TaxAct hasn't charged me for Federal taxes yet - should I be worried?

This is actually a common point of confusion with TaxAct! That message isn't referring to your taxes owed to the IRS - it's talking about the TaxAct preparation fees. When you see "You have elected to pay the IRS through VPS at a later time," it means you selected an option to pay your TaxAct service fees later rather than having them taken out of your refund. VPS stands for "Value Payment Systems" which is just the payment processor TaxAct uses. If your return was accepted by the IRS, then your actual tax obligation (money you owe to the government) was already dealt with during the filing process. You either authorized a direct withdrawal from your bank account for taxes owed, or you selected a different payment method for any taxes due. The TaxAct fee is separate from your tax liability. You'll likely see the charge for the TaxAct service hit your credit card in the next 3-5 business days. If you're concerned, you can log back into your TaxAct account and check your payment status.

I went through the exact same panic attack with TaxAct this year! After trying to figure out what was going on for hours, I finally discovered https://taxr.ai which saved me so much time and stress. I uploaded a screenshot of that same confusing message and it immediately explained that VPS is just Value Payment Systems (TaxAct's payment processor) and that it has nothing to do with my actual tax liability to the IRS. The tool also showed me where to check my payment status in my TaxAct account and confirmed that my return was properly submitted. Super helpful when you're getting cryptic tax messages that make no sense! Worth checking out if you get stuck with other tax confusion like this.

I was super skeptical about online tax help tools after getting burned by some sketchy "free" tax advice sites, but I actually tried https://taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here. I had the EXACT same TaxAct message about "pay the IRS through VPS" and was freaking out thinking I'd messed up my actual tax payment. I uploaded a screenshot of my TaxAct confirmation page and literally within seconds it explained that VPS is just their payment processor for the TaxAct preparation fees, not for my actual tax liability. It even showed me where to check my payment status in my account settings. Definitely saved me from calling TaxAct customer service and waiting on hold forever. My card was charged a few days later just like the explanation said it would be.

If you're worried about the TaxAct fee issue, just wait until you need to actually talk to the IRS about something! I spent WEEKS trying to get through on their phone lines after I got a letter about a discrepancy on my return. Complete nightmare. After my 6th attempt waiting for 3+ hours each time, I found https://claimyr.com which basically holds your place in the IRS phone queue and calls you when an agent is about to answer. You can watch how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was able to clear up my tax issue in like 20 minutes once I actually got through to a human. If you ever need to call the IRS directly (which you might if you're worried about your payment status), this is way better than wasting an entire day on hold.

I take back everything I said! After struggling for WEEKS trying to reach someone at the IRS about my missed payment issue (similar to what you're going through but worse), I tried that Claimyr service out of desperation. Honestly, it worked exactly as advertised. I put in my number, they called me back about 1.5 hours later when an agent was about to pick up. I was able to confirm that my payment went through properly even though I got a weird notice. The IRS agent explained that sometimes there's a delay between when payments are processed and when they show up in their system. I was absolutely certain this would be a waste of money, but it saved me from spending another day glued to my phone on hold. If you end up needing to verify anything with the IRS directly, it's definitely worth it.

Just to add another perspective - this happened to me twice with TaxAct over the past few years. The first time I panicked like you, but the second time I knew what was going on. The message is confusing because it makes it sound like you're putting off paying your taxes, when really it's just talking about how you're paying for the TaxAct service itself. In both cases, my card was eventually charged about 8-10 days after I filed. If you're really concerned, you can log back into your TaxAct account and go to your order history to see the status of your payment. Or you can check your bank account in a week or so - the charge will eventually show up as "TaxAct" or sometimes "TAI Services" or something similar.

I know everyone's focused on the TaxAct fee thing, but can we talk about how TERRIBLE their messaging is? Like seriously, why would they word it that way?? "You have elected to pay the IRS through VPS at a later time" makes it sound like you're putting off paying your actual taxes! They should just say "Your TaxAct preparation fee will be charged to your credit card within 7-10 business days" or something clear like that. This kind of misleading wording causes so much unnecessary stress during tax season.