IRS calculates we owe money, when Turbo Tax says we have a Federal Refund due. How do I reach Turbo Tax (TY 2021)

[TheKingfisher]

We e-filed with Turbo Tax for TY 2021. The calculation showed we were to expect a refund. We e-filed it, and IRS Accepted it, History of our return follows:

Federal Return Received by TurboTax: Saturday, Apr 9, 8:02 PM EDT

Received by IRS: Saturday, Apr 9, 8:04 PM EDT

Filing status changed to: Accepted Saturday, Apr 9, 8:25 PM EDT

We never received our Fed Return, (we did receive our State Refund), were informed that due to Covid, could be delayed. Then we forgot about it, until this past September 2023, when we were contacted by IRS Collection Agency (The CBE Group), informing our Tax payment was past due, and accruing interest. We checked our Return on file in Intuit account and downloaded IRS records of our return. IRS transcript does shows we have an amount due, but all the various line items seem to match our TT lines. How do we contact TurboTax, since I am guessing they miss calculated, since the IRS is saying they differ with our TT results.

[xmasbaby0]

Remember--- "accepted" only means the IRS took your return for processing.  "Accepted" does not mean your return was correct and does not mean your refund was approved.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2840013-does-accepted-mean-my-refund-is-approved

Does the IRS say where the mistake is?  Did you make a mistake with line 30---the recovery rebate credit?  Or line 28---the child tax credit?   A LOT of people made mistakes on their 2021 returns with those credits, often resulting in reduced refunds or tax owed.  When you prepared your 2021 return, did you say you had NOT received the stimulus checks?   Or did you miss entering the advance child tax credit payments that were sent out from July 2021 to December 2021?    The IRS checked all returns with amounts on those lines and had to make corrections to a lot of them.

Start by looking at lines 28 and 30 of your 2021 Form 1040.   If there are amounts there, then check your online account with the IRS to see what the IRS shows they sent to you.

https://www.irs.gov/payments/your-online-account

LOTS of people have made mistakes on 2021 returns with the recovery rebate credit by "forgetting" that they received the $1400 per person stimulus checks in 2021.  They answered no to the questions for the  recovery recovery rebate credit and put the $1400 per person on line 30 of their returns.  But you cannot get it twice, so the IRS removes it when it is there by mistake.  The IRS sent letter 6475 showing that you received the 3rd stimulus check. 

It is very important that if you filed a joint return—-the IRS sent letter 6475 to EACH spouse.  You had to enter the total amount received.   Many people misunderstood and entered only the amount from one of the letters.

Try checking your online account with the IRS (and if you filed a joint return—check for BOTH of you)

https://www.irs.gov/payments/your-online-account

Does the IRS show that you received a $1400 per person stimulus or EIP check in 2021?   Did you receive it?   When you were asked on your tax return did you say no?   Was there $1400 per person on line 30 of your tax return?

If the IRS says you got $1400  per person last year but you did not receive it you can have it traced.

Or----is your problem related to the child tax credit?

  If the problem is $1800 or  $1500 or  a multiple of that amount  ---   maybe a mixup regarding the advance child tax credit payments. If you received monthly child tax credit payments of $250 or $300 per month between July and December of 2021, then you got letter 6419 from the IRS, and you were required to enter the amount of the advance payments.   Only the remaining amount of the CTC should have been on line 28 of your Form 1040.

The IRS knows how much they sent to you for the 3rd stimulus check and they know how much they sent for advance child tax credit payments.   If you answered something incorrectly on your tax return then the IRS made a correction that resulted in a reduced refund for you. 

[rjs]

If it has gone to a collection agency, you must have gotten several previous IRS notices that you did not respond to. It may now be too late to challenge the amount that they say you owe. If you want to try to do anything about it, you will need professional help.

It's very unlikely that TurboTax miscalculated, but at this point it doesn't matter since the IRS has already assessed the additional tax and it has gone to collections.

[Mike9241]

"all the various line items seem to match our TT lines". That is not possible since some line or lines would have had to change if you end up owing rather than due a refund. Check again and in any case, you should have received a notification from the IRS of changes that were made.