An increasing number of Turbotax customers in Ontario are faced with unexpected invoices from the Canada Revenue Agency after the audits showed that they had received financial credits to which they were not entitled after using the popular tax preparation software for several years.
Cheryl Wong, a teacher in Markham, was surprised when she received an unexpected bill by post.
“We now owe $ 10,000 (from this), $ 8,000 was a credit that I received that should not have been paid and $ 2,000 in interest,” Wong told Global News.
Michael Ribeiro was in a similar situation after the Mississauga resident was informed that he had to the government of credits that he should not have received. He was given 21 days to pay or cope with additional interest costs.
“It was a very unhappy surprise the day we got the three letters of the arc,” said Ribeiro, who used Turbotax software for many years.
In any case, the request came out of blue, as for the resident of Oakville, Tim O’Shea.
“A very big surprise – a bad surprise, I dare say,” said the longtime customer of Turbotax.
It was all among Turbotax customers who contacted Global News frustrated by the American company that manufactures and markets the tax preparation software.
The question is how Turbotax calculated the eligibility for Ontario’s child protection tax credit, also known as Ontario access and relief credit (care). The program was instituted during the COVVI-19 pandemic.
As part of the program, as defined by the Ontario government, eligible families are authorized to claim up to 75% of their eligible childcare costs, including the services provided by daycare, houses and camps.
Turbotax users have all said that they had filled the software honestly and with precision, according to the instructions.
Despite this, they face unexpected tax invoices.
“During the preparation of joint income statements, the program poorly disadvantaged to calculate the childcare expenditure credits based solely on the revenues of the spouse with low remuneration,” said Jordan Cera, one of the affected people.
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Households earning more than $ 150,000 per year are not eligible for credits.
Cera declared in a Global News email that attempts to manage with Turbotax had failed.
“Despite many attempts by affected users to engage with Turbotax and seek resolution, we have encountered persistent roadblocks, vague responses and a global lack of responsibility,” said Cera.
None of the income statements interviewed by Global News blamed Canada returned Agency for the reassessment. They pointed out on Turbotax, belonging to Intuit, based in Mountain View, California.
For O’Shea, who is preparing income statements for several family members, including her daughter who was reassessed for three years of returns and owed more than $ 17,000 for impaired credits and interests, the resolution seems simple.
“My expectation was that intuated, once they investigated, would see that they had made a mistake,” he said.
Diana Martins, another Turbotax clientele, has been reassessed for the years of 2021, 2022 and 2023. The government demanded that she and her husband pay more than $ 21,000, including credits, penalties and interests.
The Pickering couple, who have three children, pays $ 12,000 for childcare services per year. Following the audit, she says that her family had to dive into their education savings to reimburse what was due.
“We want Turbotax to be responsible for this fact that they have put thousands of families with children like that,” said Martins.
Global News asked Canada Returning Agency How many Turbotax customers in Ontario had been audited specifically due to the childcare credit program. The arc did not immediately have an answer.
A Facebook group of more than 100 Turbotax customers tells similar stories about what happened to them.
Intuits denied any responsibility for the audits that affect Ontario Turbotax customers.
“We are aware of customer comments concerning the Ontario children’s access to childcare form and spending recovery,” a spokesperson for Turbotax said in a Global News email.
The company’s written declaration seems to put the responsibility outright on its customers.
“We can confirm that our product correctly calculates the tax credit. The precise calculation of this credit is based on user inputs in accordance with the ARC requirements,” the spokesperson wrote.
“Customers are encouraged to double the information in which they enter, such as dependent information and household income, to ensure that their personal information is entered properly. We can confirm that the arc has examined and certified each version of our software. ”
Turbotax pointed out that there are two modes in the software, of which “has an examination, which we know that some users decrease, leading to the software which was based on their entries to apply credits to which they may not be eligible,” said the press release.
But this explanation does not satisfy Turbotax customers who contacted Global News.
“The software is software,” said O’Shea. “It should happen to the same answer.”
In his marketing, Turbotax guarantees his calculations and claims that he will keep them completely behind.
“We guarantee that our calculations are 100%precise”, depending on the warranty on its website.
“If you pay a penalty due to a turbotax calculation error, we will reimburse you the penalty and interest.
Intuit was recently challenged in its marketing and public statements on Turbotax.
In 2022, The company agreed to pay $ 141 million in return After a New York State investigation into a misleading advertising campaign. Intuits did not admit any reprehensible act in the regulation of this action.
“They just don’t take responsibility,” said Martins, who said that she has been using Turbotax for 16 years without problem.
She said the company should honor its warranty and reimburse customers affected for penalties and interest.
For O’Shea, who said that it corresponded to the senior management of Intuits to plead in terms of remuneration, Intuits was not willing to offer something other than a reimbursement of the cost of purchase of three years of tax software, and not of penalties or interest.
He said he refused the offer, judging him insufficient.
“They are fighting in listening because if they pay a person like me, they will have to pay everyone.”
Note to readers: Tim O’Shea has no connection with Sean O’Shea, who has developed this story.