We recently became aware of a situation in TurboTax where a small number of customers, less than one tenth of one percent, may have inadvertently entered their health insurance premium information twice. As a result, these customers may have underpaid their taxes.
We have already updated the TurboTax interview with additional clarifying language to eliminate any possible confusion for taxpayers.
This will only affect you if ALL of the following apply to your tax situation:
1. You receive a CSA or CSF 1099R
2. You had health insurance premiums paid on your behalf by the pension administrator
3. You had medical expenses that exceeded the 7.5% AGI limitation
4. You enter your health insurance premiums twice – once in the income section and once in the deductions section
5. You itemized your deductions
We take this very seriously and are ready to assist customers who may be impacted by penalties and interest, which we will reimburse consistent with our accuracy guarantee.
If you think that you might have been affected, this FAQ will provide you with additional information.
We are continuing to work closely with the IRS. Their response to taxpayers is below:
“The IRS recently learned about a potential issue for a small number of federal government civil service retirees who used Intuit’s TurboTax software product. Based on initial information, we believe that this issue could potentially impact a very small number of taxpayers.
This situation involves a very specific scenario involving the Form 1099-R, where individuals may have interpreted the software-prompted question in a way that double counts their health premiums. In order for the issue to appear, the individual would have to also itemize their deductions on Schedule A, and claim health expenses above 7.5 percent of their income. Based on the scenario involved, we expect the number of impacted taxpayers to be very small.
Intuit is in the process of identifying the taxpayers who may have been affected and will reach out to them. Taxpayers who think they may be in this situation should contact TurboTax for assistance. Taxpayers who discover errors on their tax returns should allow the IRS to complete processing of those returns before filing the Form 1040X to amend the returns. The IRS will continue to work closely with Intuit and taxpayers affected by this issue.
Generally, using computer software to prepare a return not only produces a faster refund, but also enables taxpayers to avoid math errors or inadvertently omitted schedules or forms. A return prepared by software and e-filed is generally far more accurate than a manually prepared return.”