Turbo Tax Tells You To Print An "Extra Form" But Won't Say Which One
Turbo Tax told reader I'm A Super that he needed to fill out an extra form to complete his state tax return, but wouldn't tell him which form. Just to be safe, I'm A Super re-downloaded Turbo Tax only to get the same error message. When he called Intuit to ask about the mysterious form, he was that it was solely his responsibility to call the State Tax commission and to review his tax forms to make sure nothing was missing.
I'm A Super sent the following letter to Intuit:
I need your help correcting my recent experience as a 6 year customer of TurboTax. I recently filed my 2008 State and Federal Tax Returns using TurboTax Deluxe Online. My taxes aren't the most complicated, but I find that TurboTax has always been helpful in organizing my financial thoughts, and making sure I'm taking advantage of the latest deductions.This year, my E-Filing was successful without any difficulty. I received a notification that my Federal return had been accepted by the IRS the same day I completed my filing (02/17/2009). A day later, I received an e-mail from TurboTax indicating that my 2008 State return was accepted, but that an "Extra Form" was required.
The e-mail indicated that I needed to send in an "extra Form" via mail to my state. The E-mail made no indication of which form to file, nor where to send it. The E-mail simply said I could find the form amongst the papers that TurboTax printed for me.
No such form, or instructions exist in the printed documents, or the PDF. I re-downloaded my return from TurboTax.com to be sure.
Once I was sure that no additional forms or instructions could be found, I used the TurboTax support site to get an Incident number (xxxxxxxx) and a phone number to call. I spoke with a representative who spent exactly 25 minutes speaking with her supervisor about navigating help on the TurboTax Website. At the end of the call, she indicated that perhaps there was a bug in the TurboTax software, but she isn't sure. She told me that I should call the State Tax commission myself, and review my documents with them to make sure the Form TurboTax has told me I need to fill out, isn't missing.
I currently have no confidence that the Turbo Tax STATE product has properly filled out my tax information. TurboTax has told me that I am missing forms which NEED to be submitted to my state, but TurboTax is unable to tell me what forms I must fill out, or where to send them. I have spent the last 2 1/2 hours working with the State tax commission's forms and website, as well as other state tax payers to determine what forms I may or may not be missing.
I am requesting a full refund for the TurboTax State Product, which according to my order is $26.97 after tax. I am not requesting a refund for the TurboTax Federal product, as it has so far proven to be accurate and satisfactory.
I look forward to your response.
It's a good letter with a reasonable request. Hopefully Intuit won't require I'm A Super to fill out any extra forms to process his refund.
TurboTax Online caused me grief this year [I'm A Super.com]
(Photo: Mat Honan)
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Comments:
My tax return was accepted over 3 weeks ago by NYS but I haven't received my refund yet... I received our federal within 10 days via Direct Deposit.
I'm not the first to complain, either. Maybe this is a ploy by the states to delay refunds LOL.
@verucalise: Knowing Patterson, he probably spent you refund renaming something after some dead Kennedy.
@Blueskylaw: Well I would say in you case that may be true but probably not for everyone.
If I had a slew of 1099s to wade through I'd probably have someone else do it too but when all you have is a W2 and maybe one 1099-INV you're silly not to do them your self.
E-filed my California return a month ago with TaxACT online (used them for 4 years now and they've never done me wrong) and I still haven't gotten my state refund due to their failure to pass a reasonable budget. Got my fed in about a week...
@Blueskylaw: I'm as envious of the people who have the willpower to do their own taxes as I am envious of the people who have the willpower to suture their own wounds with sewing thread when they can't afford to see a doctor.
This happened to me, I emailed their customer service and was told that it was sent in error. If you recheck your tax documents, it will say that the signature form for state tax is not needed. They sent out the signature form by default, I think, whether or not your state forms were signed electronically or not.
I didn't send in anything extra, and my taxes have long since been finished and over with. So I hope that helps. Also, if it matters, I'm in NE. Your own state may vary.
I'm pretty sure litrock's right, it's just the signature form and in most cases these days there's an electronic signing option so it's not needed.
On a related note, am I the only one that's finding turbo tax is slowly slipping down hill? I've used it for the past 5 years and this year the UI is horrible and the import function causes issues. For example, it pulled in my info from last year, that's fine. But when it gets time to sort out mortgage percentages for the home office deduction, some of the info was blank. It turns out you need to go back and edit your mortgage info because no one thought to have the user enter updated info for this year. I'm only part way through this year's return, I may just start it from scratch without the import to make sure nothing's been missed.
