I’m really confused. When I filed with turbo tax, I entered my bank info for Santa Barbara Bank & Trust deposit, but it also asked about the stimulus check rebate and how I wanted it. I selected direct deposit and had to enter my bank information again. Why would the money not be directly deposited? This makes no sense.

I will never do Turbo Tax Again! I would have never used it if I would have known that Ahead of time.

This situation applies regardless of which tax software program, online service or tax preparer you used. It is not just TurboTax. Additionally, if you used your refund to pay your fees the IRS does NOT have your bank account information even if it shows on your printed return. The IRS actually has the funding bank’s account information. The refund is issued to the bank, the bank remits the fees to the software provider or the preparer and the bank then sends the net refund proceeds to the taxpayer. That is why the IRS cannot do a direct deposit. They don’t have the taxpayer’s account information. There is a lot of misinformation on this topic, but this is the answer.

Bob Meighan
VP, TurboTax

THIS TOTALLY SUCKS WILL NEVER USED TURBO TAX!! I GOT CHEATED ON MY TAX REBATE! WAS TOLD TWO DIFFERENT AMOUNTS AND WAS GIVEN THE LESS AMOUNT!! Called turbo tax and they said there was nothing they could do even thought the larger amount was showing up!!!

So if I e-filed through Turbo Tax but pd by debit card, will I have to wait for the check or will it be direct deposited? I am totally confused.

Thanks. Tomorrow will either be a good day or bad day as my direct deposit is scheduled for tomorrow!

I thought the purpose was to stimulate the economy. Seems like the complete opposite here. Even through the money itself is free (and we cant really complain) it seems like a contradiction to what the government was/is trying to do. In any case, I guess I’m waiting like most everyone else for my check, with great disappointment of course.

how stupid are you people you really think its the VP of turbo tax!?!? LOL Its just one of the many people that go on line and get paid by him to keep his name good!! WAKE UP PEOPLE!

Its a good day … the deposit was in my account this morning. Thanks for the info and advice.

I guess I am actually confused. I looked at my 1040 tax return and it has my DD banking info on it. These are records that I am sure go to the IRS. Why will they not use that information to process the checks?

To me it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Can someone explain it to me please? I gave the IRS my information and they have it and yet are ignoring the information to go a different route?

Thanks!!!

I dont think that people should be upset with people for being angry. This was not clearly explained to anyone from the IRS or Turbo tax. What about the people who had their money put into an IRA! Not really going to help wht economy when your rebate is put back in that! I would be very upset! I think that maybe the IRS should have just sent everyonw out checks and not messed with this whole deposit thing, Turbo tax should have sent out an e-mail or something to their customers when they learned of this problem. Instead people are finding this out when they notice they have not got their money and start researching it! BETTER CIMMUNICATION PEOPLE!

Question-

I used Turbo Tax to efile my return and had direct debit of balance owed. Will stimulus payment be direct deposit or paper check?

(2) Quesitons:

Paid Turbo Tax fees with my credit card, does that affect my direct deposit of stimulus payment?

Was scheduled for direct deposit today (5/9/08), but have not seen deposit yet?

The last few posts… You should be receiving your rebate by direct deposit. However, if you had a balance due with your return, you would have also had to enter your bank account information for the direct deposit of the rebate. If you filed your return prior to the rebate legislation, there would not have been an option for this in any software. Once the rebate legislation was passed, we updated TurboTax to capture the information for this stuff.

Also keep in mind that the IRS’ schedule is just a schedule. It may not be exact.

Bob Meighan
VP, TurboTax

My last 2 digits are 24. I should have gotten my check yesterday but I didn’t. I used turbo tax and paid my turbo tax fees by credit card. I did summit through turbo tax that irs could take out the 60.00 bucks that I owed to IRS via my bank account on 4/11/08 which the irs did do so why have I not gotten my check ?????

I filed with TurboTax on 4/12, paid balance due on tax return with direct debit from my bank. Turbo tax fees were paid via credit card. My bank info was submitted on my tax return we efiled. I was due my stimulus rebate yesterday (5/9), but have not received it yet. ??

My husband and I are among those who filed through Turbo Tax and had the fees deducted from our refund. We did this because we need every penny we can get our hands on; we couldn’t afford to pay for the service directly.
How ironic is it that those who need the extra cash the most now have to wait (until mid-July, for us) to receive our desperately needed stimulus payments?

my ssn ends in 39 & i filed thru turbo tax on jan 31 & paid with debit card & got my state refund direct deposit. Will i get my thru direct or mail?

i guess no1 can answer my question..

SteveB… If you selected to have SBBT deduct the fees from your refund, you had to go through at least three interview screens accepting each one. Each one prominently discloses the purpose of SBBT and the fees involved. On the disclosure, we tell you that the refund will go to SBBT who will then pay the fees and deposit the balance in your account. To suggest that this was not clearly communicated really stretches my patience. By the way, going to a competitor would have delivered the same result today. I guess my earlier posts have not been read. This affects you regardless of whether you used TurboTax, a competitor, a tax preparer or a tax franchise. We’re all in this together. Had we known back in tax season that this is how the IRS would be processing rebates, we could have done things differently.

Joseph Nielsen… The interview clearly tells you that direct deposit is free. The interview question states, “How do you want your federal refund?” The choices are “Direct deposit to my bank account (recommended)… Fastest…It’s free!” or “Mail me a check”. There NEVER is a charge for direct deposit. The SBBT charge comes into play ONLY if you select to have the TurboTax fees deducted from your refund. This is your option and we do NOT default or preselect any option for you. The charge is clearly shown on the interview screen and then follows up with even more disclosures in plain English.

