I received a strange email from [email address removed] - is this a legitimate TurboTax email??
The title of the email was CRITICAL NOTICE: Regarding your 2022 TurboTax return. It reads:
We’re contacting you because there might be an issue with the 1098 entries on your 2022 federal tax return. You may have duplicated the 1098 form attached to your return, which means there’s a possibility that you underpaid your taxes. We understand that finding out you might owe more taxes isn’t good news, and we want to make things right. It won’t cost you anything to check your TurboTax return or prepare an amendment. In fact, we’ll give you $30 for the inconvenience of checking to see if your tax return needs to be amended, if you do so by July 31, 2023.* To look for a duplicate 1098 and amend your taxes if a duplicate is found, please follow the steps in this help article: Duplicate 1098 Forms TurboTax experts are available to answer your questions at [phone number removed] (Monday–Friday, 5 AM to 5 PM PT). We truly apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused and want to thank you for being part of the TurboTax family. Warm regards, TurboTax Tax Accuracy Team
If this is legitimate, it sounds like there was a glitch in the system which TurboTax did not catch until just recently. How could a duplicate 1098 pass through the final TurboTax verification process before filing? I believe there is a 100% accuracy guarantee as well. Again, it sounds like TurboTax is trying to backtrack and get customers to pay for their system's error (by offering a $30 credit which is a laughable amount if thousands are owed - you'd think they'd give you a full refund!). I would think that TurboTax would then be liable to the IRS for any discrepancies in a refund amount. I would be curious to get a tax lawyer's opinion on this matter.
