Intuit TurboTax Fake Tax Return Class Action Settlement Gets Approved

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An Intuit class action settlement has been preliminarily approved, resolving claims related to hacker access on the TurboTax filing platform which affected about 915,000 victims.

A class action lawsuit claimed the exposure of personal data enabled hackers to access the information of hundreds of thousands of U.S. tax filers, thus enabling fake tax returns.

A California federal judge approved the nonmonetary Intuit class action settlement stating that not all Class Members sustained out-of-pocket expenses, but those who did are still eligible to pursue those claims separately.

The attorney representing the plaintiffs responded to that assertion by the judge and confirmed that none of the plaintiffs who did sustain monetary losses would give up their right to claim via this settlement.

The refund checks tied to the fake tax returns were ultimately rerouted to the victims.

The Class Members for the purposes of this Intuit class action lawsuit settlement are defined as all U.S. persons whose names were used on fraudulent tax returns filed via TurboTax.

Intuit says that in addition to meeting these obligations, the company has also upgraded their security measures to minimize the chances of future fraud affecting users of TurboTax.

Intuit was not the perpetrator behind the fraud; rather, this was done by a third party using access with Intuit’s products.

The Intuit class action lawsuit settlement asks the court for an award of attorneys’ fees and costs for up to $2.8 million. Furthermore, $5,000 each was listed as an award for the six named plaintiffs as a result of their litigation contributions.

The Intuit class action lawsuit was first filed in spring 2015 arguing that Intuit enabled fraudsters to open fake accounts to file state and federal taxes.

At that point, both the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice had investigated previous reports that at least 19 U.S. states had identified fake returns using the software.

After the release of that information, multiple consumers came forward to file lawsuits. Some of those claims included allegations of California’s Unfair Competition law and Customer Records Act violations in addition to breach of contract, negligence, and unjust enrichment.

U.S. District Judge Edward Davila dismissed claims of aiding and abetting fraud and negligence in May 2018.

The outcome of the Intuit class action lawsuit settlement includes two years of credit monitoring services provided by TransUnion. Intuit is responsible for making these payments.

Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

The plaintiffs are represented by Roger Norton Heller of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP.

The Intuit TurboTax Fake Tax Refund Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Intuit Data Litigation, Case No. 5:15-cv-01778, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: December 2018, the Intuit TurboTax class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.