@menty666:
TurboTax actually seemed to have improved this year for me. There was a lot less spam crap and all worked fine.
This was their last chance and they didn't blow it, so I might give them another shot next year.
@CaptainSemantics: Seriously. My last few years of taxes have pretty much been checking my T4 (the Canadian W-2) and getting any taxes back.
@verucalise: I had the same issue,, Fed refund came in a little over a week, NYS refund took almost a month. Wanted to get my taxes done before the state started handing otu IOU's
Re; Patterson: I read some where he wanted to charge people $10 to get the paperwork to fill out your taxes. Idiot.
Similar situation with Maryland. I mailed mine off a month ago and haven't gotten my refund yet.
Which makes me nervous, since California and Kansas have already announced that they don't have the money to pay refunds and are issuing IOU's. Wonder what other states will be next.
I had a similar problem with the online version of Turbo Tax this year. I needed to use a couple of forms that turned out not to be obtainable - even though Turbo Tax states quite clearly on their site that they support these forms. When you got to the section where they asked you questions about this type of income, all I could get was a message that my tax situation was complicated and they strongly recommend I consult a tax professional. Since I spent the last 2 months researching what I would need to do this year - and calling the IRS to make sure I was on the right track, I had no intention of consulting a tax professional. Then when I clicked on "continue", it took me right back to the main menu for inputing income. All of the "online help" topics and messages I could find consisted of people who were having the exact same problem as I was and the only answers from the Turbo Tax help people insisted the forms could be accessed. I went round and round with this about 5 times before I called Turbo Tax in frustration.
After a 2 hour wait on hold, I found out that the online version of Turbo Tax does not support the forms I needed to use this year, and yet their site still indicates that you can complete these forms online. The customer service person I spoke to confirmed this, but she didn't have any explanation for why Turbo Tax is engaging in what seems like deceptive advertising. Because I raised a (polite) stink about that, she allowed me to download the software version of Turbo Tax free of charge, as the software does have a way to complete the forms.
So in the end, I did get my taxes filed and even ended up paying less than I would have otherwise. However, I would have been more than happy to pay what they actually charge and not have wasted hours and hours of my time trying to figure this out. All they had to do was state on their site that the online version does not support certain forms this year and you'll have to purchase the software if you need to use them. I am very disappointed in the way Intuit has decided to conduct business, and after eight happy years using Turbo Tax, I may well decide to go with another company's software next year. I have no patience with anyone whose blunders could get me (or anyone else) into hot water with the IRS. We have got to be able to trust their product.
@verucalise: Oregon tends to be about 2 weeks slower than the federales. I doubt NY and OR are the only ones, either.
@Garbanzo:
Most tax preparers - especially the chains - do exactly what TurboTax does - asks a bunch of questions about what you've done this year financially, then takes the numbers and figures out what you owe/get back.
For people without complicated financial situations, doing your own taxes isn't surgery. It's more like paying someone to rake your leaves or mow your lawn - you can do it, you are just too lazy to.
@Blueskylaw: Taxes shouldn't be so complicated. But if you made them simple you would have to get rid of a bureaucracy and the odds of getting rid of bureaucracy are slimmer than an honest person getting elected president.
We filed our state in January, but haven't received our refund. BUT, we live in California. The state budget was signed Friday, so we might get it in April. Unless the ALL MIGHTY movie Star decides he needs it some more.
There are other ways to get your free filing done.
And honestly, if you're paying for the software, why not just pay someone to do the taxes for you, or at least buy some better software than Turbo Tax.
If you're smart enough to figure out what forms you need and can find them online, why use this software at all? And if your taxes are that complicated why not just invest in an accountant who can do it and who's insurance will cover any mistakes that they make?
@madanthony: Kansas just resolved that, actually. (I'm a grad student, thus, state employee, and was staring down the barrel of no paycheck for a while).
I had the same issue with Turbo Tax. If you are filing in New York, you DO NOT need to fill out the extra signature form. You did have to, last year, and they never updated their cover page to reflect this year's changes. So if you filed in NY, don't worry, you are all set. I don't know about other states.
Did my Oklahoma tax return two weeks ago and got my refund 4 days later. I got my federal refund this past Friday as scheduled by their direct deposit schedule.
@tsume: I use TaxACT for all my returns, three years running. They win because they make their program seem more like a survey than, you know, math and taxes. I can usually get my return done (because I don't itemize) in about 20 minutes.
Anyway, this year I didn't have to fill out the separate form for state tax because Ohio has somehow streamlined electronic filing. Before that there was a piece of paper I had to sign and send to the state to verify that I was e-filing. Perhaps that's what TurboTax can't find?
