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TurboTax gave false information for adoption

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lewelljo

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Mississippi

My wife and I adopted a child in 2012. We received a federal adoption credit and TurboTax implied a state credit of $2,972 which in fact (after receiving a letter 3 years later) we should not have gotten. The letter from the state shows we owe $4,772 with penalties and interest. This was not the free version and I can't find a phone number to contact them nor is their online support helping. After speaking with the tax office we're not the only ones this has happened to, but of course they cannot give others information. I understand I will end up paying the $2,972 but the penalties and interest should not be on us. Do I have any recourse and if I do how do I go about taking on a huge corporation like Intuit?
 


Ohiogal

Queen Bee
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Mississippi

My wife and I adopted a child in 2012. We received a federal adoption credit and TurboTax implied a state credit of $2,972 which in fact (after receiving a letter 3 years later) we should not have gotten. The letter from the state shows we owe $4,772 with penalties and interest. This was not the free version and I can't find a phone number to contact them nor is their online support helping. After speaking with the tax office we're not the only ones this has happened to, but of course they cannot give others information. I understand I will end up paying the $2,972 but the penalties and interest should not be on us. Do I have any recourse and if I do how do I go about taking on a huge corporation like Intuit?
So did you utilize the guarantee when you filed your taxes that they would pay it for you? Or did you not? Dig out your copy and see if your charges included that extra insurance.
 

tranquility

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Mississippi

My wife and I adopted a child in 2012. We received a federal adoption credit and TurboTax implied a state credit of $2,972 which in fact (after receiving a letter 3 years later) we should not have gotten. The letter from the state shows we owe $4,772 with penalties and interest. This was not the free version and I can't find a phone number to contact them nor is their online support helping. After speaking with the tax office we're not the only ones this has happened to, but of course they cannot give others information. I understand I will end up paying the $2,972 but the penalties and interest should not be on us. Do I have any recourse and if I do how do I go about taking on a huge corporation like Intuit?
Look, Turbotax is a direct competitor to me. Not for the vast amount of what I do, but to some percentage. I have a competitive reason to dislike the program. It did not "imply" anything.

But, the program is pretty good. It may not have the flexibility or detail of the program I use, but, it is substantially the same. Sorry to say, it is far more likely you did not check the proper boxes in the correct way or otherwise messed up the input to get such an incorrect response. That is part of what I do, knowing what boxes to check. Also, comparing the result to what I would expect. It is what I do. I check the correct boxes and know the law enough to get a ballpark guesstimate about the proper result on the facts I understand to be the case. For most, that is not hard. For anyone with odd things? Much harder.

You probably did not complete the return properly. I don't know why. That would take a time looking at your input. I do know you swore under penalty of perjury the return you submitted was correct. (Obviously, that is not precise. There are a lot of reasons why. If I wanted to write for days or months, I could go on. But, you signed the jurat.) The program did not give you any "advice". To even use the program, you promised many things. Do you think the things you promised helps or hurts whatever case you might have?

The first thing you should do is determine if the IRS is correct. I would see a tax professional. Even if you someday want to claim Intuit is wrong and should give you money, you will need a tax professional to testify that is the case and on how much. The professional (To testify against Intuit.) is going to cost you more then anything you could hope to gain.

I recommend you see an tax professional and deal with the situation under tax law. It might hurt. Intuit is not going to pay it. Ohiogal gives you an insurance product Turbotax sells that might make things easier.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
Look, Turbotax is a direct competitor to me. Not for the vast amount of what I do, but to some percentage. I have a competitive reason to dislike the program. It did not "imply" anything.

But, the program is pretty good. It may not have the flexibility or detail of the program I use, but, it is substantially the same. Sorry to say, it is far more likely you did not check the proper boxes in the correct way or otherwise messed up the input to get such an incorrect response. That is part of what I do, knowing what boxes to check. Also, comparing the result to what I would expect. It is what I do. I check the correct boxes and know the law enough to get a ballpark guesstimate about the proper result on the facts I understand to be the case. For most, that is not hard. For anyone with odd things? Much harder.

You probably did not complete the return properly. I don't know why. That would take a time looking at your input. I do know you swore under penalty of perjury the return you submitted was correct. (Obviously, that is not precise. There are a lot of reasons why. If I wanted to write for days or months, I could go on. But, you signed the jurat.) The program did not give you any "advice". To even use the program, you promised many things. Do you think the things you promised helps or hurts whatever case you might have?

The first thing you should do is determine if the IRS is correct. I would see a tax professional. Even if you someday want to claim Intuit is wrong and should give you money, you will need a tax professional to testify that is the case and on how much. The professional (To testify against Intuit.) is going to cost you more then anything you could hope to gain.

I recommend you see an tax professional and deal with the situation under tax law. It might hurt. Intuit is not going to pay it. Ohiogal gives you an insurance product Turbotax sells that might make things easier.
I am not aware that TurboTax sells any kind of insurance product. I do not see how they can actually, because they are not doing the return. I echo your advise to the OP to see a tax professional to help resolve the issue. I do know from experience that the feds and the states are wrong often enough that getting a tax professional on board is an absolute MUST when you get a letter like that. It also does not cost big bucks to get a tax professional to take a look at the letter and the original tax return and give advice.

The biggest problem with online software is that its all question and answer format. All it takes is misunderstanding one question to throw a tax return completely off...and people who use online software do not get copies of the instructions from the IRS and read them before using online software.
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
I am not aware that TurboTax sells any kind of insurance product. I do not see how they can actually, because they are not doing the return. I echo your advise to the OP to see a tax professional to help resolve the issue. I do know from experience that the feds and the states are wrong often enough that getting a tax professional on board is an absolute MUST when you get a letter like that. It also does not cost big bucks to get a tax professional to take a look at the letter and the original tax return and give advice.

The biggest problem with online software is that its all question and answer format. All it takes is misunderstanding one question to throw a tax return completely off...and people who use online software do not get copies of the instructions from the IRS and read them before using online software.
They do sell an insurance product. I use TurboTax every year. They guarantee that if you are audited they will provide help in an audit and defend you IF you purchase the insurance. And not all TurboTax is online. That is fact!
 

TheGeekess

Keeper of the Kraken
I am not aware that TurboTax sells any kind of insurance product. I do not see how they can actually, because they are not doing the return. I echo your advise to the OP to see a tax professional to help resolve the issue. I do know from experience that the feds and the states are wrong often enough that getting a tax professional on board is an absolute MUST when you get a letter like that. It also does not cost big bucks to get a tax professional to take a look at the letter and the original tax return and give advice.

The biggest problem with online software is that its all question and answer format. All it takes is misunderstanding one question to throw a tax return completely off...and people who use online software do not get copies of the instructions from the IRS and read them before using online software.
They do. I worked about 6 weeks with them as 'tech' support, before I decided that my schoolwork was more important. :cool:
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
They do sell an insurance product. I use TurboTax every year. They guarantee that if you are audited they will provide help in an audit and defend you IF you purchase the insurance. And not all TurboTax is online. That is fact!
Those kinds of letters are generally not audits. The are generally proposed changes that will be implemented unless the taxpayer demonstrates that the proposed changes are inaccurate.

I am very surprised that Turbo Tax offers that unless they actually review the return before its submitted.
 

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