topic Federal Direct Debit in After you file

Federal Direct Debit

cgmartin — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 10:57:14 GMT

I will be efiling my 2022 federal and California taxes. I will owe several thousand dollars to the IRS. On the Federal Information Worksheet, in part V, it asks ..."Do you want direct debit of federal balance due?" Since I owe money, the yes response applies. I have all my bank information already entered.

Immediately after I check the "yes" box, I get a red exclamation mark under the "Forms in my Return" column on the left hand side, along with a "not done" remark next to it. If I uncheck the yes box, the red mark goes away, along with the comment. Is there another place or form where I need indicate I intend to efile?

Re: Federal Direct Debit

Critter-3 — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 13:24:47 GMT

Ok .... hold up. Until all your forms are ready to file in the REVIEW tab do not try to complete the FILE tab. You have until 4/18 to make the payment so please be patient. No Debit info is sent to the IRS until you actually efile AND it is accepted for processing by the IRS.

Now you can also choose to "mail a check" in the program and instead of mailing a check simply pay the feds/state on their websites directly avoiding any delays/issues of doing it with the returns as problems sometimes happen.

Re: Federal Direct Debit

Critter-3 — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 13:26:55 GMT

Also you should NOT be working in the FORMS mode to complete a return ... please switch back to the step by step mode and click on the REVIEW tab to see what is still not ready. Then complete the FILE tab when all is clear.