Could Turbo Tax be wrong?

[Kate and Pete]

Might be a silly question, but according to TT I owe $400 to the state (and am getting $1200 from the Feds.) that doesn't seem right to me. We've never owed any $ before and have always gotten returns. I can't get TT to show me the form - it transfered my info. from my Fed. stuff. Anyone ever had TT be wrong??

 

[msmayor]

I'm not sure why you can't get TT to show you the form; I've never had that problem in the past and have always been able to go into the Forms to see any one of a number of forms and worksheets for my return.

You should be able to print out a copy of the return to review it. Compare it to last years and see what is different.

 

[problemchild718]

Last year I did my taxes with TT as I had for years. Granted we bought a house, but it was still doable. Anyway, TT said we owed over $10,000. I was in a panic!!! We were due a refund from the state it said. I broke down and paid an accoutant-we received a refund from both Fed and State. This year we will use the accountant.

 

[npmommie]

Last year I did my taxes with TT as I had for years. Granted we bought a house, but it was still doable. Anyway, TT said we owed over $10,000. I was in a panic!!! We were due a refund from the state it said. I broke down and paid an accoutant-we received a refund from both Fed and State. This year we will use the accountant.

omg that is scary.
i am thinking mine is wrong this year as well. it shows a refund, but i think we should be getting back more than what it says.
hmmmmm

 

[EnchantedPrincess]

I did my taxes on both turbotax and taxcut and with both we were due a refund, but with Turbotax, the refund was $1,000 less...so I filed with TaxCut.

 

[Kate and Pete]

Is TaxCut online? Free?

 

[Kim32958]

I think I would get some advice if you could either from Turbotax if you can or an accountant. That just sounds totally off and maybe it's something really simple you mistyped is all.

 

[reginaastralis]

I spoke with a lady who works for h&r block, and she said that they will check over your taxes for you for free. I don't know if this applies for every hr block, or if this lady was trying to convince me to let her do my taxes. LOL. I am thinking I might let her look it over this year, just to be sure.

Oh, and last year TaxAct gave me $1000 more than Turbo Tax. I am really curious about this year.

 

[LisaNJ25]

I would try another one.. I use Tax act.. to efile federal and state was $13.95

 

[ProudMomTo3Boys]

I put all our info into Turbo Tax and Tax ACt and got the same amount back in each one, maybe you could try that and see if you get the same results.

 

[msmayor]

I've posted this elsewhere, but it bears repeating here...folks who use any one of these computer programs to do their taxes cannot and should not blindly assume that all they need to know is how to enter the data in the program.

You STILL need to have basic knowledge about your tax situation and how the return is supposed to look in order to properly review your return for mistakes. You cannot and should not accept the fact that the program says "Congratulations, you have no errors" as reason enough that your return is correct.

That "Congratulations" doesn't mean you've entered your numbers in the right spot.

It doesn't mean you've entered the correct amounts.

It doesn't mean you've entered everything that you SHOULD have entered.

All it means is that based on their program, there are no conflicts with the data you entered.

If you do your taxes with one program and get one answer, then use another program and see a refund $1,000 MORE, then you have a problem. A problem that doesn't mean use the program that is giving you a bigger refund because its a better program...it means you need to review your final result closely to see what you might have entered incorrectly, or which program is not updated properly to give you the correct result. Getting two different results is a red flag, and you should make sure you're sending the right return in or you risk hearing from the IRS in the future because your return is incorrect.

 

[jofo]

Tax Act is online & free to fill out and file the federal form (for everyone, regardless of income). They charge a fee for state -- BUT, in the upper right hand corner as it goes along while you're filling out the free federal form, it tells you your federal and state refunds (or amount owed). So I used this to double check my state form I had done by hand.

 

[reginaastralis]

If you do your taxes with one program and get one answer, then use another program and see a refund $1,000 MORE, then you have a problem. A problem that doesn't mean use the program that is giving you a bigger refund because its a better program...it means you need to review your final result closely to see what you might have entered incorrectly, or which program is not updated properly to give you the correct result. Getting two different results is a red flag, and you should make sure you're sending the right return in or you risk hearing from the IRS in the future because your return is incorrect.

I actually did go through and recheck and for some reason last year on Turbo Tax the didn't calculate the correct EIC for my situation, while Tax Act did. I don't know why this happened, as I have complete trust in knowing how to enter numbers into the correct field, but this is what happened to me last year.

I am curious to see what happens this year.

