"This is an added convenience offered for those customers who don’t have their credit card handy - and is completely optional. Customers can also choose to pay with a credit, debit or pre-paid card," said Ashley McMahon, senior manager for corporate communications for Intuit, the maker of TurboTax. TurboTax's response to Twitter complaints is that the "Refund Processing Fee ($39.99) is charged by Santa Barbara Tax Product Group, it is not a TurboTax charge." Some consumers call the charge deceptive.Īfter all, pay money to process a refund? Isn't that part of filing your taxes? This tax season, plenty of consumers already have hit Twitter and other social media to complain about a $39.99 charge that's called a "refund processing fee" when they use TurboTax online.
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So before you rush - and you do have until April 17, not April 15 to file this year - watch out for potential tax-time tripwires. Waiting until the last-minute to do your taxes could drive you to sign up for some ridiculous fee or click on the wrong thing. It's an extremely expensive proposition," Wu said. "It's basically a two- to three-week loan. You're essentially taking an advance to cover your tax preparation fee, warned Chi Chi Wu, staff attorney for the National Consumer Law Center. So an $80 bill to do your taxes online easily could turn into $120. But what some consumers don't realize is that there's yet another fee, if you don't pay upfront.
The pitch is simple: "Pay nothing out of pocket." How? Well, tax prep firms say you'd deduct what you owe for tax services from your federal income tax refund. Watch Video: Getting a big tax refund? That might not be a good thingĬonsumers who want to avoid paying upfront to do their taxes online or get them done at a store front could get tripped up by some unexpected and fairly steep fees.