topic Re: TurboTax charge in Retirement tax questions

TurboTax charge

subhra_roy — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 06:52:32 GMT

Why TurboTax charges so much for a RETIREE filing taxes ONLINE when retiree has ZERO payment and also ZERO receiving (BOTH Federal and State) with ZERO income (except SS)?

Re: TurboTax charge

xmasbaby0 — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 16:44:27 GMT

If your ONLY income is Social Security you are not required to file a tax return.

Re: TurboTax charge

evelynm — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 16:51:45 GMT

Here is a great resource for further details: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/irs-tax-return/does-everyone-need-to-file-an-income-tax-return/L7pluHkoW

Re: TurboTax charge

subhra_roy — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 16:54:36 GMT

Think you added additional point to my question. Why TurboTax charging in that case?

Re: TurboTax charge

Cindy4 — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 16:55:26 GMT

Hi zubhra_roy!

If your only income is social security, you may not even have a filing requirement.

Here is a basic guide from the IRS to see if your social security benefits are taxable:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-news/at-01-08.pdf

You may have selected extra benefits offered by TurboTax that caused an additional charge. Here is the guide to options to remove those additional benefits:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/intuit-account-billing/charged-turbotax-free-edition/L5OrUAL5i_US_en_US

Additionally the IRS offers a freefile website that may be beneficial to you:

https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free

Take care,

Cindy

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Re: TurboTax charge

xmasbaby0 — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 18:26:09 GMT

@subhra_roy We cannot tell what version of TurboTax you are using. As stated, if your only income is Social Security you do not even need to file a tax return, so you could just abandon the account and forget about filing.

But if you use TurboTax and you file a tax return, you will be charged for the version of the software you use. regardless of whether you owe or are getting a refund. Your TurboTax fees are not based on whether you are getting a refund; your fees are based on the software you actually USE. It sounds like you are trying to use a paid version of the software----unnecessarily.

If you have not paid, then just clear the return, or abandon the TT account and pay nothing. You do not need to file a tax return if your only income was Social Security.