Paid $25 to get my refund early this year but also claimed the ACTC?

[psts]

Hello! I filed taxes a couple of days ago and was just accepted today. I paid TurboTax the $25 to get my refund early and it gives me an estimated date of 2/11 for a deposit. However, I did claim the ACTC and I know that doing so causes the IRS to hold your refund due to the PATH Act. Does TurboTax take this into consideration when offering the early refund? Is there any chance that I will get it before 2/15 because I paid extra or will I just be refunded that amount? When I filed, I was under the impression that I would get it five days earlier than the date I was given but I don't even think that's possible with the PATH Act?

I guess I'm trying to just get a timeframe for when this will come because I'm a little confused now. It seems like something that TurboTax should be taking into account when offering the early refunds? Thanks in advance. 

[CatinaT1]

Due to PATH Act, the IRS holds refunds for EITC/ACTC customers until March 3.  

{Edited 1/24/2025}

[Opus 17]

The program assumes that the IRS provides notification of a pending deposit 5 days before the actual deposit.  You can usually see this in "where's my refund"; it might say something like "refund approved, payment expected on February 28" (just as an example).  Turbotax would credit you 5 days in front of that date.  But ultimately, the IRS pays whenever they pay, and Turbotax has no control over that.

[racheboorma88]

That kind of makes sense. I'm in the same situation. I have the path hold for eitc and ctc. I paid the $25 to receive my refund 5 days early. My estimated refund day on TurboTax says February 7th. That is way before the path date. When should I expect to receive my refund? I feel like this was really sneaky of TurboTax to offer this option to people without explaining. Also I paid my fees with my refund, so my refund first gets sent to stpg to pay my fees before I receive my refund. I smell a lawsuit coming on for false representation. If they don't give us back our $25 that we paid, is TurboTax just going to say that or refund was 5 days earlier than it would have been. How do we prove otherwise?

[Opus 17]

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@racheboorma88 wrote:

That kind of makes sense. I'm in the same situation. I have the path hold for eitc and ctc. I paid the $25 to receive my refund 5 days early. My estimated refund day on TurboTax says February 7th. That is way before the path date. When should I expect to receive my refund? I feel like this was really sneaky of TurboTax to offer this option to people without explaining. Also I paid my fees with my refund, so my refund first gets sent to stpg to pay my fees before I receive my refund. I smell a lawsuit coming on for false representation. If they don't give us back our $25 that we paid, is TurboTax just going to say that or refund was 5 days earlier than it would have been. How do we prove otherwise?

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Any date turbotax gives you is meaningless.  Probably based on a general assumption that most refunds are paid in 3 weeks.  Use the IRS "Where's my refund" web site to track the progress of your tax refund.  That's where the 5 day advance notice comes from.  In most cases (I can't promise all cases) the IRS provides advance notice.  Essentially, your tax return can be approved for refund on any particular day, but refunds are only paid once or twice a week on a particular schedule.  The IRS used to publish a calendar for tax professionals that said something like, "refunds approved between 2/1 and 2/5 will be paid on 2/10; refunds approved from 2/6-2/10 will be paid on 2/15", and so on.  I don't know if that still exists, but you should see something on "Where's my refund" once the IRS officially opens e-filing.  

The $25 "5-day early" offer states in the fine print that this is based on the IRS providing 5 days advance notice, but that all payment of refunds is solely up to the IRS.  The offer also states that if it is not possible to pay the refund 5 days early, you will not be charged the $25.  I don't know if that will be automatic or if you will have to make a claim.  

[camtaylor]

Not true.. they hold all refunds until mid/February. It says on the IRS website, they are required to hold all refunds claiming any credits under PATH until February 15th, 2025. Being that date is a Saturday, deposits will most likely start going out the next week. 

[camtaylor]

The program assumes that the IRS provides notification of a pending deposit 5 days before the actual deposit.  You can usually see this in "where's my refund"; it might say something like "refund approved, payment expected on February 28" (just as an example).  Turbotax would credit you 5 days in front of that date.  But ultimately, the IRS pays whenever they pay, and Turbotax has no control over that.

[Kyraa16]

You did not answer her question. Will we be refunded the 25 dollars? 

[CatinaT1]

If for some reason your federal refund is deposited into your selected bank account less than 5 days before the IRS refund settlement date (the date it would have arrived if sent from the IRS directly), then you will not pay the 5 Days Early fee.

[camtaylor]

They will not deduct it if it is not 5 days early. 

[fitz6870]

yeah turbo tax is being really sneaky with the 25 to get 5 days early. i did not want this option and it made me choose it i could not finish my return without allowing this option. I am frustrated and feel like i am being ripped off once again by turbo tax. I told my husband about the fact that turbo tax made me do this and he is equally frustrated. It is wrong and they should not be allowed to do that. A few years back it forced me to purchase the maxx and i did not want that either. They are super sneaky at this and they should not be allowed to force you into a purchase.

[racheboorma88]

Hi, 

That really sucks. See I don't know about that issue of not allowing you to continue to fall without selecting the option. Because it when I saw the option I thought it was cool so I just selected it by choice. I just feel like the lines are really vague about the whole offering. For example if you make that selection it causes your refund to go through a different bank. I always have the fees taken from my refund so I'm no newcomer when it comes to having my refund sent to Santa Barbara tax product group. But I don't know how this is going to affect my refund now because I chose the option and it supposedly goes to a different bank, but I did have my fees taken for my refund so I imagine it will still be sent to Santa Barbara tax product group?! What I can say is I know also the issue of being encouraged to upgrade. What I noticed different this year is that it was very clear when making that type of selection. And each screen gave you the option to downgrade which was never offered before. So I appreciate that change from them.

[fitz6870]

I actually looked over every option i have used turbo tax every year for many years and they were super sneaky on this one. There was no option anywhere for me to decline this because i tried i spent over 15 minutes looking for how i could decline it and it would not let me. I am super annoyed and don't think i will use them after this year. There are so many options out there to use and i will probably one of them for my future returns.

[DoninGA]

@fitz6870 Using the TurboTax online editions for 2024, when you had a tax refund and were in the File section of the program on Step 2, you did not see these options on how to receive the federal tax refund?

[Otr2025]

This is totally incorrect. I’ve been affected by Path since it was put into place and have never gotten a refund that late. The past several years it’s been 2/22-2/26, matching right up with the DDD that I get from the IRS. It’s funny that they put “Expert” next to your username…