Bloggers and forums are abuzz over the news that TurboTax may be calculating the Recovery Rebate incorrectly. Apparently TurboTax users are getting letters from the IRS complaining that they claimed too large a credit for the rebate, and that they’ll need to pay it back. The TurboTax team has responded to explain some of the confusion, but that’s not the whole story.

One TurboTax employee responded on a blog post:

Sounds like you did not enter the correct rebate amount from 2007 (the amount before any offsets). Any rebate calculated on your 2008 return is simply the amount you were entitled to in either 2007 or 2008 reduced by the credit received. Without knowing your specific situation, it’s very difficult to tell you what you should have been entitled to claim. However, generally it would have been $600 (single) or $1200 (joint) plus $300 for each child.

Just so you know, with over 30 million returns filed for 2007 and 2008, we are not aware of any calculation issue in this area. I would suggest you contact the IRS first to determine how they arrived at their number.

I hope this information helps.

Bob Meighan

VP, TurboTax

He later added:

I would suggest you send a letter to the IRS requesting abatement of the penalty. They are generally pretty good about eliminating the penalty when it’s for a reasonable cause. Use language like “I respectfully request abatement of the penalty because…”

… I can confidently say there is not a calculation error with the rebate. I encourage you to call the IRS to find out how they arrived at their number and then compare it what you may have entered. In every case that I’ve seen, it’s been a case where the user entered the incorrect rebate received from the prior year.

(Interestingly enough, this isn’t the first time Meighan has gotten involved in online discussions of Turbotax.)

But what’s really going on is this: the stimulus plan has created a very confusing situation for the average taxpayer. (Read more at: RapidTax.com)

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