Santa Barbara Tax Products Group- Holding Tax Refund and Will not respond

[eloisemillie]

I filed my taxes through TurboTax in January 2022. In February, my refund was released from the IRS and sent to TurboTax.  Allegedly, my bank rejected the direct deposit and my refund was sent to TPG (a
Santa Barbara bank) who handles TurboTax tax refunds. My bank says they have no record of ever receiving an attempted deposit from TurboTax or Tax Products Group. I have called Tax Product Group 15+ times in the past two weeks, and have to wait on hold for hours or wait for a callback (which they sometimes never call back). On their website, they show they received my refund on 3/2/22, which was the correct amount and the amount stated on the letter I received from the IRS. I am owed $2,457 from TPG and still have not received the check in the mail. Every time I call their customer service, I am told the check will be issued that day-- it has been over 3 weeks and still no check. They claim on their website that they "never hold refunds and issue the money immediately". This is not true. I have called TurboTax to try and get additional information, but they have done nothing to help.

As of today, I have filed complaints with the BBB against Intuit-Turbo Tax, Santa Barbara Tax Products Group, and Green Dot Corporation (SBTPG parent company). In addition, I have filed a claim/complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I will not stop until I receive a response from one of these companies and my refund check is either direct deposited or a check is issued and sent to my address.

[ashleyfloyd2020]

They won't help even if they do respond. I just got screamed at by a lunatic that is apparently a representative of theirs. The way to get them to answer is to call the number, put in your info like normal, after it's done telling you your status you wait and I think it's "2" that you have to push (the one that says check the history or whatever 🤔), then after it checks your history it will ask if you want to speak to a representative, just hit the button for that. When it connects you, expect to wait like 4 or more hours. Just hit "1" and make them call you back. 😉 But, they won't be any help when they do call you. This place is insanely shady. I cannot believe people like the person I just spoke to are the ones who are handling our money. The way he yelled at me seemed very.. unsettling. They just keep saying to fill out some form and get it notorized and send it back to them to get a new check issued. I'm not doing that. They need to issue my check, simple as that, but they just lie and give you the runaround. The other one I spoke to hung up on me, I'm not trying to be rude to these people either, it's the questions I'm asking. They don't want to answer it for some reason. Why? Idk. I'm sorry this is happening.

[eloisemillie]

It's so crazy! I've tried to be very nice to the customer service reps that I've actually gotten to speak with-- it's not their fault. This is the company's issue and it makes them seem very shady. I have not been told about the form and getting it notarized... when I finally get ahold of someone again I will ask about that. 

[markishajames0528]

I am having this same issue. They said my bank rejected it and the bank states they've never even been tried to deposit it. Tpg shows a check supposed to have been issued but I have since moved and did a forwarding of mail but still nothing. I've even drove 4 hrs to check my old mail and nothing. I've tried contacting the irs, turbo tax, and tpg and can't get through to anyone. I filed a bbb complaint as well. Next step is getting a lawyer cause this is ridiculous. 

[markishajames0528]

[beerice777]

Did they send you a cashier's check or just deposited that into your account? what was the 117.00 they charged you for? doesn't seem right that they can't just charge a person and have not description or purpose for that charge.

[markishajames0528]

I haven't been able to contact the IRS TPG or Turbo tax 

[markishajames0528]

I haven't received anything 😕

[Buzzed2016]

My 1st and 2nd stimuli payments were sent to Santa Barbara Tax Products Group in 2021 although they had no authorization to access my funds. Of course, they failed to return the direct deposits or reimburse me in some way. At first, I was told to contact Greendot Bank (which I've never even heard of, and to no avail, they would NOT assist me because I didn't have an "account number" to give them, DUH). I learned that SBTPG is the parent company of Greendot I believe. Both companies appear to be shady; they have poor customer service and won't allow you to speak to a supervisor or appropriate departments if you can't provide information you otherwise wouldn't have because you're not associated with them in the first place. I filed a complaint with the IRS and they traced my funds but nobody has responded to the request sent by the Office of the Controller of the Currency who I also reached out to. I'm notating the other entities you complained to and will be reaching out to them as well. I will never file with TurboTax in my life again. I wonder if a class action is applicable in this case??

[Ak55]

Have you received it

[Buzzed2016]

Nah. I started the investigation in late February of this year so it hasn’t been too long. Greendot hasn’t responded to the inquiries, however I’m calling to update them about SBTPG’s involvement too since I was unaware at first. 

I even checked to see if I was issued a TurboTax Prepaid Visa just in case the funds were somehow deposited there (mind you I’ve only EVER elected direct deposit into my own bank accounts) but nope, money’s not there either. 

[bllogova]

FTC filed a case against Turbo Tax just recently. So… all that we can do is wait at this point.

[jpmmartin1]

After 3 days hours of being on hold, speaking to TurboTax, who's support originally sent me to CreditKarma, who had me create an account for my deposit to be dropped in, until it didn't show up and i had to start over....also being told there were no systemic issues with held refunds. Calls back to the IRS and then to GreenDot bank, which is what the routing number is assigned to.... and FINALLY I discovered this link and the fact TurboTax is aware of the issue...and since i'm on the line with support now and asked the support staff member....this issue has NEVER BEEN DISCUSSED with their support staff, they are still being told to give the standard BS that Santa Clara send refunds within 48 hours of being received...they got mine 3/16/22 and are still holding it

[MittenKitten]

WTF. This is the first year we have had any issue with TurboTax. Today we received less than half of our tax return amount. We had no idea there was a third party involved in getting our refund. There was no indication that Turbo was doing this. Is this some kind of scam?...I don't need a "middle man" handling my refund, holding part of the funds and having access to my bank account info.

[DoninGA]

@MittenKitten 

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