Has anyone ever been told that you owe an exorbitant amount in taxes before finishing process, then at the end of process told refund was the same exhorbitant number?

[xmasbaby0]

Not sure what you have been seeing or what you are looking at.  The "refund monitor" on your screen can change a lot while you are still entering your data.  You cannot take that monitor seriously until ALL of your information has been entered.  If you are still unsure about your refund or tax due, then please look at your actual tax return.  If you are getting a federal refund it will be shown on line 20 of your Form 1040.  If you owe federal tax it will be on line 23 of the Form 1040.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901539-how-do-i-preview-my-turbotax-online-return-before-filing

Click on Tax Tools on the left side of the screen. Click on Tools. Click on View Tax Summary. Click on Preview my 1040 on the left side of the screen.

And if the amount still seems "exhorbitant"  ---- did you make a decimal mistake or add a zero somewhere as you entered your data?  Watch out for hitting the comma instead of the decimal.  They are next to each other on the keyboard so it is easy to strike the wrong key.   Check the income amounts you entered if the refund is unrealistically high.

[SteamTrain]

Not specifically in that order....BUT...

But, anytime you get any exorbitant numbers....99.9% of the time it is the result of a bad entry by the user. 

What I mean by that, is that numbers entered by the user in either their income, or in their tax withholding, were fingered in wrong and they just didn't notice at the time they entered the numbers.   The usual mis-entry for exorbitant numbers is a simple mis-fingering of the decimal point for some number..

Example:    An income field or tax withholding on a W-2. 

a) For a tax withholding field:  IF you accidentally hit the adjacent comma key instead of the decimal point....such as 234.56   if entered as   234comma56 becomes 23456.00  as soon as you leave that box or page...and a huge excess refund.  (period and comma are adjacent keys on a keyboard)

b) Likewise, if you enter any income field for 2345.67 and mis-type it as 2345comma67   that becomes 234567.00 of income when you leave the field it was entered in, and usually results in a  huge tax due.

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Always review all your forms with a critical eye before filing...exorbitant numbers in particular are a flashing red light telling you to go back thru your entries and check every one.   And watch out for those decimal points.