TurboTax Premium not showing running refund/owe information

[Cynthiad66]

You’ll see Explain my taxes and your refund amount or taxes due in the Federal Review stage of TurboTax Online. For accuracy and simplicity, we show these totals after you enter your income, deductions, and credits instead of showing a running total meter at each step of the filing process.

@kstokes 

[JohnBrazell20]

This does not appear to be working for me. Is there someone I can talk to on the phone?

[CatinaT1]

Please call TurboTax Customer service.  Here is a link:  Turbo Tax Customer Service 

[tonmiletrader]

On my daughter's turbotax page - the refund number usually in the top left of the page was not there.  i went through the full federal review - and then it showed up in the normal spot - and changed everytime i added or changed data - just like it used to.

Also - for my return this year - which is complicated and I have been with TT for many years - the number was always in the corner from the start.  Im not sure why.  Maybe because I have used the more expensive packages in the past.

[kdpatx03]

This is literally the best feature of TurboTax and why I have continued using it for almost 15 years. I do not understand why you would eliminate this vs. adding a disclaimer if the issue was people had questions along the way.

This was an incredibly useful feature because it alerts me to whether I made a mistake in any sections as I complete them, and it helps me understand the general impact of each area, which is helpful for learning and understanding. It's been part of TurboTax for as long as I can remember, and I really appreciated it. 

You may lose many customers over this. As you can see from the comments in this thread, your customers are NOT happy about this change. BRING IT BACK.

You charge a small fortune for an individual to use your software to do their taxes by themselves, and now you've taken away my favorite feature that really made me feel the cost of your software was truly worth it. 

[kdpatx03]

This is absolutely infuriating. I am trying to determine whether I should itemize or not, and though some people say to just click Review in the left margin to see the current amount of the return, it is NOT there

This feature is REALLY important to your customers. WHY TAKE STEPS BACKWARDS in terms of functionality? Using TurboTax should not get worse, more frustrating, AND more expensive each year.

As I said previously, TurboTax will lose customers over eliminating this invaluable feature. This feature gave TurboTax a competitive advantage, and now it's gone. 

I cannot believe you took away this feature. I'm so mad about it, I had to post twice. I may keep posting about it. 

For those as angry and frustrated as I am about this, if you want to get some sort of glimpse at your current refund amount, you can do so under Federal Review on the left, if you ignore all the things it is telling you that you forgot (because you did so intentionally and aren't ready to add them yet). That page also gives you an explanation of why it is the amount that it is. It's buried and not the same thing and really not all that helpful, but it seems that this is what we get for now. 😡

[BillM223]

@kdpatx03 

If you read some of the previous posts, you will see that the Refund Meter is still a feature of TurboTax. However, it is not invoked until you have made one pass through the interviews.

The reason this was done was because every year we would get thousands of complaints of "I enter this form, and my Refund dropped, and it shouldn't have! What did I do wrong ? or just as likely, is TurboTax broken?"). 

Starting the Refund Meter at the beginning caused a lot of angst in the hearts of people who don't understand why TurboTax has to do things in the background, somewhat out of sync with what the users are entering.

Far better to let people make a first pass then open the Refund Meter.

[cb20232024]

@BillM223 I mean this respectfully. Instead of "Far better to let people make a first pass then open the Refund Meter.", it might be far better to let people know how to access a feature that they have relied on for years.

[CatinaT1]

Here is a FAQ: Why don’t I see the tracker that shows my refund or taxes owed?

[ChungChau]

I am a first time TT user, I was shocked a major vendor like TurboTax do not have running total, after spending an hour with support we still unable to get it to work. Even for some user like DNM1 is able to get it to work eventually, I have lost total faith with TT and will not coming back. This functionality should be seamless and automatic to consumers. I have used TaxAct and FreeTaxUSA and never have this issue with running total.  Goodbye TurboTax!

[tumbler]

I use it in the exact same way.  It's not like any of us need more reasons to move away from TurboTax/Intuit and their predatory practices, dark pattern designs, etc.... but this might be the nail in the coffin that makes me switch.

[AmyBrad]

OMG!!! You are a life saver! It worked. Many thanks for sharing!!!!!

[JimmySure]

This is an awful change. If TurboTax doesn't change it back, this will be my last year using it. The live "amount owed / refund" has saved me from so many big mistakes over the years. Whatever their reason, this is a REALLY, REALLY bad change that will result in a lot of folks looking elsewhere for tax software next year.

[Hippiemama]

I find this answer insulting to the intelligence of your users. The average user understands it is not a guarantee, but a checkpoint and a way to see progress. 

[adamk2]

"Far better to let people make a first pass then open the Refund Meter"

No. It's not. For all the reasons explain in these comment.

The loss of this feature is brutal.

It provided clear feedback if you had entered something correctly or not by seeing the impact of the entry.

I've been teetering on moving away from TurboTax; if this feature is absent again next year, that will seal the deal.