I purchased Deluxe with State, e-filed my Federal, and printed my State. Is the $20 charge for preparing the state refundable?

[reinarosa]

If I had not filed the Federal return, would I have been able to avoid the $20 fee on top of the software purchase?

[xmasbaby0]

When you use the CD/download software, you can avoid the state e-file fee by printing and mailing in the state return instead of e-filing it.  There is no fee to e-file the federal return.  When you are in the FILE screens, you can choose to e-file just the federal and not the state.   Then you can print the state and mail it instead.    Actually, the state e-file fee is $20 before March 1 and as of March 1 increases to $25.   If you paid the state e-file fee but did not e-file it, contact support.

No one in the user forum can resolve a billing issue.  If you have a question about your TurboTax fees or billing, make sure you use the word “billing” in your request for help.  Do not use the word “refund.”

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899263-what-is-the-turbotax-phone-number

[VolvoGirl]

There is a lot of confusion about this. For the Desktop version it's a free download of one state PROGRAM, not returns filed. You can prepare unlimited federal and unlimited state returns.and efile 5 federal for free.  Some people need to file in more than one state so they have to buy another state program. You can print and mail the state for free or each state (including the first one) is $20 (before March 1) or 25 to efile.

[reinarosa]

 Thanks for replying so quickly, let me re-word the question.

I'm trying to wrap my head around why I purchased Deluxe with STATE and then had to pay $20 to fill in the State form. I know the State e-file activity has another associated ($25) cost. I went through the entire state program that I paid $20 for, and printed it. And never looked at it again because the California Franchise Tax Board site allows me to simply plug in various boxes from the Federal return to file. It was reassuring that I got the same answers using the same data.

So I just I just wanted confirmation that TT with State costs $20 extra for the ability to calculate my State taxes. If not, I will indeed take up with billing. Thank you!

[reinarosa]

Thank you. You said: "You can print and mail the state for free"

If this is the case, then I do need to talk to billing. I found no way around not paying the $20 for California in order to get to the point where I e-filed Federal.

[xmasbaby0]

Your software included the program to prepare the state return.    But it is an extra fee to e-file the state return.   That is the fee you can avoid if you mail the state return instead of e-filing it.  If you did e-file the state return then you are subject to paying that fee.   And.....next time.. watch out for the "refund processing" that is offered.   The software will offer you the choice to pay your state e-file fee from your federal refund.  If you allow that, you will end up paying an EXTRA fee of $45 to a third party bank on top of the state e-file fee.   Avoid that whole mess by printing and mailing your state return instead of e-filing it.

[reinarosa]

Thank you. I did note the $25 to e-file State before I committed, so did not. I believe the extra $20 charge to download State when I didn't file with TT to be just wrong, and should be refunded to me.

For many past years, I e-filed through the State tax portal, and this year wasn't going to be different. Just wanted to do the calculations in a program, so bought TT Deluxe that included State, always not intending to e-file through TT.

[VolvoGirl]

No the $20 would have been to efile state.  As we said the state preparation and calculations are free.  It is $20 to efile state or 25 after March 1.   

You can call for a refund.  When you fill out the from use the word BILLING ISSUES instead of the word “refund.”

Contact Customer Service 5am-5pm Pacific M-F.

https://support.turbotax.intuit.com/contact/

[reinarosa]

Despite the message from TurboTax saying it would cost me $20 to download my state, it appears that they have not actually charged me for it. My apologies for making what has been a moot request. I spoke with the wonderful Krystal G at TurboTax for a very long time as she first verified no charge and then attempted to import (we were unsuccessful) my 2021 data. Kudos to her for her customer service expertise. I did disable my VPN. It appears to be a software issue at my end, either that I use a Mac with Preview rather than a Windows machine with Adobe Reader or similar. When I'm not so frustrated, I'll install the Adobe product and try again to import last year.

Thanks to all the community folks who successfully explained that I never should have been asked to pay the $20 to download my state, as it was included in the purchase of Deluxe with State.

[VolvoGirl · Accepted solution]

Are you having trouble transferring 2021 into 2022?  You shouldn't need Adobe to do that.  It should  simple.  Do you have the data file ending in .tax2021 on your Mac?  Did you copy it from the Windows computer?  What exactly happens?  You should not transfer from the pdf file.  You need the .tax2021 file.

How to Transfer into the Mac Desktop program
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/tax-data-file/help/how-do-i-transfer-last-year-s-return-into-the-t...

[reinarosa]

You are so right! Did I say that my computer had to be erased and finding back up files has been a nightmare. But indeed, I found a file with that suffix. Now if I could only tell Krystal G....