TurboTax "experts" couldn't answer basic tax questions - complete waste of money

I just blew $75 on TurboTax's live help option and am completely regretting it. My wife and I file jointly, nothing too complicated, but this year I had a few extra questions I thought would be easy for their "tax experts" to answer. Instead, I spoke with three different "experts" who all gave me the runaround and contradicting advice! I ended up doing my own research and figuring it out myself. Save your money - ChatGPT would've been more helpful than these clueless advisors. Here's what I asked them: 1. When buying our house last year, the builder had delays and moved our closing date by two months. They sent us a $4,000 check to cover our extra rent since we'd already given notice based on their original date. I just wanted to know if this was taxable income. After pushing past all their vague rambling, two "experts" said I should report it, one said don't. I ended up reporting it to be safe. 2. I had an excess 401k contribution after changing jobs (my new employer didn't cap it properly). Got a refund check from my 401k provider and needed to know how to handle this in TurboTax. None of them knew! Had to find the answer buried in a TurboTax forum post. 3. I received a 1099-R for the first time after rolling over my old 401k to my new employer's plan. Asked if this was taxable. One "expert" literally started reading me the Google definition of a 1099-R! None could tell me if I owed taxes on a simple rollover. I've used TurboTax for 8 years and always liked the software itself. Even with these complications, I managed to file correctly after some digging. But that "expert" help feature? Complete scam. Don't waste your money like I did.

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18 comments

Amina Diallo

•8M

Former tax preparer here. Those questions aren't even difficult! Let me give you the straight answers: 1. Yes, the $4,000 payment from your builder is technically taxable income. It's essentially compensation for a financial loss, not a direct reimbursement of expenses you incurred on their behalf. 2. For excess 401(k) contributions, you report the returned excess amount as income in the year you receive the refund. The earnings on that excess contribution are also taxable. In TurboTax, you enter this in the Income section under "Other Common Income" then "Miscellaneous Income." 3. For a direct 401(k) rollover with a 1099-R, you'll see a code "G" in Box 7 of the form indicating a direct rollover. This is not taxable. You still need to report it on your return, but it won't increase your tax liability as long as you didn't receive any of the money personally. Sorry you had such a frustrating experience. The "live help" feature seems to use contractors who don't always have specialized knowledge.

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Amina Diallo

•8M

Even if they labeled it as "moving expenses," it's still considered taxable income for personal tax purposes. Since the 2018 tax law changes, moving expenses are only tax-deductible for active-duty military. For everyone else, reimbursements for moving or housing costs are considered taxable income regardless of how they're labeled. The only way it would be non-taxable is if it was structured as a reduction in your home purchase price, which would be reflected in your closing documents, not as a separate check.

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Hiroshi Nakamura

•8M

After spending hours trying to figure out a complicated tax situation with rental property depreciation, I decided to try taxr.ai at https://taxr.ai and it saved me so much frustration. You upload your documents, and it analyzes everything and explains exactly what you need to do. When I had questions similar to yours about a 1099-R from a rollover, it immediately identified the distribution code and explained that it wasn't taxable since it was a direct rollover (code G). It even showed me exactly where to enter it in TurboTax. I think tools like this are replacing those "expert" services because they're consistent and actually understand tax forms. Way better than waiting for a clueless live chat person.

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Hiroshi Nakamura

•8M

It gives you specific instructions for TurboTax, including which screens to navigate to and what to enter. For my rental property, it showed me exactly where to enter the depreciation and which method to use. It's much more specific than general advice. For complicated situations, I found it surprisingly accurate. It handled my situation with multiple income sources (W-2, 1099, rental income) and even caught a deduction my previous CPA missed. The system is trained on actual tax code and documents, not just generating generic responses.

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Malik Jenkins

•8M

I was skeptical like many of you, but after struggling with contradicting advice from TurboTax "experts" about my K-1 partnership income, I tried taxr.ai and was genuinely surprised. It analyzed my complicated mix of documents (W-2s, 1099s, K-1) and gave me step-by-step guidance for entering everything correctly. What impressed me most was when it explained exactly how to handle the basis calculations for my partnership interest - something two different TurboTax experts gave me completely different answers on. Saved me hours of frustration and probably prevented an audit!

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Freya Andersen

•8M

If you're still trying to contact the IRS for clarification on any of these issues, I recommend using Claimyr at https://claimyr.com - it's the only way I could actually speak to a human at the IRS this year. I was on hold for HOURS trying to get clarification about my amended return status, and getting nowhere. Their system got me through to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c Honestly, the IRS agent gave me better advice than any tax software "expert" I've ever dealt with. Worth it just to get definitive answers straight from the source.

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Freya Andersen

•8M

It works by constantly redialing and navigating the IRS phone system for you. When they get through, they call you and connect you with the IRS agent. It's basically doing the hold time for you. Since they're calling thousands of times with automated systems, they can get through the congestion faster than an individual caller. It's definitely not a scam - I was skeptical too until I tried it. The service doesn't pretend to do anything special with the IRS; they're just automating the frustrating part of getting through the phone system. Once you're connected, you're talking directly to an actual IRS agent, not some intermediary.

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Eduardo Silva

•8M

I need to admit I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After posting my skeptical comment, I decided to try it anyway since I was desperate to talk to someone about my CP2000 notice. I honestly couldn't believe it worked. After weeks of failed attempts calling the IRS directly (always disconnected after 2+ hours), Claimyr got me through to an actual IRS representative in about 25 minutes. The agent was able to explain exactly what I needed to do about the misreported income on my notice and even processed an adjustment while I was on the phone. Definitely eating my words on this one. If you need to actually speak to the IRS, this service actually delivers.

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Leila Haddad

•8M

The 401k overcontribution issue happened to me too! The way I handled it in TurboTax was: 1. Enter the 1099-R you received for the returned excess 2. Make sure you check that it was a "return of excess contributions" 3. The earnings portion (if any) is taxable in the year you receive it TurboTax has a specific workflow for this but their "experts" apparently don't know about it. Try searching "excess contribution" in the TurboTax help section instead of asking their live people.

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