Turbo Tax calculated different amount of tax

[GDH2]

TT calculated that I owe $4033 in Taxes. 

According to the IRS I owe $4501.00 a difference of $468.00

They have these statement listed in the Account Transcript:
TP TAX FIGURES (REDUCED BY IRAF) PER COMPUTER:.......................$4,033.00
IMF TOTAL TAX (REDUCED BY IRAF) PER COMPUTER:........................$4,501.00

They also have this statement:

TAX ON INCOME LESS SOC SEC INCOME PER COMPUTER:........................$533.00

Why the discrepancy between what TT calculated and what IRS calculated? Where else on the transcript can I look for an explanation? 

[tagteam]

You should contact Support for this issue.

What is the TurboTax phone number? (intuit.com)

[Opus 17]

Customer service does not handle this type of issue.  If your purchased Audit Defense, contact the number in your enrollment confirmation email.  

No one on this forum can see your tax return.  Even if you call customer service, they might be able to see your return but they can't see your account at the IRS.

You need your tax return transcript, not your account transcript.  Also, if you filed and paid $4033, and the IRS thinks you owe $4501, the IRS will mail you a notice that contains the details of the adjustments.  Either your tax return transcript or the adjustment letter will be needed to compare to your tax return to see what the IRS changed.  Without those details, no one can tell you what the IRS disagreed with. 

[VolvoGirl]

Could it be an underpayment penalty for owing too much?  Did you have an amount on 1040 line 38?  

If you do not pay enough tax, you may have to pay a penalty for underpayment of estimated tax. Even if you are getting a refund you can still owe a penalty for not paying in evenly during the year.  Generally, most taxpayers will avoid this penalty if they owe less than $1,000 in tax after subtracting their withholdings and credits, or if they paid at least 90% of the tax for the current year, or 100% of the tax shown on the return for the prior year, whichever is smaller. It is included in your tax due or reduces your refund.  It's on 1040 line 38.

[dmertz]

This could suggest that you failed to report some item of income that was reported to the IRS by the payer.  Check the Tax Return Transcript for other lines where the "PER COMPUTER" line (calculated by the IRS from information returns filed by payers) differs from the similar line above it (without "PER COMPUTER", from items you reported on your tax return).  Check your Wage & Income transcript for items of income that you did not report or reported differently from what was reported on the information return provided by the payer.  For example, check to see if you reported a different taxable amount on pension income than the pension plan reported as taxable.

The discrepancy is likely too large to be explained by a tax underpayment penalty.

[Jtmanhart]

I have a similar issue, I calculated (and double checked with a tax calculator) a $147 tax higher than what my Turbo tax  return says.  Were you able to get a better answer than what was posted?  

Thanks

[RobertB4444]

TurboTax is a pretty accurate tax calculator.  $147 could be a data entry error - please double check your entries.  But also figure out where the difference is.  Is there a difference in the income entered or in the tax tables?  You should trace where this difference is coming from.

@Jtmanhart

[Jtmanhart]

Thanks Robert, but I'm using the same Taxable Income as my starting point as Turbo Tax and don't have any adjustments below the line .  Wish I was able to trace TT calculation to the return, but I don't know where to look to see how they arrived at their amount.  Know its not a big amount, but I'd hate to have my return flagged and go through the hassle of resolving it with the IRS.

[RobertB4444]

I'm not sure what to tell you.  That's the calculation TurboTax is banking on and has built the entire system around.  

While it seems unlikely to me that the computer is wrong I suppose anything is possible so maybe you should hedge your bet?  

You owe anyway so go ahead and mail the return in with an additional $147 included in the amount.  If TurboTax is right you get a refund of $147 bucks down the road.  

If TurboTax is wrong you have paid the taxes, you'll receive a letter from the IRS telling you that everything is square and you'll have a seriously good claim under the accuracy guarantee.

Good luck!

@Jtmanhart

[GDH2]

FYI for anyone following this thread. I sent in a paper return. I called Turbo Tax to see if they could figure out what was wrong in the Turbo Tax or IRS calculation. I had already downloaded my tax transcript. Between the TT rep and myself and the "hint" on the IRS letter that was sent noting a discrepancy, we figured out that IRS made a transcription error when entering my qualified dividends. I was able to look at my tax transcript and see that the number they entered was in error. I sent them copies of my 1099s, copy of the original return and copy of the tax transcript. They corrected the mistake and sent me the balance of my refund.
Tax transcript was key to seeing what was wrong, looking at the documentation to know where to look on the transcript was key. The "two heads are better than one" process was invaluable. Thank you TT support. 

[Jtmanhart]

Thanks for your response.

I'm due a refund, albeit a little less than what TT says, but I will send in a check to the IRS just to CMA.  Good idea.

I'll have to check out what the accuracy guarantee terms/benefits are, although I'd hate to pay another $27 uneccesarily.  

Tax calculation based on taxable income is pretty straight forward, and I cross checked my calculation with an online tax calculator, but like you said, anything is possible.

[VolvoGirl]

No the Tax Calculation is not straight forward.  There are like 7 different ways to calculate the tax.

It depends what kind of income you have. Even though the full amount shows up in the total income on the 1040 line 7, if you have capital gains or qualified dividends the tax is not taken from the tax table but is calculated separately from Schedule D. The tax will be calculated on the Qualified Dividends and Capital Gain Tax Worksheet. It does not get filed with your return. In the online version you need to save your return as a pdf file and include all the worksheets to see it.

For the Desktop version you can switch to Forms Mode and open the worksheet to see it. Click Forms in the upper right (upper left for Mac) and look through the list and open the Qualified Dividends and Capital Gain Tax Worksheet.

[Jtmanhart]

Thanks for response.

I was basing my total tax on the taxable income on line 15 of 1040-SR.  TT correctly reported my AGI and taxable income, however it's their total tax calculation I'd like to see how they derived.  LIke I mentioned, this should be pretty straightforward.

[Jtmanhart]

Volvo Girl, now I get what you're saying.  I did have qualified dividends, so I'll do the 2 seperate calculations, one for pensions/etc. and one for the dividend.  Good call,