@ Dawna wrote:
Yes this is very confusing. I too have been using it for years and I too have had one FREE efile for state.
This year I did my brothers first and it gave me the option for the free state efile and I said NO, because I was going to use it on my own.
However when I did mine it never gave the option, nor on any subsequent ones.
It seems to be sporadic in giving the free efile. But I paid $19.99 not $24. 99
I've encountered the state efile fee, too, for some time. If the product edition is one that includes state, that means the state program is included to prepare the state return but not the efile of the state return. In early filing season the state efile fee is 19.99. It doesn't change to 24.99 until later in filing season when the prices on all TurboTax products increase. Actually prices in early filing season are "discounted", and they revert back to the normal undiscounted price later in season, which accounts for the price increase. I think last year it changed a bit earlier than usual--around the first of March. In years prior to that it was around mid-March, so it's unpredictable when the prices will increase this year. Judging by last year, I'd be suspicious the price increases will be near March 1 or soon thereafter, but that's just a guess based on last year.
This is an old thread from last year that transferred into this new Community forum last June, and all the old posts that transferred to the new Community were given the date of "6/06/2019," when the transfer occurred. That's why you are seeing some of the old comments here mention 24.99. Some of these users posted after the late-season price increase last March.
New York is the only state that has no state efile fee because the NY legislature prevents it, since state efiling is mandatory in NY.
I admit it would be less confusing if TurboTax is determined to get that revenue that they would just increase the price of the desktop software by $20, and have no state efile fee. That would also do away with any credit card problems some people have when trying to pay for the state efile fee. But then that would make other users angry who want to avoid the fee by printing and mailing, or who have to file by mail because something in their returns won't let them efile.
Quite a few years ago, Turbotax had promo rebate offers on or in the box where one could send in a coupon to have the state efile fee rebated, but they haven't offered that type of rebate in recent years.
