@ Defraudedcustomer wrote:
Its the dirty practice of charging you $40 for giving you your own money.
I don't work for TurboTax. I'm a fellow user, but I can tell you why there is a service fee for that option to pay fees out of one's Federal refund. Whether it is an appropriate amount or not, would be a different debate. There is no service fee if one pays their product fees upfront with credit/debit card or a prepaid debit card one can buy in a store.
When you choose to pay your TurboTax fees out of your Federal refund, an intermediary company (SBTPG) opens a temporary bank account in your name at one of its banks. That bank receives your deposit from the IRS into your temporary account. It then takes out the fees, and sends the rest to your bank account (or card.) Then the intermediary bank closes that bank account it opened for you.
So there are likely costs related to administering the opening of the bank account, paperwork, Federal regulatory requirements, etc.
