California Refund Still Pending - Received Status = Unknown

[mshaf]

No last year was a different issue.  This year I was able to correct the issue for my brother in law only after his CA return was rejected.  We resent through TT immediately after he was rejected and a few hours later his return was accepted by CA. 

[mslatinlady]

So how was his return "Rejected" ?  Who "rejected" it ?  If California has not even received our yet, how could California "reject" it?   Those of us still Pending have no way to know if California has even received ours in order for California to reject it !! 

[tousley64]

Funny--Last 2 years I filed with HRBlock and had the same problem, but they described it with a big watermark on the state forms that said "DO NOT FILE-STATE TAX FORMS STILL PENDING".  Very frustrating, but after a few weeks, they went through just fine. I left HRB because of that--and here at TT, looks like the same thing. Only TT is mute on this issue, and trying to resolve it over the phone is an exercise in futility. It'll probably sort itself out, so I'm not stressing over it right now.

[HB88]

This is the problem, Turbotax knows there is a problem and have incompetent "experts" spamming nonsense on these threads to give the illusion the issue is resolved.

They need to be held accountable for their actions and a simple acknowledgement goes a long way.

They will lose customers as a result, pure and simple

[mslatinlady]

OK, I just got off the phone with Calif Franchise Tax Board (FTB) after nearly a 2-hour wait on hold.  The FTB rep said she did NOT see my California return in their system.  She said she's getting lots of calls from TurboTax customers.  I then asked her what are my options?  I asked her whether I can print a hard copy of my California return and mail it  to Franchise Tax Board?  She said, yes of course I can mail a hard copy.   I then asked her, What happens if the FTB receives the hard copy, then the FTB receives the e-filed one?  She said not to worry, if they receive a duplicate, they'll simply process one and not the other.  She said that once the FTB receives the hard copy, an employee simply "scans" it into their system.  But she assured me that only ONE copy (either hard copy or the e-filed copy, whichever they receive first) will be processed.  I told her that I may wait 2 or 3 weeks more to see if my e-filed return is processed.  ALSO (and this is VERY important), I asked her does California FTB "pull" our returns from the Turbotax servers?  And she said NO, they do NOT.  Turbotax "pushes" (sends) them to the agencies (whether it is the IRS or the states).  So these TurboTax experts on here are NOT telling us the true story.  Here's the address for the California FTB:  P.O. Box 942840, Sacramento, CA  94240 -  0001 .    I sincerely hope and pray that TurboTax sends our returns over to California FTB asap.  But at least this is an alternative.  Blessings to us all

[mslatinlady]

OK, I just got off the phone with Calif Franchise Tax Board (FTB) after nearly a 2-hour wait on hold.  The FTB rep said she did NOT see my California return in their system.  She said she's getting lots of calls from TurboTax customers.  I then asked her what are my options?  I asked her whether I can print a hard copy of my California return and mail it  to Franchise Tax Board?  She said, yes of course I can mail a hard copy.   I then asked her, What happens if the FTB receives the hard copy, then the FTB receives the e-filed one?  She said not to worry, if they receive a duplicate, they'll simply process one and not the other.  She said that once the FTB receives the hard copy, an employee simply "scans" it into their system.  But she assured me that only ONE copy (either hard copy or the e-filed copy, whichever they receive first) will be processed.  I told her that I may wait 2 or 3 weeks more to see if my e-filed return is processed.  ALSO (and this is VERY important), I asked her does California FTB "pull" our returns from the Turbotax servers?  And she said NO, they do NOT.  Turbotax "pushes" (sends) them to the agencies (whether it is the IRS or the states).  So these TurboTax experts on here are NOT telling us the true story.  Here's the address for the California FTB:  P.O. Box 942840, Sacramento, CA  94240 -  0001 .    I sincerely hope and pray that TurboTax sends our returns over to California FTB asap.  But at least this is an alternative.  Blessings to us all

[HB88]

I believe you more than i believe these spammer "experts" but this puts us all in a bad situation and it is a mess.

We all paid $20 to file through turbotax, I'm going to demand a refund if they fail to send the forms to the state. This is completely absurd.

[macuser_22]

Phone agents have little or no knowledge of how the Modernized e-File (Mef) system works.     Only the technical persons that maintain it would know how tax returns are actually retrieved.

States can get tax returns two ways.  1) The IRS can retrieve (poll) for both the Federal and State return and then the IRS does send the state return to the state.

2) Some states have installed their own system and do not use the IRS to get the return so they retrieve it themselves.

I do  not know which CA uses.   If #1 then the of the IRA has accepted the Federal return, the IRS will also have the state.  If the State does not have it then the issue is between the state and the IRS.

Much of this is described in Pub 4164

Modernized e-File (MeF) Guide for Software Developers and Transmitters Processing Year 2021

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4164.pdf

[HB88]

Yes i'm on the phone with a TurboTax rep now and he is saying there is no pulling, it is pushed out right away as soon as it is filed.

The level of miss-information is astonishing

[mslatinlady]

Ask the Turbotax rep you're talking to to send out the returns that were efiled prior to Feb 12 to California !

[HB88]

He is clueless but admits there is a problem, he is not contact "Support". i thought i was talking to him being support but it must be a tier 2 and that level has no direct phone number so now I'm stuck waiting for him, waiting for support to respond to him. amazing level of customer service. And he is remote working from home on the east coast.

[mslatinlady]

When I called Turbotax, the system asked for my soc security # and I didn't want to enter it on my keypad, so I hung up.  Please don't hang up your phone call until they send out all California returns that were filed prior to February 12 !!

[HB88]

I didn't enter my social either, i kept pressing zero and finally got through to someone, but he has no idea what is going on, so not much help here. Still on hold waiting for support to reach out to him based on my question.

Comical at best how their support works or lack there of

[mslatinlady]

Can you document your conversation and then post it here so we can all read it ?  BUT don't let him off the hook.  You need the correct answer to make sure all our returns to California are pushed out to the Calif Franchise Tax Board !  THANK YOU !!!!!

[HB88]

Still on the phone

[mslatinlady]

Tell the rep I efiled both my Fed and Calif on Feb 2.  The Federal accepted it on Feb 11.  But California is still pending.  And the FTB person I spoke to this morning said that FTB doesn't "pull" returns, that TurboTax pushes them out to the states.