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Taxpayers who filed their tax returns electronically using Turbo Tax by Intuit may experience a delay in getting their refunds due to a ?processing error? by Turbo Tax.  The Turbo Tax spokesperson, Julie Miller issued a statement:

?We deeply regret the inconvenience this has caused these customers.  We made a mistake and are doing everything we can to make it right.  We are communicating directly with customers affected and of course, we?ve waived all TurboTax fees.?

This error affects possibly thousands of taxpayers who opted to receive their refunds via direct deposit.  If you are one of the affected taxpayers, you will be receiving your tax refund by paper check instead.  Furthermore, the IRS will mail your check approximately one week after the day you were scheduled to get your direct deposit.

In addition, the date of the expected refund has also changed for many taxpayers.  Those who expected their refunds on February 4 discovered that their expected date of refund has been changed to February 22.  Some who expected a refund on Jan 28 would now get their paper check refund by Feb 15.  According to some taxpayers, their refund dates have been changed two or more times without any reasons given.

But just what was the ?processing error? made by Turbo Tax?  No one knows for sure.  But one thing is certain ? the IRS confirmed that they did not receive any direct deposit banking information from Turbo Tax.  Hence there is speculation that the last page of the tax returns that bears the relevant information for direct deposit was never transmitted by Turbo Tax.

Another complaint is that the calls made to Turbo Tax customer service resulted in long waiting times and no concrete answers.  Logging into the website brought no better results either.

This entire episode will undoubtedly create bad publicity for Turbo Tax and Intuit.  Although taxpayers have been told that it?s ?only going to be an extra week? to get their paper check, it does little to reassure irate filers.  Even one week may be too long a time for many.  This is especially so because if the paper check is delayed, the IRS cannot trace it immediately.

Turbo Tax?s Facebook fan page is deluged with expressions of anger and frustration by many affected taxpayers starting from February 3.  Unfortunately, there is nothing anyone can do besides wait.

On their part, Intuit has pledged to waive their $30 processing fee and solve this problem quickly.

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