Bait and Switch

[m00npenny]

I used Turbo Tax yesterday to complete my returns. Throughout the entire time (hours), your site claimed I owed Federal 0, and the State showed a dollar amount, indicating a refund coming.
Perfect. Imagine my surprise when I printed the Federal return and 4 tickets printed first, each for $416 that I could happily use when paying my tax to the IRS.

Care to tell me how the hell that happened?

I think YOU, Turbo Tax owe me an explanation without a AI canned response and even a refund. 

You lied to me, plain and simple. 

I just discovered a few class action lawsuits against Turbo Tax. "No kidding"

[DoninGA]

You are seeing the federal Form 1040-ES for payment of estimated taxes in 2023.  These printed based on the income and tax payments you reported on the 2022 tax return.  They are for your use only and are not reported to the IRS unless you print and mail the form to the IRS with a payment.  They are NOT required to be used if you do not wish to do so.  The have nothing to do with taxes owed on a 2022 federal tax return.

Any federal taxes owed or a federal tax refund will be shown on your federal tax return Form 1040, Line 35a if you have a federal tax refund and Line 37 if you have federal taxes owed on the 2022 tax return.

[taxlady28]

It sounds like you underpaid your taxes for 2022 and did not realize that until you finished and printed your return.  The numbers across the top of the return are a guide to what is happening and change each time a new document is entered.  In my case, I also showed a refund coming until I got to a 1099-R that I had not entered.  The number on top is just an indication of where you are in the return.  It changes as you work and is never guaranteed.

Refunds are calculated when your withholding for the year exceeds the amount you paid in estimated and withheld taxes during that year.  It is not paid by TurboTax, it is just computed by TurboTax based on your income and withholding.

[Critter-3]

Please read those "tickets" again carefully ... they are NOT payment vouchers  for a 2022 balance due  but  estimated tax payment vouchers for the 2023 tax year since the program has determined that you MAY need to make 2023 estimated payments based off the information you entered in the interview.   You are not REQUIRED to pay the estimates and the feds are not notified of them either ... so use them if you need them otherwise simply ignore them.  

Did you have a refund on the 2022 return that you applied to the 2023 tax year ?

Have you made estimated payments in the past ? 

[m00npenny]

1040, Line 35a = 0

So now the IRS is wanting people to pre-pay taxes even if they are not owed? I guess if one has more money than they know what to do with. I prefer breaking even when doing taxes. I don't want the big refund, doing so means I gave the IRS an interest free loan.

Thanks everyone, NOW I can tell the husband 🙂

Valerie 

[VolvoGirl]

Line 35a is the refund line.  Do you have an amount on line 37 for tax due?

The 1040ES are estimates for next year. The 1040ES quarterly estimated tax payments DO NOT get sent to the IRS or state with your return. So they won't be expecting them.  They are optional to pay. Turbo Tax is very conservative and doesn't want you to owe too much next year. They might have printed out if you got a one time large income this year. Like if you took a IRA or 401K distribution. You can ignore them. You might want to adjust your withholding at work so you won't owe too much next year.