45.00 charge

[DawnC]

To review your TurboTax fees:

• Open or continue your return.
• On Tax Home, select Start or Continue to enter your return.
• Select Tax Tools from the menu, and then Tools.
• A Tools Center box will pop up on your screen.
• Select My Fees.

[mesquitebean]

I'll take a guess.   With such little info, are you a California filer and asking about "Premium Services bundle" fee?   If so, and if you chose to pay your TurboTax fees out of your Federal refund, there is an extra $45 service fee in California ($40 in other states).   If that's your situation, we can tell you what all is included in Premium Services, and and you haven't yet filed and don't want it, we can tell you how to remove it and then pay upfront with credit/debit card.

Or is it something else?    If so, please explain in full.

[bnkhoi]

Please tell me how not to be charged for the Premium Service that I did NOT select.  I owe federal and want to pay from my checking.  For California, I e-file and must pay $25.  No complaint there.  But when I get to the last screen, it asks me how I want to pay for the Premium Service.   It asks me if I want to pay with the federal refund, which I won't have, or with a credit card.   I really appreciate if you could help.  Thanks.

[Rbeaux]

It depends on the type o service you use. I used the free service to file a simple 1040 form for only me. They charge for the different levels you and if they assist you. Getting your refund using you refund to pay the bank lends you the money and is the 45.00 charge. It should explain all that when it's time to file. They also use credit karma to get your refund but not sure what the app charges. As I said the simple form is free. If you get audit protection there's a fee! I had to change mine to remove the 45.00 feet here are also several free tax services online, one from the IRS. That's about all I can tell you with seeing the full tax return but if not satisfied with this google free tax apps and you can try another one! 

[mesquitebean]

---

@ bnkhoi wrote:

Please tell me how not to be charged for the Premium Service that I did NOT select.  I owe federal and want to pay from my checking.  For California, I e-file and must pay $25.  No complaint there.  But when I get to the last screen, it asks me how I want to pay for the Premium Service.   It asks me if I want to pay with the federal refund, which I won't have, or with a credit card.   I really appreciate if you could help.  Thanks.

---

NOTE:  Read this whole answer, then try the second and third paragraphs first before you try to continue with the final payment screens.

I suspect that if you choose "card" and continue forward after that screen you mentioned that Premium Services would drop off since you said there is no Federal refund, so "paying out of refund" doesn't make sense.   You could choose card, and then see if Premium Services disappears from the bill total on the next screen.   Just don't finalize the payment until you see the final order amount.   And be sure it's not charging you for standalone Audit Defense.   If for some reason, your card ends up getting charged incorrectly we can tell you how to reach TurboTax Support.  

Before you do that, however, try this: 

Go backwards through the screens until you get to the screen that first asks you how you want to pay for your $25 state efile fee; i.e., the screen where Premium Services was first offered.   Or go through the FILE section screen by screen until you arrive there.  If you don't have a Federal refund, I'm not sure how it offered you that option in the first place.   TurboTax does have the buttons in awkward position to refuse it, so it's not uncommon for people to end up with it by mistake.  But those people actually had a Federal refund.   Are you sure you didn't choose Audit Defense instead by mistake?  (I'll tell you how to look below).

Are you sure the screen you mentioned specifically says "Premium Services," and that it's not trying to charge you for standalone Audit Defense (which is also $45)?    If it IS trying to charge you for Audit Defense, then to look at the Audit Defense offer again, click on the REVIEW tab, then the subtab Audit Protection.  Go past the Audit Risk Meter until you get to the screen where it can be cancelled if it had been chosen incorrectly.  You likely have to scroll way down on that screen to see where it's removed.

[bnkhoi]

This is my reply to MesquiteBean.

Thanks so much.  I followed your advice in the first paragraph.  I went ahead with selecting to pay with a credit card when I got to the screen that asked "How would you like to pay?" and showed the last line "$45 TurboTax Premium Service Applies".  I selected Pay With Credit Card.  The following screens asked for credit card info but showed no $45 charge in the Total in the final screen.  Phew!  Thanks again.  Sorry.  My Opera browser didn't let me paste the screenshot here.

[mesquitebean]

@ bnkhoi 

No screenshot is necessary.  You described it well.

You're welcome!    That's great news!   I had a feeling that's what would happen and that Premium Services would drop off, and you proved it!  😁

Thanks for reporting back.   That can help others who face that issue.  Good luck.

[tf35sc]

I got the same "Turbotax desktop $45 premium service fee applies" message on the "How would you like to Pay" screen just before eFiling. Nothing on the Turbotax screen explained it, so I had to look it up in Google to find out that it was showing because the "How would you like to Pay" window defaults to "Pay with Federal Refund" for my State eFiling fee. There was NO message on the Turbotax screen that said paying with a credit card would avoid this $45 fee. Even when clicking on the "Pay with credit card" button, the $45 message did not go away. It wasn't until I had entered all my credit card information that I could see the amount to be billed on my card did not include this $45 Premium fee. TurboTax should have a clear message on the "How Would You Like To Pay" screen to explain to users the $45 fee only applies to paying from your Federal refund, and the screen should immediately remove the "$45 Turbotax Premium Service applies" message when the user highlights the "Pay with credit card" button.