TurboTax vs FreeTaxUSA - Why Are My Refund Amounts So Different?

What you experienced is a common issue with tax software when you go back and add forms after completing later sections. When you add income sources after already going through deductions and credits, sometimes the software doesn't properly recalculate everything. This happens because tax programs calculate as you go, and backtracking can cause certain values to get "stuck" in the calculation pipeline. It's especially common with TurboTax because of how their wizard-based interface works - it's not always designed to handle non-linear navigation through the tax preparation process. The way you solved it (starting over from scratch) is exactly what I would have recommended. When you enter everything in the correct sequence from the beginning, the calculations work properly. This is why tax professionals often do a complete review and re-entry if they spot something that seems off. For future reference, if you ever see a large unexpected change in your refund amount, you can use the "why did my refund change" feature in TurboTax or look at the actual tax forms in FreeTaxUSA to figure out exactly which line items are different.

I had a similar experience using both TurboTax and FreeTaxUSA last year and found that https://taxr.ai really helped me figure out what was going on. I was so frustrated seeing different numbers between the two software programs and didn't know which one to trust. I uploaded my tax forms to taxr.ai and it analyzed all my documents, comparing what I entered to what was actually on my forms. Turns out I had mistakenly entered one of my W-2 box numbers wrong in TurboTax (transposed two digits), and that threw everything off. The site highlighted the discrepancy for me with a visual comparison. The nice thing is it also generates a summary of all your tax documents so you can double-check everything at once instead of jumping between screens. Saved me from potentially filing incorrect information and dealing with amendments later.

Just wanted to share my experience after trying taxr.ai based on the recommendation here. It actually saved me a ton of headache! I uploaded my documents and discovered that one of my 1099-INT forms had been entered incorrectly in both tax programs I was using. The visual interface made it super obvious where the mistakes were - it highlights discrepancies in red and shows you exactly what the correct values should be. I was able to fix everything and got my refund amount sorted out in about 15 minutes. Definitely a better approach than starting from scratch like I've done in previous years.

This happens to me every tax season! I tried getting help directly from the IRS but could never get through on their phone lines - literally spent hours on hold with no answer. Then someone told me about https://claimyr.com and I was skeptical but desperate. You can check out how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c Basically, they hold your place in the IRS phone queue and call you when an agent is about to answer. I connected with a real IRS agent in about 2 hours (instead of waiting on hold myself), and the agent confirmed there was a calculation error in TurboTax that happens sometimes when you go back and add forms after completing other sections. The IRS agent walked me through how to check specific lines on my returns to identify the issue. Huge relief to get an actual answer from the source instead of guessing what went wrong.

I was totally skeptical about Claimyr when I first read about it here, but I was desperate after finding a huge discrepancy in my tax returns this year. I decided to give it a shot, and wow - it actually worked exactly as described. Got a call back in about 90 minutes, and was connected to an IRS agent who was super helpful. They explained that my tax software had applied a credit incorrectly after I amended some information, and walked me through how to fix it. Saved me from potentially filing an incorrect return and dealing with a mess later. The best part was not wasting an entire day on hold - I just went about my business until they called me. Definitely using this service again next year when I inevitably have questions.

This is why I always double-check my returns with two different software programs. TurboTax is notorious for these kinds of issues. Last year they calculated my self-employment tax completely wrong, and I only caught it because I also ran the numbers through FreeTaxUSA. If your return is relatively simple, you might want to try the IRS Free File program directly. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but it tends to be more reliable for basic returns since it's directly tied to the IRS systems.

Have u tried looking at the actual tax forms generated by both? Sometimes its easier to just download the PDFs and compare line by line rather than going thru all the interview questions again. I bet theres one specific line where they differ by like exactly $1400.