I seem to have an unusual problem. In 2019 and 2020, I was concerned that I might be over the Roth contribution limit so I ran the numbers through Turbo Tax (desktop) and yes, I was over. So I backed out, made no Roth contributions, and filed. Turbo Tax has worked so well for me over many, many years, that I did not review the forms carefully and did not notice that TT had included (both years) a form 5329 and subtracted a substantial penalty from my refunds since I was over the limit. I noticed this the next year and filed 1040X revisions and got a very terse reply that "We previously adjusted your account...the adjustment we made went to an offset on another account. We are taking no further action at this time." I telephoned and someone eventually told me that the money was a penalty and apparently went to something like law enforcement? So they didn't have any straightforward way to refund me. He suggested that I file revised forms 5329 as well and I am hoping that this will trigger something more satisfactory. The amounts are not trivial. Can you advise me on any alternative course? And I hope that this quirk in TT is now fixed (this year I was under and did not back out so I don't know), and that no one else has been hit with this kind of penalty.
