Retirement Savings Contribution forcing Deluxe and Inconsistent Pricing

[dostangos]

Hello. I'm an active duty military member and I've happily filed my taxes with TT for the past 7 years. Nothing significant has changed in my life or income since last year, however, this year I'm being told that I can not file for free due to my retirement savings contribution credit and that I must upgrade to Deluxe, otherwise I won't be able to receive this deduction.

I've checked my forms for last year and I received the credit without any issues. Has something about this changed since last year? Why is there an upcharge for this form in particular? Is there still a way I can file for free while still receiving all of the deductions I am entitled to?

At the risk of being forward, I have to say that this seems quite disingenuous. My financial situation is not at all unusual; I have no investments or qualifications that complicate my finances - I am just contributing to the TSP, as many military members are. If TSP contribution alone is considered enough of a complication to opt for Deluxe, then the majority of military members are likely to be in such a situation where they do not qualify for the free version. So the prominent advertising that military members can file for free is very misleading.

Not to mention, that the $39 price tag listed for Deluxe jumps to $79 for no apparent reason when you go to check out... if filing State was free in the free version, why am I suddenly paying 40 dollars for it?

I have been a loyal user of TT up until now and often recommended it to my friends or relatives, but if this was not an error of some kind, I find it very disappointing and will be filing elsewhere from here on.

[SteamTrain]

@dostangos 

If you are enlisted military, and not an Officer.

Then the use and filing of either Deluxe or Premium is free for you.

BUT...you must make sure you first do the following:

1)  Indicate you are in the military during the entry of yourself in  My Info

and then....something that many Military folks miss

2)  On your DFAS W-2 entry, on the page AFTER the main W-2 form, there is a page with a whole long list of checkboxes....there is one in the middle that you must check, to indicate it is an active duty military W-2.

That second one is critical too.  

Then, the use of any of the online versions is free, Deluxe and Premium too....as long as you do NOT attempt to upgrade to a LIVE version.....(they keep pushing people to that ..don't accidentally select LIVE)

And you can go ahead and use the Retirment Savings Contribution credit again in Deluxe

[dostangos]

Thank you for the reply. However, I've indicated my status as active duty enlisted on my info and in the list of questions after my W-2. I am still being prompted to confirm my payment method. Please see attached screenshots: 

Since the current asking for my credit card info and confirm payment, I don't want to click through any further in case it attempts to charge me.

[SteamTrain · Accepted solution]

Yeah....I have no idea how that got screwed up.  It "should" work as long as you indicated your enlisted rank in the My Info area.

It really shouldn't be necessary, but Another thing to try...try logging into your account thru Military page and see what  happens (use the sign-in in the upper rt corner)...there may be some cookie that is set.

TurboTax® Free Military Taxes 2023-2024 (intuit.com)

IF that doesn't fix it, You'll probably have to call Customer Support, and let them work thru it with you...they may be able to zero those fees out:

What is the TurboTax phone number? (intuit.com)

[dostangos]

Yeah, in the end Customer Support had to manually issue a service code to remove the remaining charges.

Still think the situation is a bit shady, considering that Deluxe being free isn't explicitly mentioned on the Military Discount page, and that I had to spend 30 minutes on the phone to get someone to add it on manually.

If they still have this problem next year, I think I'll move on and find some other way to file.