Since 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 deducted. The third party processor will then deduct the fees and 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://cisc.sbtpg.com/index.aspx
Tax Products Group Contact Information - https://help.sbtpg.com/hc/en-us/articles/230084587-Contact-Information
I just happened to have decided to track down to make sure I received my refunds this year. Normally because I provide my bank account, I assume they get deposited automatically. I realized I never received my 2021 federal return, and after an hour on the phone with my bank and IRS, I learned my deposit went to CIVISTA bank on May 4th, because I elected to get my Turbotax fee deducted from my return. Civista bank never bothered to send the money to my bank account, and if I didn't noticed not sure anyone would bother to notify me.
I have been using Turbotax for years, and this was the first time I chose to allow them to deduct from my return. I'm sure there are many people like me who notice very late, or not at all that they didn't receive their returns. Where does the interest earned on this money go in the end? I hate to say it but this is almost a scam.
@dakar - this is why most of this community implores just paying your fees up front and not request it be netted out of the tax return; it is a big money maker for the CIvista Bank.
to answer your question, if Civista Bank has been holding tis money for all these months, then they goes to them.
This is happening to me right now too. I just called the IRS a few days ago asking about my
2022 refund and they also told me that CIVista Bank deposited my entire refund into their account instead of only deducting the Turbo Tax Fees and sending me the rest.
So, when I called Turbo Tax and explained what happened, they pretty much told me It's between me and them. They said to call Santa Barbra Bank at 1-877-908-7228 or email them at
TPG-CSsupport@greendotcorp.com but the number is a waste of time (it doesn't have the option to speak to a person) and no one has responded to my email. I also think it's a scam.
I've been a loyal customer to Turbo Tax for many years and they do not want to help me. I will not use them anymore. Not sure what to do.