DIdn't receive full amount of Federal Refund

[duladin]

The IRS confirmed I am owed $9,454 from my federal refund, TurboTax confirmed I am owed $9,454 from my federal refund, so why is it I only received $7458 from Santa Barbara Tax Products Group, LLC? I do not owe anything to the IRS, I have never received any notices, so I want to know why I'm down almost $2000 from my refund without any explanation whatsoever, with companies that do not answer their phones, use phony contact email addresses on their emails ([email address removed]), straight from TurboTax's own official emails. Before I go to a lawyer and join yet another growing class action lawsuit against this fraud company, I want an explanation and I want it now. 

[CatinaT1]

Your refund could be offset.

The IRS and State Governments have the ability to offset a refund to pay for certain past due debts.  You generally will receive a letter stating what the offset was for.   

The IRS provides a toll-free number, (800) 304-3107, to call for information about tax offsets.

[duladin]

I have no debt to offset. Why is TurboTax going through a third party with no working contact email, and no live phone customer service? Why is it impossible to get anything but automated, poorly scripted answers from your company? Why are so many people having the exact same issue? 

[CatinaT1]

Did you call the offset number? Many people think they don't have any offsets, but do. If the IRS didn't release your full refund, you will have to ask them.

It might be easiest to set up an account with them.

IRS Individual Online Account  

• Taxpayers with a Social Security number or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number can create or access their IRS Individual Online Account to get information they need to file their return.
• With an IRS Individual Online Account, people can:
• View balance owed, payment history and schedule payments.
• Cancel scheduled payments.
• Get transcripts.
• View or create payment plans.
• See digital copies of some IRS notices.
• View key data from their most recently filed tax return, including adjusted gross income.
• Validate bank accounts and save multiple accounts, eliminating the need to re-enter bank account information every time they make a payment.
• View, approve and electronically sign power of attorney and tax information authorizations from their tax professional. 

[duladin]

Yes, one more time, I have no debts to offset, confirmed by the IRS. So, to try again, how do I get into contact with the company that is withholding almost $2000 from me, before I go to a lawyer.

[DoninGA]

@duladin 

If you requested to have the TurboTax account fees deducted from your federal tax refund, the IRS will send the refund to a third party processor to have the fees and the $40 service charge deducted. The third party processor will deduct the TurboTax fees plus the $40 service charge and then attempt to direct deposit the remaining refund balance into the account that you entered on your tax return.

For the status of your tax refund you will need to contact the third party processor, Santa Barbara Tax Product Group, using their website - https://www.sbtpg.com/

Tax Products Group Contact Information - https://help.sbtpg.com/hc/en-us/articles/230084587-Contact-Information

Call 1-877-908-7228

Or email - TPG-CSsupport@greendotcorp.com

[duladin]

Well for anyone else that sees this thread, as you can see, automated responses of the same garbage that everyone else gets it all you or I are going to get. If you have massive amounts of your refund deducted for no explainable reason and cannot reach live help that will resolve your problem, lawyers love easy wins and money.

[DoninGA]

@duladin FYI...There is no type of automated response on this TurboTax user community forum.  What you received is the best available information based on limited knowledge of how you filed your tax return, if you asked to have the TurboTax account fees paid from the federal return and if the refund received was adjusted by the IRS.

If you did request to have the TurboTax account fees paid from the federal tax refund then you need to contact the third party provider for the status of the refund that was sent to them from the IRS.

[duladin]

I called the IRS to verify that nothing was withheld from my tax refund. I logged into the SBTBG website to verify that my refund was $9400, and get what I was paid was only $7400 with absolutely no explanation whatsoever. So somewhere along the way, someone deducted almost $2000 from my tax refund. Would anyone here care to explain why that is? And also explain why this third party company being used by TurboTax has no real way to get in contact with them, up to and including a fake email on TurboTax's own official emails to me? Why SBTBG's customer service number has only one option, 1 for English, then an automated voice immediately begins talking nonsensically about cashier's checks before hanging up? Why is everything surrounding this "service" so seedy and unprofessional?