The fee is listed on the payment page under the second option, which is the option to pay with the federal refund. It's listed there only because that is the only option that charges a fee. 

Thank you for your feedback, however, nowhere on the TurboTax website while prepping your taxes does it state that if you pay with a credit card that you WON'T be charged the $39.99 fee. TurboTax is misleading consumers. They should be offering full disclosure. Even in their explanation of the fee, which I found later on the website, they admit to it being misleading with this language, "Despite the somewhat misleading name, you don't need Refund Processing to process your refund!" If they themselves feel it's misleading, certainly they should change the name AND disclose that they fee WON'T be charged if you use a credit card.

Agreed. I was confused at end when I seen 2 charges of $39.99. So I asked community and found your answer, which I agree with completely. I didn't have a clue I was going to be charged to pay with refund. Turbo Tax has been an excellent service for me for years, this was first let down for me, sad moment.

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@barrybrooksby wrote:

The $39.99 so called Refund Processing fee is misleading and the TurboTax website is misleading. Why isn't there a notification or disclaimer that says if you pay with a credit card then the $39.99 fee won't be charged? TurboTax is misleading it's customers. Put a box on the payment page that says, if you pay with a credit card you will NOT be charged the $39.99 fee. This is deceptive marketing by Intuit.

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Wow!  Turbo Tax.... what have you done this year?  You were a trusted tax return prep software, but not now!  This was so sneaky and deceiving and I am a 40 year CPA who didn't even know what happened or how until (thank God) I printed the return out to check it and saw all the strange and crazy paperwork!  39.99 called "tax preparation fees", so my refund can go to them instead of me and then they can pay it to me?  What kind of idiots do you think people are?  What a terrible marketing idea!! I'm sure you are getting a cut, but the lost revenue in the future because of this will make you very, very sorry you made the decision to throw this deceiving gimmick into your software!  I plan to publish this notice as many times and to as many people as I can!  I still cannot believe it happens right after it says file federal for free and 19.99 for state filing.  It is really not obvious as to what is happening and I'm sure the normal person will miss it!  Sad, very sad.

OK .... TAKE A BREATH ... THIS PROCESSING FEE HAS BEEN AROUND FOR YEARS AND ALL THE TAX PREP SOFTWARE COMPANIES DO IT.

Next it is not a surprise ... you had to agree to it no less than 3 times so if you do not read the contract you are signing then only you are to blame ... here are a few of the screenshots you had to pass ...

Sounds like you are using the Desktop installed program?  Nothing has changed.  It is still 19.99 to efile a state return. You must have selected to have the state efile fee deducted from your federal refund.  Yes there has always been a 39.99 Refund Processing Service charge (44.99 in California) to have the fees deducted.  So it will be 19.99+39.99= 59.98 

If you haven't filed yet go back through the File tab and read the screens more slowly and watch what you click on.  There is one screen that can trip you up.

I already owe several thousand in taxes, I already purchased your tax program I WILL NOT PAY YOU A $39.99 refund processing fee.  I'm paying not getting a refund.

I agree.  I'm still miffed that Intuit changed Quicken to a rental program.  I didn't fall for their scheme  with Quicken and found another way to download credit card accounts into Quicken. 

Plus I'm not getting a refund so why the heck should I pay a refund service fee?  I tried everything to make that $39.99 fee go away but nothing worked.  So I printed the pages, put them in an envelope and I'll mail them.

This was very confusing to me.  Because of the way that it was worded, it appeared that I had to pay $40 to get my federal refund.  I thought I either had the $40 deducted from my refund or I pay $40 via credit card.  Either way, I would have to pay $40.  At first I thought I might as well just have it deducted from my refund and then I started digging some more.  After quite a bit of time researching, I figured out that this "Refund Processing" fee had nothing to do with me getting a refund it was just a "convenience" fee.  Since I am e-filing my state, I am charged $25 which I agreed to do.  With this other screen it really wanted to know do I want to pay the $25 with a credit card or do I want to have $40 or $65 deducted from my federal return (I'm not sure which) to avoid having to use my credit card.  I think it intentionally has made this confusing so that you will just bite the bullet and spend the extra money.

@Doug-e-c 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/intuit-account-billing/remove-pay-refund...