The TurboTax software had me pay $1040 between the IRS and CA Franchise Tax Board. I wrote the checks, trusting in the software.
I just finished the manual calculations. When I subtract the 401(k) HSA contributions that were supposed to be deferred for the purposes of calculating federal taxable income, I see that I should have been receiving a total refund of $870 between IRS and FTB. That's a big discrepancy, worth $1910 net to my family's budget.
I could have paid a tax attorney $1000 to file my returns and still come out ahead of where TurboTax put me.
