for them by will downgrade its service on February 15 and provide consumers with “an easily noticeable and always-available way to downgrade” ahead of the 2026 tax filing season.
“H&R Block prides itself on providing consumers with quality online tax filing products, and that has never been an issue in this case,” the company said in a statement. Investment Encyclopedia News. “Many of the changes in the settlement agreement have either been completed or are in progress.”
The settlement requires tax firms to stop deleting previously entered tax preparation data when customers downgrade their services. H&R Block was ordered to disclose the number of taxpayers eligible to use its free services in ads about its free products.
H&R Block shares have recently risen more than 1%.
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