Quickbooks Slipped New Fees To Struggling Small Businesses Amid Pandemic, Class Action Alleges

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QuickBooks Fees Class Action Lawsuit Overview: 

• Who: Intuit, Inc, the maker of the popular accounting software Quickbooks, is being sued by a New York law firm.
• What: Intuit is accused of suddenly ramping up fees on ACH payments in QuickBooks without clearly communicating it to its customers, many of whom are small business owners.
• Where: The lawsuit seeks to represent business owners nationwide.

Small businesses struggling to survive during the pandemic have been delivered a further insult from accounting software provider QuickBooks, which allegedly ramped up fees on certain transactions seemingly overnight, a new class action lawsuit alleges.

The lead plaintiff, New York law firm Shankar Ninan & Co., LLP, filed the class action lawsuit against QuickBooks owner Intuit, Inc in a California federal court.

The firm says QuickBooks—a software offering bookkeeping and payment functions—used to allow small businesses to receive automated clearing house (ACH) payments within two-to-seven days without any fee.

If a business needed the money soon, it could opt to get the funds overnight, for a fee of one percent of the transfer amount.

However, on March 11, QuickBooks users received an email informing them that all future ACH payments would be processed in one business day “with no extra fees.” 

QuickBooks users now know that this “confusing” email actually meant QuickBooks was removing the option to make an ACH transfer without a fee.

“QuickBooks provided no option for users to opt-out of the automatic one-day transfers and maintain the free two-to-seven-day option,” the class action says. 

As a result, QuickBooks users, many of whom are small business owners, have been hit with thousands of dollars worth of fees since the change, the class action says. Shankar Ninan says the firm has been charged $4,327.45 by QuickBooks for ACH transaction fees under the new policy since Aug. 31.

Business Owners Complain About New QuickBooks Fee

The lawsuit provides screenshots of other small businesses complaining online. 

“This is a huge expense for me as I have 600 customers,” one business owner wrote. “This seems ridiculous. What if I don’t care about the speed of deposit?,” another said.

Shankar Ninan says Intuit’s QuickBooks has millions of users in the United States, and in fiscal year 2020 reported revenues of $7.7 billion. 

It says QuickBooks fee switch is particularly egregious given the timing: amid a global pandemic. 

“The timing of QuickBooks’s misleading switch to one-day transfers with a 1% transaction fee was especially insulting to users given the financial implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated impact on individual contractors and small business owners, who comprise a majority of QuickBooks’s user base,” the class action states.

It says a QuickBooks representative acknowledged to Shankar Nina that the change to ACH transfers was “confusing,” but rather than refunding the money in full, only offered a $7 refund per transaction. 

The plaintiff is looking to represent all residents of the United States who used QuickBooks to process ACH payments and were automatically switched from free two-to-seven-day transfers to one-day transfers with a one percent transaction fee.

It is suing for breach of contract, fraud, conversion, and under California consumer law. It seeks certification of the class action, a finding that the alleged conduct is unlawful, damages, penalties, fees, costs, interest and a jury trial.

Meanwhile, Intuit is working through another class action lawsuit and potential $40 million settlement with TurboTax consumers who are suing the company for allegedly directing them away from the TurboTax free edition even though they were eligible to use it.

Are you affected by the QuickBooks fee change? Let us know your experience in the comments! 

The plaintiff is represented by James A. Morris, Esq. and Shane E. Greenberg, Esq. of Morris Law Firm.

The QuickBooks Fees Class Action Lawsuit is Shankar Nina & Co., LLP, et al. v. Intuit, Inc., et al., Case No. 5:21-cv-07339, in the U.S. District Court Northern District of California.

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