Without the risk meter, how am I confident that my return is sound? This is the 1st time I had several new items.

[ToddL · Accepted solution]

The Federal and State Reviews in TurboTax are what checks your return for accuracy and completeness ("soundness") of your tax return.

The Audit Risk Meter didn't check for accuracy or completeness, it just identified certain forms and tax items that the IRS had historically subjected to additional scrutiny because of their potential for error, abuse or under-reporting.

Even at that, the IRS randomly reviews a small percentage of returns regardless of audit risk. In addition, the IRS's focus on audit risk factors changes periodically and is not made public.