Why am I being charged for TurboTax services that aren't available yet?

[carrie2004hines]

I went through this long process of filling my taxes yesterday, was charged $88, then told I could not file filed my state or federal taxes because TurboTax was fixing something new on their end. I am not going to pay for something if I don't know when I'll receive my refund. I've been using TurboTax for many years and I was always able to have my payment taken out of my refund. They took my money from my bank account and didn't complete their part of the deal. 

[xmasbaby0]

You cannot use "pay with refund" unless all of your forms are ready.   If all of your forms are not ready yet, you have to wait to e-file anyway.   There are a lot of federal and state forms that are not yet finalized.

Tax form availability tool    

(Dates are subject to change)

Be patient.   

IF you e-file now, your return will go into “pending” until the IRS starts to accept/reject returns in late January. You cannot make any changes while the return is on the server. The IRS will start to accept/reject 2025 e-files on January 26.   And….a state return cannot be accepted until after the IRS accepts your federal return.

REFUND PROCESSING

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/charges-and-fees/help/why-can-t-i-deduct-my-turbotax-fees-from-my-...

If your refund is enough to cover your TurboTax fees PLUS the extra “refund processing” fee of $40 ($45 in CA) and your forms are ready then when you are in the FILE section you can choose to have your fees deducted from your federal refund by a third party bank, who will take out your fees and send you the rest of your refund after the IRS issues the refund. 

Please make note that if your refund takes too long to arrive (IRS delays, etc.) then you will also be agreeing that the TurboTax fees can be extracted from your bank account even before your refund is issued by the IRS.  This comes as an unpleasant shock to many people every year.  

 If you can possibly pay your fees upfront using a debit or credit card, it will save you that extra fee and even more importantly, the possible aggravation and delays that are often the result of poor handling/poor customer service by that third party bank.  We see way too many instances where refunds are delayed for months when users choose refund processing. There have been lots of complaints; there are a number of things that can go wrong when you use refund processing.  I suggest avoiding that situation if at all possible.  

And....you can never pay state tax due from a federal refund, so do not expect that.   The state tax due has to be paid directly to your state.

What is Refund Processing Service?

How can I see my TurboTax  fees?   

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/intuit-account-billing/review-fees-turbo...