Taxes

If TurboTax messed up your state of Oregon tax return, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, asked the company to help you fix it and give you your money back for buying TurboTax.

And it may have helped.

Wyden sent a letter last week to the company after The Oregonian reported some Oregonians filing state returns with TurboTax got lower refunds than they were eligible for. The computer program directed them to take the standardized deduction rather than itemizing their deductions.

Wyden’s office told us Tuesday that it had not received a response from TurboTax. But at least one member of the editorial board got an email from TurboTax notifying them they would be refunded the purchase price of TurboTax and instructions on how to check on their return.

The company does have a tax return lifetime guarantee; a maximum refund guarantee; and a 100% calculations guarantee.

But there is, of course, the fine print. And we are not sure the company was legally obligated to refund the purchase price as Wyden had asked.

The terms of service that govern those guarantees are narrow. For instance, “We do not warrant that the Platform is error-free….”

We did email the media relations department of Intuit, its parent company, on Tuesday. “As part of our tax return lifetime guarantee, we are committed to the accuracy of TurboTax tax filers’ tax returns to ensure they receive the maximum refund possible,” wrote Tania Mercado, senior manager of communications. “We are quickly working to resolve an issue impacting a small number of customers and actively engaging with those filers impacted to ensure their returns are correct and they receive the maximum refund they are owed.”

Assisting Oregonians to ensure they get the best refund was the least the company could do. Also refunding the purchase price? Now there is a model response.