Extremely high 2019 federal income tax

[poroszlo]

We are a senior, 84 and 78 years old, couple living in a retirement community.  For many years Turbo Tax was used to calculate our federal and state taxes.   After completion of our 2019 federal tax calculation we were confronted by an enormous discrepancy: While in 2018 we paid less than $100,  for 2019 we owe closed to $17,000.  Both of us retired from a state university.  Our income situation is very simple.  We checked the Turbo Tax forms  and could not find any reason for the discrepancy. Our questions:  Has any one  with identical or similar personal and professional background experienced such an enormous increase from 2018 to 2019 for federal tax; have they found any explanation in the Turbo Tax;  has anyone successfully contacted Turbo Tax and got an explanation?  Thank you.

[JotikaT2]

I have a couple of recommendations you can try.

Review your input in the income section.  Make sure you did not put an extra zero in or a decimal in the wrong place.  Compare the input to your source documents (1099-R forms).

Another thing you can do is compare your return to your prior return.  Make sure your income and withholdings are similar between each year. 

This may help narrow down why there is such a difference between years.

[fanfare]

you checked the form but did not find an error

Unless you took 150,000 out of your IRA, you must have made an error.

Check again.

Always print a copy of your completed tax return for your records, and review it carefully before e-Filing.
You will need it if you are audited by the IRS, or to amend because a TurboTax update changes your return.
OR, to find out why you are being asked to pay a tax of $17,000

P.S.

The same issue was reported yesterday by a retired couple.