@ gaga542 wrote:
The Santa Barbara's customer service line and email is not working either. Why are they involved with my return since I never asked for my refund to be used to pay taxes -which I do not owe any?
Yes I logged into the online IRS tool and they said that they are looking at my return and I might get a partial refund until it is resolved.
This is the worst customer experience that I have had with Intuit over my 35 year history with them
THIS ISSUE NEEDS TO BE ESCALATED TO SENIOR MANAGEMENT. i THINK THIS IS A SCAM AND THE SECURITY NEEDS TO BE NOTIFED IMMEDIATELY.
"Yes I logged into the online IRS tool and they said that they are looking at my return and I might get a partial refund until it is resolved."
That sounds to me like the IRS is saying you may only get a partial refund until they finish their investigation of whatever caught their attention in your return. Only the IRS will know what they are doing with your return. I left info above on how to phone the IRS if you wish to speak to them instead of waiting to see if you get a notice/letter from them.
You previously asked: "why was that company (SBTPG) involved at all?"
SBTPG comes into play if you chose to pay your TurboTax product fees out of the Federal refund. If so, TurboTax has to use a third-party company and its bank to take out the product fees. TurboTax is not a bank so it can't handle the funds itself, so it uses SBTPG. But from that message you posted from the IRS, it sounds like the holdup is at the IRS.
You said you're having trouble contacting SBTPG. I don't know any phone trick other than persistence or trying to fool any AI with different keywords or trying to get around it by pressing 0 several times, etc. However, what do you see when you log in with your information at SBTPG using their refund lookup tool? Choose the "For Taxpayer's" link at this site:
https://www.sbtpg.com/
SBTPG's phone support hours are Mon-Fri 7am - 4pm Pacific
https://help.sbtpg.com/hc/en-us/articles/230084587-Contact-information
If you need to speak to TurboTax Support by phone, here's how:
FAQ: What is the TurboTax phone number?
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/using-turbotax/help/what-is-the-turbotax-phone-number/00/25632
