My federal return was sent to TurboTaxe's Green Dot Bank. Two months later I still don't have my refund they owe me and their techs hung up on me twice. What can I do?

[ldemie]

When you get it Green Dot Bank steals you money for fees, my Turbotax fee was $39.00 but the GREEDY Greendotbank fees was 115 and some cents,  the IRS did not allow my stimulus so that reduced my refund from 2902.00 to 870 yet only $717 was deposited, I'm on disability so every bit helps, how is this legal

[SweetieJean]

Going forward, you can avoid all this (and save the extra charge) by paying the TT fees up front with a credit or debit card.

[mesquitebean]

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@ldemie wrote:

When you get it Green Dot Bank steals you money for fees, my Turbotax fee was $39.00 but the GREEDY Greendotbank fees was 115 and some cents,  the IRS did not allow my stimulus so that reduced my refund from 2902.00 to 870 yet only $717 was deposited, I'm on disability so every bit helps, how is this legal

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Are you saying your fees were $153?    i.e., 870 minus 717?

  In this user community we won't know what product you used, but if you used Deluxe Edition and had a Federal and a state return and filed after March 1, the following fees might explain it.   This may or not be your situation.

Deluxe Federal return  $59

Deluxe State return $49

Option to pay the fees out of the Federal refund:  an additional service fee of 39.99 (44.99 for California residents).

Plus possible sales taxes

If you used those 3 things, that would total somewhere around the $153 you experienced.

[guillolo]

TurboTax stole my refund thru a Green Dot Bank, I tried to contact a nobody answers. If TurboTax keeps that money probably is legit but I have been waiting for close hat two months, and that is money that they keep and probably generating interest that I don't have and I need.  I  need to pay tuition and other stuff. Really now even TurboTax is stealing this is not good!!!!!

[DoninGA]

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@guillolo wrote:

TurboTax stole my refund thru a Green Dot Bank, I tried to contact a nobody answers. If TurboTax keeps that money probably is legit but I have been waiting for close hat two months, and that is money that they keep and probably generating interest that I don't have and I need.  I  need to pay tuition and other stuff. Really now even TurboTax is stealing this is not good!!!!!

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TurboTax does not receive any kind of tax refund, federal or state.

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 service charge deducted. The third party processor will deduct the TurboTax fees plus the 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
On this page you can also scroll down and click on Submit a request

Or https://taxpayer.sbtpg.com/

Call 1-877-908-7228

Santa Barbara Tax Products Group is a wholly owed subsidiary of Green Dot Corporation.  Stock Exchange symbol - GDOT

[Wh347]

You all crooks You kept  refund and sent me a worthless cashier check you all will loose business next year

[mesquitebean]

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@Wh347 wrote:

You all crooks You kept  refund and sent me a worthless cashier check you all will loose business next year

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This is mainly a user community forum--not a direct route to TurboTax Support.   If you chose to pay your fees out of the Federal refund, that process is not handled directly by TurboTax, but by a third-party company that TurboTax uses called Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (aka TPG or Tax Products Group.)    That company receives your refund from the IRS, subtracts the fees, then sends the rest to your bank account (or card).   If the direct deposit from SBTPG's bank to your bank (or card) failed, then it goes back to SBTPG, who issues a check in the mail.  So I assume that is the check you are referring to.   If that's your situation, then I don't know why you are having trouble cashing the check, but I can tell you how to phone SBTPG for assistance:

SBTPG has a phone contact page at the following link. It also shows their business hours.

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

[nicoledaniele]

Going to report to Federal Trade Commission 

[Wh347]

No I just used the regular, TurboTax I would advise anyone with difficult taxes to just pay and have a in person tax consultant do your taxes. Online tax services are ok for simple taxes, also make sure you pay for your online tax preparer up front. If you pay for the service by having it deducted from your refund like TurboTax does, your taxes goes to a third party bank like SBTPG who pays TurboTax the money you owe at that time SBTPG is in charge of your money and they set up guidelines where they hold your money as long as they want. You will be hit with charges for their service while they gather interest on your money. It's legal but highly frowned upon by people and Government agencies. It all comes down to read the small print, but let's face it if you don't have a law degree or knowledge of the law your not going to read 6 or 7 pages of crap you barely understand. I think there should be a law requiring all business related to public involvement do away with small print that no one understands, and just keep it simple.

[otcdogs]

Been waiting since June 17, 2021 for fed refund.   I made what has turned out to be a mistake of having them take their fee out of my refund.  Talked to Turbotax and finally, after many tries, got thru to Green Dot.  I have filed notice with the IRS and was told it's being investigated and a followup letter to that effect.  They sent what they had which said it was deposited to an acct number which they listed but GD said no such acct number exists and it is the wrong number of digits.   IRS has a financial entity responsible for issuing cks and I was told they have to complete their investigation before they will reissue.   Either GD is grossly incompetent or they are a shyster outfit.   

[nicoledaniele]

Report GreenDot to the Better Business Bureau. I did and got a response from both the and the IRS within a week.

[Wh347]

You are dealing with SBTPG they are affiliated with Green Dot, but SBTPG is in charge of your money, I would say that SBTPG is a crooked company for more information on how bad they are  search for ( SBTPG Reviews ) you will see the endless complaints and you will be quite upset.  File complaints 

1. Your State Attorney General

2. Consumer Complaints [phone number removed]

3. Federal Trade Commission

4. Federal Reserve Consumer Complaint.

There are more but that will get you started, don't feel alone SBTPG are doing many people the same as you and some even worse. P.S. Green Dot Bank isn't much better being that they work together. 

[deidrabowden245]

I have the same problem.  I need to speak with a representative on the phone to clear this up.

[xmasbaby0]

@deidrabowden245

Your tax refund was not sent to TurboTax.   TurboTax does not handle your refund at all.

Santa Barbara Tax Products Group, LLC  (SBTPG) is the bank that handles the Refund Processing Service when you choose to have your TurboTax fees deducted from your refund. This option also has an additional charge from the bank that processes the transaction. 

You can contact them SBTPG, toll-free, at 1-877-908-7228 or go to their secure website www.sbtpg.com 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2580357-who-provides-the-refund-processing-service

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/refunds/help/who-provides-pay-with-my-refund/00/26410

[otcdogs]

I have been waiting to receive a very substantial refund  since June of 2021 (pd taxes on what turned out to be unrealized cap gains).   IRS is investigating per my notification to them, but I was told it may take another 120 days.  It's now over a year.  They said my complaint was given to their financial services arm in chg of issuing govt checks to further investigate and I would have to wait for their results before they would consider reissuing the refund due to me.  Justice delayed is justice denied.  Was told by IRS it was purportedly deposited to Green Dot Bank acct #XXXXXXXX, whatever.   After going thru very strong, time-consuming headwinds to get a live GD person was told no such acct # exists, that it's supposed to be 12 digits rather than 14 digits, even talked to their headquarters with the same answer.   Also talked to TT to no avail.   Turbo Tax has to be aware of all the complaints on their community forum and they need to quit using this entity.   I think they could be culpable as well.  Judging by the number of complaints, GD is either so grossly incompetent that they shouldn't be allowed to conduct business or they are a shyster outfit or both.  I just recently filled out an on-line complaint with the CA Attorney General.  Like so many others in the same boat,  I made the fatal error of allowing  GD to take their electronic filing fees from my refund.