topic Back taxes and refund in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Back taxes and refund

scrubs2011 — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 08:38:14 GMT

My friend owes the IRS money and is on a payment plan. He adjusted his W4 and is due a Federal refund. He knows it will be applied to what he owes which is fine. Turbotax will not let him file electronically. Is this normal? Should he just file by paper? Thank you for any assistance

Re: Back taxes and refund

JulieS — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 18:39:27 GMT

No, that is not normal. His situation should not prevent him from e-filing, unless he is trying to pay for the tax program out of his refund.

Please clarify if there may be another reason he can't e-file?

Re: Back taxes and refund

scrubs2011 — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 19:11:01 GMT

I was under the impression that his federal refund would automatically be applied to his payment plan which is fine by him. I will have him try filing the Federal and State again.

Re: Back taxes and refund

JohnB5677 — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 19:21:27 GMT

The question @JulieS was asking is how did he intend to pay TurboTax for the software. One option is to pay with a refund. This may disallow the E-filing of the return. He will have to pay with a credit card.