IRS accepted my Return on April 15th 2024, I setup direct debit. 5/29/24 and still not debited. IRS account shows penalties being added

[mark6781]

The Direct Debit payment system seems broken.
I did a direct debit for the first time this year. Using the same account I use for refunds on past Turbotax transactions. IRS shows return accepted on April 15th. But as of today, 5/29/24 no payment received and penalties being added for alate payment.


Not paying this way ever again.  I called Turbotax recently and they said just be patient. Is this normal?

[mesquitebean]

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@mark6781 wrote:

The Direct Debit payment system seems broken.
I did a direct debit for the first time this year. Using the same account I use for refunds on past Turbotax transactions. IRS shows return accepted on April 15th. But as of today, 5/29/24 no payment received and penalties being added for alate payment.
Not paying this way ever again. 

I called Turbotax recently and they said just be patient. Is this normal?

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"Not paying this way ever again. "

        If desired, in the future there are a couple of ways to avoid the worry when paying by electronic funds withdrawal for either taxes due or estimated payments, by paying either at the IRS.gov's Direct Pay website, or by setting up an account at the Treasury's EFTPS website.

But in regard to your current situation, the IRS has a 24/7 phone line to speak to a live person in the IRS E-file Payment Services division.   The following sentence is pasted from the source website I included below. 

"Call IRS e-file Payment Services 24/7 at 888-353-4537 to inquire about or cancel your payment, but please wait 7 to 10 days after your return was accepted before calling."   (emphasis added by me)

Source:

Scroll down to subtopic "Cancellations, errors, and questions."

https://www.irs.gov/payments/pay-taxes-by-electronic-funds-withdrawal

[mark6781 · Accepted solution]

The IRS Payment line is useless. They can't access tax records and can't tell me why my payment hasn't processed. 

I'm on hold wasting time trying to talk to someone at the IRS.

General Advice. NEVER do a direct debit payment with TurboTax!!! Might be best not to process payments through them at all. There is no support when something goes wrong.

the only confirmation that it was supposed to happen is on Page 1 of the TurboTax printout where they summarize the report. I don't see any IRS forms with the direct debit info. This is a huge waste of time.

Just send a check or pay the IRS directly.
The IRS so far says Contact Turbotax, Turbotax says contact the IRS. No help from either side. 

[mark6781]

IRS Agent spent time digging up the original submission. payment info was not received. 

Paying you tax bill through Turbotax is not a good idea.

[mesquitebean]

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@mark6781 wrote:

The IRS Payment line is useless. They can't access tax records and can't tell me why my payment hasn't processed.   I'm on hold wasting time trying to talk to someone at the IRS.

General Advice. NEVER do a direct debit payment with TurboTax!!! Might be best not to process payments through them at all. There is no support when something goes wrong.

the only confirmation that it was supposed to happen is on Page 1 of the TurboTax printout where they summarize the report. I don't see any IRS forms with the direct debit info. This is a huge waste of time.

Just send a check or pay the IRS directly.
The IRS so far says Contact Turbotax, Turbotax says contact the IRS. No help from either side. 

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Oh my!  What an awful morning you had with the IRS and TurboTax!  I'm sorry that happened to you and that you still got no explanation.   If that was the night shift you spoke to at IRS E-efile Payment Services, I wonder if you'd have better luck with their day shift; perhaps they might have more access.

In your PDF or print out, if the bank debit info is confirmed on both the Electronic Filing Instructions page and on the page called 2023 Federal Tax Return Summary, it's odd that it wasn't sent to the IRS.

There is another place to look.  If you used desktop TurboTax, go into Forms Mode, and in the left column list of forms scroll down to "Info Wks" (Federal Information Worksheet).   Part V is the bank debit info section.   Is there a  Yes checkmark for "Do you want to elect Direct Debit of Federal balance due?"

Then there are blanks for the bank info.   Then lower in Part V there's a space to enter the desired debit date.  Is all of that Part V populated correctly?   If so, that adds to the perplexity.

If you used Online TurboTax, you'd have to download a PDF with all the worksheets to get the Federal Information Worksheet to look at Part V.  If that's what you used, we can tell you how to get it from the Print Center inside the return.

If this is your first time having a penalty at the IRS or have other "reasonable cause", and if you wish to ask for an abatement, you might be able to seek that relief, if you wish.

https://www.irs.gov/payments/penalty-relief

[VolvoGirl]

I would check with your bank for the routing and account numbers.  Some banks use a different routing number for refunds and payments.  

[mesquitebean]

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@ VolvoGirl wrote:

I would check with your bank for the routing and account numbers.  Some banks use a different routing number for refunds and payments.  

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@ mark6781 

VolvoGirl makes a great point.  One such bank known to do that is Bank of America, where in some states the Bank of America electronic funds routing number can differ from the routing number shown on a paper check.  A few other banks do something similar.  So as she suggested, verify in your online banking account or ask your bank specifically what routing number to use for electronic funds transfers (ACH).

See this FAQ as an example, which is for Bank of America, if that happens to be your bank, but the same principle may also apply to a few other banks.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-refund/bank-america-routing-number-c...

[mark6781]

IRS confirmed they had no payment info. 

[mark6781]

I had already updated with the fact that the IRS confirmed no payment info was received.

[mark6781]

It shows Yes for Direct Debit and includes My correct bank routing and account info. Also the correct payment date and amount.

[DoninGA]

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@mark6781 wrote:

IRS confirmed they had no payment info. 

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Verify that the bank routing and account number for a direct debit would have been included with your tax return.

How you chose to pay the federal taxes owed will be on the Filing Instructions page for the federal return.  If direct debit was chosen the bank routing and account number will be on the page.

Additionally, the bank routing and account number will be included in the Federal Information Worksheet in Part V if direct debit was chosen.

If you are using the TurboTax desktop editions, start the 2023 program and Continue the 2023 return.  Click on Forms.  The Filing Instructions and the Federal Information Worksheet will be listed on the left side of the screen in forms mode.

If you used the TurboTax online editions for the 2023 tax return -

To access your current or prior year online tax returns sign onto the TurboTax website with the User ID you used to create the account - https://myturbotax.intuit.com/

When you sign onto your online account and land on the Tax Home web page, scroll down and click on Add a state. 

This will take you back to the 2023 online tax return.

Click on Tax Tools on the left side of the online program screen.  Then click on Print Center.  Then click on Print, save or preview this year's return.  Choose the option Include government and TurboTax worksheets

[mark6781]

I caught early and paid via IRS directly since the penalty is minor.  I'm more concerned about the time wasted and if someone suddenly fixes it and they take the money again.

The fact that nobody can take responsibility and figure out what went wrong means that TurboTax can't be trusted with payments.