TurboTax sent my refund to somebody else's checking account and I can't get it back! I showed the proof to a supervisor named Lisa, but she couldn't help. What now?

[eater_pda]

Lisa made me install screen-sharing software and used that to access my computer, where she saw that the direct-deposit info I put in my filing was NOT the same as the account TurboTax sent it to. They sent my money to a totally different bank. But Lisa said there was nothing she could do, and she started weeping on the phone so I let her go.  
Is there any recourse?

[Mike9241]

did you agree (many don't realize that they've agreed to this) to have your fees and any advance deducted from your refund?  then your refund goes to a third-party bank. the IRS will direct deposit in that account. your fees and any advance will be taken out and the balance forwarded to your account. this may take a few days. if not call Turbotax back and ask for a supervisor  

[xmasbaby0]

Yes----if you chose to have your TurboTax fees deducted from your federal refund then the banking information on the tax form is the information to send your refund to the third party bank.  That bank gets your refund first from the IRS.  They take out your TurboTax fees and send the rest to you---and that bank has YOUR direct deposit information.

Santa Barbara Tax Products Group, LLC  (SBTPG) is the bank that handles the Refund Processing Service when you choose to have your TurboTax fees deducted from your refund. This option also has an additional charge from the bank that processes the transaction. 

You can contact them SBTPG, toll-free, at 1-877-908-7228 or go to their secure website www.sbtpg.com 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2580357-who-provides-the-refund-processing-service

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/refunds/help/who-provides-pay-with-my-refund/00/26410

[Opus 17]

If you have already been talking with a supervisor over the phone, we can't provide any better specific help, you should call back.  No one on this board has access to your account or can see your information.

If you agreed to refund transfer (pay your fees from your refund or get a refund advance) then the number on your tax return is not your regular bank account.  The number on the tax return belongs to a temporary account in your name that is opened at SBTPG bank.  They open the account, withdraw money to cover the fees and advances, then close the account and send the balance to your regular account.  This can take 1-3 business days.

Because refund transfer only works if your money is sent to a bank that Turbotax can control (to withdraw the fees and repay any advance)  the information sent to the IRS will be the temporary SBTPG account.  Separately and behind the scenes, Turbotax sends your real account information to SBTPG so they can forward the balance to your account after processing.  

However, if you did not participate in refund transfer or refund advance, your tax return should contain whatever numbers you typed in for your real bank account.

[eater_pda]

Thanks, all. I did not have any fees taken out of my refund -- I used the Free tier of service,

The IRS traced my refund -- it was deposited in a personal Chase checking account of an individual in Chicago.

For my state return, I owed money, and New York State tried to direct debit the money from that same account number (which TurboTax gave them) but they were blocked. I had to mail them a check, and pay a late fee because the direct debit failure delayed my payment.

TurboTax sent the wrong info to the IRS, but they insist only the IRS can help me -- and the IRS insists only TurboTax can help me. I've spoken to numerous supervisors in both places, over a few months.When I try to seek help from TurboTax web chat, it just directs me here, because I don't want to pay them for support.

Total dead end.

[Opus 17]

---

@eater_pda wrote:

Thanks, all. I did not have any fees taken out of my refund -- I used the Free tier of service,

The IRS traced my refund -- it was deposited in a personal Chase checking account of an individual in Chicago.

For my state return, I owed money, and New York State tried to direct debit the money from that same account number (which TurboTax gave them) but they were blocked. I had to mail them a check, and pay a late fee because the direct debit failure delayed my payment.

TurboTax sent the wrong info to the IRS, but they insist only the IRS can help me -- and the IRS insists only TurboTax can help me. I've spoken to numerous supervisors in both places, over a few months.When I try to seek help from TurboTax web chat, it just directs me here, because I don't want to pay them for support.

Total dead end.

---

OK, that should of course be impossible.  The IRS is correct, they will take the position that they deposited your refund where you told them.  It's Turbotax you need to work with, to show somehow that an incorrect account number was put into your file by the "system" and not by you.  That may be hard to prove. 

I can flag this for review, but if you have already been taking to customer support, you may be better going back to them.

[eater_pda]

Whenever I speak to TurboTax customer support, I hit the same brick wall. This is the last reply I got, an email this morning after a long phone call with the customer support supervisor last night:

"If the account was in fact the wrong account and not in your name, the IRS is the way you should go to dispute. We have no control over deposits and the entry of account information. There is nothing more we can do on this end, unfortunately. We don't recover money sent to the wrong account as it should have never been deposited to an account that doesn't match your personal information."

[eater_pda]

Last Friday I got a call from a supervisor named Fernando, "from an escalated tier," who said he had read this thread. He told me he was going to personally take charge of the investigation and promised he would call me today, Feb 21, before 2:30 pm Eastern. He understood that I would not be available after that time, and he swore that he would be reliable, unlike the other supervisors, Lisa, Roxanna, and Antionette.

In preparation for this call, I took a costly taxi to borrow a friend's Windows computer, so that I could use TurboTax's special screenshare software, which doesn't run on my own computer.

No surprise, 2:30 came and went and I haven't heard from him.

Is there any trick to navigating the phone menus when I call, any way to reach a human, if I haven't paid for extra support? I keep trying, and the menu keeps asking me what my issue and Support ID is, and then when I give those, just offers to text me a useless link to "information that may help," and then disconnects the call.

[Opus 17]

@eater_pda 

The only way to get a more direct number would be if someone from support gave you a direct number.  The people on this board don't know any secret numbers other than the general number.  Hopefully this supervisor got delayed on another call and will get to you shortly.  You may also want to see if they can work with a "token number" rather than PC screen sharing.  There is a way to upload an anonymized version of your file to customer support, this gives you a token number that you can give to the support person so they know which file is yours. 

[eater_pda]

Strange, I have spent hours and hours on the phone with various representatives over the last year, trying on different occasions to get the screen-sharing software to work, because they said that software is the only way they can see a PDF that I have. Nobody ever suggested a "token number."