Although I am very empathetic to the pain and anxiety this has caused each of you, I also want to make sure that incorrect statements are appropriately addressed. I also want to answer questions from you as they come up.

Bob Meighan
VP, TurboTax

yea y havent they?

One other point to note why is it we do not read “eFile Using Tax Cut? Use Refund To Pay Fees? Check’s In the Mail
Published on May 2, 2008 in Money and Technology? Why are there so many people angry at Turbotax and VERY few people with the same problems using the competition? Hmmmmm. Check for yourself. Use google. Bob we are not all stupid. And I am not angry about waiting for my rebate. The confirmation screens did not make clear that the refund were going to a third party and would take longer to recievpre in the first place. The fee was clear. No roblem concerning that.

Bob Meighan, VP Turbo Tax

Thank you for explaining how the refund will be sent to those of us who chose Turbo Tax for the 2007 tax season. I am very satisfied with your service, and have no problem waiting for my check to come in the mail. I will continue to use Turbo Tax as it has helped me with my earned deductions each year. The system provides more information than the IRS forms and it is very user friendly. You are taking a lot of heat for the service you provide, but I can honestly say that you have been a great service for me. I have a question that you may be able to answer however. I have moved since filing. Will the check be forwarded to my new address once I do the address change? I know that usually the IRS will not forward refunds. If you have any information on that issue, I would appreciate you contacting me with the answer. Thanks again for a job well done.

Okay so here is something, that may or may not have been asked prior but I couldn’t find an answer so here we go….
What about the fact that the IRS actually has the direct deposit info on the 1040A form, line 44b,c,d. Or is that information actually disclosed as well when the return is submitted to them?
And yes, we filed w/ Turbo Tax and so I am upset because we probably won’t get our stimulus this Friday but hey who would have known…by the way we just paid the fees from the refund because it was just the easy way - lesson learned!
However we will use Turbo Tax again, after all we never had an issue.
Maybe that is what we should learn from this,
“DO NOT COUNT ON MONEY YOU DO NOT HAVE YET!!!”

Sherry…., I would think you are in the same boat as us, you will get a paper check mailed to you because you paid the fees directly from your tax refund. When you will receive the check depends on your last 2 digits of your SSN#. There is a list available on http://www.irs.gov. Go to individual, then rebate questions, now click on payment schedule under payment in progress. Here you find the paper check list with the expected dates for your stimulus payment. Hope your not in the last badge…like us…life is a joker!

exactly !

Relax everyone! Your money is on the way regardless it be direct deposit or in the mail. I use Turbo Tax and will continue to do so.
Inhale—Exhale—it’s just a couple of weeks away.

Jarrod… I know nothing about why your post was deleted, but here is my response to why we did not send out a mass email.

1. Your tax return data is private. By law, we cannot mine your return looking for specifics that will identify if you are affected.
2. A mass email would have caused far more questions from customers who were NOT affected. Even if the email said something like “this may NOT apply to you”, we would be overwhelmed with contacts from everyone.
3. Because the rebate legislation and the details of how the rebates would be processed were not finalized by the IRS until nearly the end of tax season, we did have in place a mechanism to identify those who might be affected. As a result, we have had to do a lot of system queries to identify affected customers. We now have that list and will begin emailing tomorrow. We will email in batches over the next couple of days. While some may argue this is somewhat late, it’s the best we could do and I’d rather provide customers with accurate information vs the rumors and misstatements we’re seeing on the web.

I wholeheartedly agree with you that the delay between direct deposit and checks for many people is a hardship. I’ve read enough posts and talked to enough customers to know that any delay is causing lots of stress and anxiety.

Bob Meighan
VP, TurboTax

Personnaly, I am upset with the IRS for coming out saying if you received your refund by DD, then you will receive your rebate the same way WITHOUT expressing the exceptions. They did post 2 small sentences on their website, but that doesn’t really work, now does it. Upset with TurboTax because only until this month, when the first DD’s were sent, did they fully explain everything. Day late and a dollar short. Irritated again with the Treasury Dept. for saying that they were able to move everything up a week. Duh! They found out that they didn’t have as many DD’s to do as they thought because a VAST majority made SBB rich with processing fees. This has been a true Charlie Foxtrot. Me, I have no choice but to wait until June and juggle some bills so as to go on vacation early June. Learned my lesson. Will use TurboTax to do my taxes, but I will MAIL them for now on. SBB will NEVER get any money from me again.

Ok! I have a question? I chose direct deposit of course but had my fees come out of my refund! can’t the Irs see that we wanted direct deposit and maybe move us up on the ladder to get ours sent out earlier than scheduled for people who chose checks by mail. It seems really unfair that we chose that option and still have to wait.. because my #’s are 98. I will definitely be among the last to receive mine. could really use it with three kids

i will no longer use turbo tax after this. not mainly because of the rabte thing. but the rebate thing made me make my decision on wheather or not i should keep using them anymore. i have been using them for 7 years ……… screw turbo tax

This may not ne Turbo Taxes fault but I have a feeling that SBBT will be losing alot of of processing fees come next tax season. This may cost Turbo Tax some customers in the future. P.S. I am one of the the many who have to wait for my check to be mailed, I elected to have my fee deducted from my refund.

So if the IRS has only the account numbers provided by SBBT, why couldn’t the funds be sent there again and then redeposited in to our accounts the same way it was on the original return?