billing question about $10 club credit that showed in the filing page, but didn't get applied to state e-filing fee

[SDSoCal]

Nowhere in the "big print" was there a deadline for using the $10 club credit, and Oct 15, 2025 it was showing up on the final step for billing, but when I actually went to PAY for the filing the credit disappeared. When I looked it up on the website, apparently the credit expired on April 15, 2025. 

If I had wanted to purchase the $45 (IMHO worthless "Premium service" upgrade) in order to deduct the filing fee from my return, it was shown as being applied there. A "premium service" seems to be a useless rip-off, so why would I bother. 

[xmasbaby0]

The $10 state e-file credit expired at the end of April.

If you choose to pay your state e-file fee from your federal refund instead of paying upfront using a credit or debit card, you are agreeing to an EXTRA "refund processing" fee of $45 in CA to have your refund go first to a third party bank, which will take out the $25, and keep $45 for itself.

[VolvoGirl]

Actually For 2024 returns the $10 credit expired April 30, 2025

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/credit/turbotax-desktop-10-credit-availa...

[SDSoCal]

[SDSoCal]

This is my screen from October 15, 2025. Is TurboTax (updated that day) really too stupid to know the date? WTH!

[SDSoCal]

This is my screen from October 15, 2025. If TurboTax doesn't know what date it is, how does it calculate any penalties?

[SDSoCal]

I didn't know the whole refund went to a 3rd bank (interesting info), but I did figure out pretty quickly that the "Premium Service" was a rip-off. Interestingly, the credit that (apparently) expired on April 15, 2025 keeps showing up as long as TT is trying to sell you stuff, but disappears when you actually go to use it for e-filing. Super sketchy, & not sure it's actually legal, either - listing one price but charging another? Seems like a problem ethically to be showing an available credit, but some random place elsewhere it says the $10 club credit has expired 6 months ago. Can anyone else say "class action" for misleading business practices? Sure you can!

[VolvoGirl]

You refund doesn’t have to go through the 3rd party bank.  And there is an Extra $40 Refund Processing Service charge (45 in California) to take the fees out.   Which you can avoid by paying the fees upfront with a credit card and then the refund comes directly to you, not through the 3rd bank.

Have you filed yet?  If you haven’t filed…….

There is one screen that can trip you up. Go back through the File tab slowly.   People get going too fast through the screens and clicking on the bottom right box to continue.  But on the pay screen you have click on the Left button to pay by credit card (not the right button).

[SDSoCal]

I did back out of the "premium service" page and paid by CC. I just got off the phone requesting a $10 refund of the credit that the TurboTax billing page was still showing on Oct 15. It's perfectly OK to have a credit expire, but NOT OK to keep showing it 6 months later then not honor it. Hopefully the bug will be fixed next year; I also requested that TT follow up with me in order to fix the problem -- it's a pretty simple line of code: "if (current date) is later than (expiration of discount date)=credit not shown on billing page. 

TT had +160 days to fix that. If it's still a problem NEXT year, then it starts to look deliberately trying to mislead people. Interestingly, when I had gone to the billing page for the "Premium Service" of having my $25 state filing fee deducted from my refund there WAS a $10 credit. I don't quite know what was going on there--maybe someone in marketing had the bright idea of extending $10 credit for customers who "upgraded" to the so-called "Premium Service"  in order to entice them to spend an extra $35 for a service that probably costs TT <$1. Like many ideas, great business idea if you write the code correctly; potential class-action lawsuit if you write the code wrong.  Splash it as a "bonus credit" for club purchasers who file for "premium" and it's no problem at all. Falsely show a credit that you won't honor for credit-card-paying e-filers, and it's kind of illegal. 

[SteamTrain]

Other than having TTX get their act together for not displaying those credits after they expire......sounds like you have it set up right now.

The refund going thru 3rd party bank situation happens only if you choose an option to have any of the software, or filing fees paid from your Federal refund.....which was apparently your initial choice to pay the desktop software's $25 state filing fee.

(opinion) I recommend to people that they Never Ever do that (pay any TTX fee from the Fed refund) as far too many cases of refund screw-ups seem to occur every year.