I paid Turbotax $238.44 for taxes I am not even filing because I made no taxable income and I'm confused and heartstriken

[danielab]

This is my first year trying to file taxes, which it turns out I didn't even have to do. I thought they money I was paying was for my taxes since I had clicked on the free version, which said that if you do your own taxes, you don't have to pay. I only had one 1099 form from one freelancing gig uploaded and that's it. I didn't even file anything because I'm not in the country to e-file so it would be mailed. All I did was pay what I thought was my taxes, to download a pdf that said I have no taxable income at all this year. I have no idea why the cost was so high. It says "Turbotax Live Assisted Sole Proprietor 2024" except I never used live assistance, and each time it was offered I would click away. I'm not filing taxes. I have no taxes to pay. Why is this sum so large? I was refused a refund twice saying that after taxes are filed it's non-refundable. Except, I didn't file anything. I have not mailed it. I wondered why it was so high and realized there was maybe an error when it came to deductibles and so it was incorrectly entered, where I added an extra 0 and so maybe it thought it was higher and I have to amend it? But also, I'm unsure if it just charges people this much. In any case, I demand a refund because I wanted to use the free one as someone that makes under 10,000 a year which the government ensures can qualify to file taxes for free. I read about the lawsuit in 2023 for deceptive "free" filing and know this is a large-scale problem. I used the incorrect product. I did not file my taxes yet, which is what I was told makes a product un-refundable. I also seem to have mistakenly entered a larger sum. What will it take for me to have that money refunded? I seriously need it and cannot spare a loss that huge. I only paid because I have no point of reference for how taxes work and sincerely thought that amount was for my taxes. I cannot take no for an answer and will also be in contact with my bank over this, because it is not the service I was trying to use. I have no taxes to pay, it just makes no sense and I need to talk to a human about this.

[SharonD007]

Refer to the TurboTax article What's the TurboTax phone number? to contact TurboTax regarding your situation.

[VolvoGirl]

If you got a 1099NEC you do have to file it no matter how small.  That is self employment income and you have to pay the self employment tax even if you don’t owe any regular income tax on it.  Even if it is less than your Standard Deduction and you have no taxable income.  

You will pay Self Employment tax (Scheduled SE) on a Net Profit of $400 or more on Schedule C in addition to regular income tax on it.   You pay 15.3% SE tax on 92.35% of your Net Profit (If it is greater than $400).  The 15.3% self employed SE Tax is to pay both the employer part and employee part of Social Security and Medicare.  So you get social security credit for it when you retire.  

You can’t enter 1099NEC or self employment income into the Free Edition.  You  can fill out Schedule C and enter 1099NEC, Cash or Self Employment Income into Online Deluxe but if you have any expenses you will have to upgrade to the Premium or use any of the Desktop CD/Download programs. All the Desktop programs have the same forms, so you can buy a lower version.