Have I been scammed by Turbo Tax?

[Musky1954]

We've been using Turbo Tax since 2017 and thought nothing of it to file our taxes with them again.  I filed our 2024 taxes January 30, 2025 with Turbo Tax and they were accepted at the Federal and State levels.  I received an email February 20, 2025 from the IRS that my refund will be deposited into my checking account...also noting that it may take a couple days for the transaction to go through.  The amount to be deposited was the full refund.  In the past the refund went to some Turbo Tax banking organization and they would take out the fees and credit our checking account with the remainder of the refund.  February 26, 2025, I contacted my bank to see if they could detect an incoming deposit from the IRS...nothing noted.  Contacted Turbo Tax...after chatting and talking with their so called experts, it was noted that someone had changed my banking info and our refund went to MVB bank in Texas...account # [removed].  After that Turbo Tax was not helpful but would give me 30% of my next filing.  Who changed the banking info...I don't know but I do believe it had to be someone in the Turbo Tax community.  Could have been when they are asking you the many questions when going through the filing process.  But they did advise me to write a letter to the IRS and ask for a paper check.  I did not input the info for this bank...we live in Hampton, VA...but Turbo Tax says I did!  Going to call MVB bank and the IRS about this matter!!!  Turbo Tax has lost its trust with us...will not use them again!!!

[strunks04]

There’s four other people that haven’t received their money either! 

[DoninGA]

@Musky1954 Did you request to have your TurboTax account fees paid from the federal tax refund?

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

[Musky1954]

After talking with 5 Turbo Tax experts...the fifth person was able to help resolve my situation.  It was discovered that Credit Karma was MVB Bank and that Turbo Tax used them to distribute refunds after fees were taken out.  It was Credit Karmas banking info that was on my tax form.  Once notified that the refund was deposited by the IRS, I was supposed to go to Credit Karma and have money transferred to my bank account.  The first 4 tax experts had no clue about this and I do remember setting up an account with but did not know that I had to make the refund transfer.  The transfer is limited to $1000.00 per day.  Big THANK YOU to the fifth person (Emonk) for his diligent help and concern.  He walked me to the whole transfer process!!!  Turbo Tax needs teach / inform their own experts about the refund process.  Will be seeking a different Tax Service next year!!!

[PCer]

Same thing just happened to my son's tax return. Someone changed the routing number and account number. What is going on???!!!!!

[AmyC]

If you paid for your tax preparation out of your refund, you authorized another bank to take your refund and process everything. That bank's information is on your tax return. 

@PCer 

[Anonymous]

It seems that "scam" and "TurboTax" are now inseparable terms.