@verucalise: well that sucks. even with our $2 billion deficit here in CT, i still got my refund direct deposited in 2 days. :)
the fed came super-quick this year also - i filed on the 2nd & got my money on the 9th.
We used TurboTax and had zero issues thank goodness. That and they found a deduction we would have missed completely netting us an addition $680 :) . Here in Oregon the filing for both Fed and State is free if you fall into the right income category. Got both returns in less than 2 weeks.
@menty666: I agree with you. This was a very disappointing year for me with TurboTax: interface issues, "offers", etc. Unless there's a big overhaul for next year I doubt I'll go back.
I used TaxAct. For $14.95 I did both state and federal. It was easy and almost painless. This is the second year in a row that I've used them. It was easier this year than last.
I've never used a tax preparer service, but I hear the costs range from $100 -$300, so it's cheap enough.
But, the real value in using a software (for me) is being guided through a process that I find confusing and upsetting. Some people say it's a waste of money, but buying bread from the store is too (you can make it at home for pennies) the difference is I LIKE making bread and I LOATHE doing taxes. For a measly $14.95 I get two and a half hours worth of time back on my personal clock, to avoid a migraine, and to be free from the worry of doing my taxes wrong. It's totally worth it to me!
@JamieSueAustin: My issue is not at all with someone using software.
It's with someone using TurboTax, a system that notoriously has issues with complicated/non-federal filings (I like their federal software fine, but that process is pretty straightforward... I would probably -not- use TurboTax to itemize).
Find something better (I have no recommendations, sadly), or just suck it up and do the research to do them yourself (what TurboTax is telling him to do anyway, at the cost of twenty some-odd dollars), or pay someone to do them for you.
Because the software is way cheaper than paying someone? Find me someone competent who can do my taxes and efile for $36, and get them done the day I get my w-2, and maybe I'll consider switching...
@verucalise: NYS rejected my efile claiming that the routing number for SEFCU was invalid.
They had better not be charging me next year when their system breakdown and I'm forced to file on paper.
@verucalise: Hmm, for once I'm thankful to live in the frozen tundra of Minnesota- I had my state refund in 2 days. The feds took 6!
@tsume: I used TaxACT this year for the first time, it was super easy to use- but I think if I had a lot of itemizing to do (and had to actually focus on doing my taxes) they might not be the most helpful.
He must need form 8453-OL. You have to file that if you did an e-file.
(PDF, might take a while to load):
[www.irs.gov]
@madanthony: I did my own taxes when I was a student. Now I don't even understand the forms when they come back from the accountant. For example, this year we thought he made a mistake reading my husband's W2 but instead it turns out that the flavor of disability tax that I pay (SDI) is deductible while the flavor my husband pays (CAVPI) isn't. There are scads of items on the forms that involve that kind of arcana. Oh, and it's not always covered in the instructions--sometimes you have to consider tax court judgements and various IRS rulings.
It takes my friends who do their own taxes multiple days even with Turbo Tax. My coworker wants to hire my account to look over his returns after he does them in Turbo Tax, just to see if he missed anything. Another friend set aside four evenings this week just to read the IRS documentation. Actually, suturing a wound seems pretty straightforward by comparison.
@verucalise: I filed my Ohio state tax through TurboTax and got it 6 days later via direct deposit. There's not much I love about living here, but that was pretty cool.
@quail: What does it cost to have them prepared anyway? I've always assumed it was more than the cost of the tax software, hence the popularity of the software.
I'm still waiting for Bank of America to send my 1099-INT
I have been lucky enough to have my mother do my taxes for me. In fact she does them for most of my family every year using a website (Sorry I can't remember the name!!).
It cost me all of $13 to file and get both State and Federal deposited directly into my checking. They wer filed in Mid Jan and deposited on the 31st of Jan.
Granted I don't have probably half as many deductions & such as the average homeowner, etc. I am not sure exactly how well and easy turbo tax is to use so I suppose a comparison is not really all that fair between the two.
I use a pirated version of Turbotax and pay them 19 dollars to Efile it..
Why spend 100 on their stupid software..
@verucalise: Well considering he was going to tax regular soda I thought I was going to have quite the business running regular Pepsi and Coke across the border. ;)
Oh well!
I'm envious of people who can or have the willpower to do their own taxes.
Even though I have been trading stocks for a living over the past four years, I don't want to deal with any more numbers than I have too.
I just hand over all my tax documents to my accountant that I have been using for over the past decade and he gets it done.
The lack of stress in having a competent person do it for you is most definitely worthwhile for me.