 

[T. Lynn]

If you do your taxes with one program and get one answer, then use another program and see a refund $1,000 MORE, then you have a problem. A problem that doesn't mean use the program that is giving you a bigger refund because its a better program...it means you need to review your final result closely to see what you might have entered incorrectly, or which program is not updated properly to give you the correct result. Getting two different results is a red flag, and you should make sure you're sending the right return in or you risk hearing from the IRS in the future because your return is incorrect.

Totally agree with this statement. Items go on a certain line and one program would be wrong. I would compare the forms and see which amount was going on the wrong line or what was entered incorrectly. Never would I file with the one showing the biggest refund without researching the problem first.

You might end up eventually getting a letter from the IRS that you owe the money back and that would be much worse!

 

[BelleBeast]

If Turbo Tax and all of those offer you differnent amounts back IMAGINE what a real CPA can do!!

I have heard many people tell me that there accountants always get them the most amount of money back...

 

[creativeamanda]

If Turbo Tax and all of those offer you differnent amounts back IMAGINE what a real CPA can do!!

I have heard many people tell me that there accountants always get them the most amount of money back...

I would never do my taxes myself again or at HR Block after what happened to me in 1998. We fill out everything by hand. $900 owed. We take it to HRBlock--$1450 owed. Next year, I have a home-based business and figure it was worth it taking everything to an accountant to get it right. He takes one look at 1997's taxes and says, "Who on earth did these?" Amends the previous years' taxes, and we not only get back $1450, but we also get another $1000. Last trip to HR Block. Accountants know and get the tax laws. The people at HR Block don't. And I overheard a lady at Jackson Hewitt today tell a lady, "I've never itemized before, so you'll have to bear with me." And she was going to let her finish the taxes? Not me.

 

[ElmerTinaRh]

I worked for Jackson Hewitt for a year preparing tax returns. I think our training was for 2 weeks. I feel that I am in no way trained to complete tax returns for people. All they do is follow their computer program. I do have to say that all the returns that we prepared during the day were collected and sent to the office where they were gone over every night. I have used TurboTax ever since to complete my tax returns and have never had a problem. As a matter of fact, I had a friend that went to Liberty Tax Service last year and asked if I would look at her taxes this year. I was kind of leary, so I did her taxes from last year on TT 2006 and got the same exact answer that they turned in. They charged her over 250.00 to prepare them. I guess what I am really trying to say is don't think that if you go to one of these tax services you are really getting trained, professional tax preparers. I certainly don't consider myself one and they drove me nuts to come back for the next year to work for them.

 

[T. Lynn]

Here's a test I had my girlfriend do. She went to the account, then I gave her my turbo tax program. Told her to enter everything in and answer all the questions. She got the same number her accountant did. Now she does her own taxes.

Unless they find hidden deductions for you to take as a business, most things are straight foward...you can only put mortgage interest on a certain line, you can only put property taxes on a certain line, etc...

I paid for an accountant one year (highly recommended and highly expensive), found numerous mistakes and never used one since.

 

[snowy76]

I don't think any one program or person is more foolproof than another... a co-worker told me just today how they fired their accountant after several years because he made major mistakes on their return... now they use Turbotax. My dad taught me how to do mine manually and I've always done it that way. My DH thinks I'm crazy but he doesn't seem to mind my methods when the direct deposit is made into out checking account! I even taught myself Schedules C and SE for DH's 2nd job - the only time I used Turbo, to double-check my own paper and pencil calculations. I was a few cents off b/c TT rounds numbers.

It seems like the tax instructions are getting simpler every year - but maybe it's just that I'm more accustomed to them.

 

[majimikate]

I paid a CPA $175 an hour to do our taxes for several years. One year he forgot to claim an EIC for us, (we owned our own business and had an off year), but fir the most part, he was good. The year before we sold the business, I used Turbo Tax for our personal taxes for the first time, and the accountant for the business. When I used TT fo the personal stuff, the program had us owing almost $2000. I panicked and went to the accountant. We ended up with a small refund instead, but I wanted to know why...when I compared the forms I had forgotten to make the losses from one of the businesses a negative number, so it added to our income rather than subtracting...totally me, totally MY MISTAKE...

I have used TT ever since, and always look carefully at my entries, double check my numbers etc. It's always best to print out the forms and really look at them before you hit send. TT checks the calcualtions, but cannot correct operator errors!!!

Good luck figuring out your situation!!
Chris