What is TPG Products SBTPG LLC on my tax refund statement?

What you're seeing is Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (SBTPG), which is TurboTax's affiliated financial institution that handles their refund transfer products. If you chose to have your TurboTax fees deducted directly from your refund instead of paying upfront with a credit card, they use SBTPG to process this. The $100 difference is likely the TurboTax fee that was deducted before sending the remainder to your bank account. When you choose the option to pay for TurboTax with your refund, they actually set up a temporary bank account with SBTPG, your refund gets deposited there first, they take out their fee, and then transfer the rest to you. You'll want to check your TurboTax documents to confirm the exact amount of fees you agreed to pay, which should explain the difference in what you received.

I had the exact same confusion last year! After spending hours trying to figure out what happened, I found this tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that actually helped me understand all these weird deductions. You upload your tax docs and it explains everything in plain English - showed me exactly how much TurboTax skimmed off the top and for what services. The most frustrating part is that TurboTax doesn't make it super clear upfront that choosing to pay fees from your refund comes with that extra charge. The taxr.ai analysis showed me I paid $39 JUST for the "convenience" of having fees taken out of my refund rather than paying upfront. Definitely won't make that mistake again this year!

Just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai - it was seriously eye-opening! Not only did it explain the whole SBTPG situation (which is exactly what happened to me too), but it found over $2,300 in deductions I could have claimed on my self-employment income. I'm definitely filing an amendment to get some of that money back. The explanation about tax preparation fees was super clear too - turns out this "convenience fee" for paying out of your refund is basically a short-term loan with an insane interest rate when you calculate it. Never doing that again. Thanks for the recommendation!

If you're having trouble getting a straight answer from TurboTax about these fees, you might want to try Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I was in the same boat last year - had a smaller refund than expected and couldn't get through to TurboTax's customer service at all. Claimyr got me connected to an actual human at TurboTax in about 10 minutes when I had been trying for days on my own. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - basically they navigate the phone tree for you and call you back when there's a real person on the line. Saved me hours of hold music and frustration!

I'm honestly shocked. I tried Claimyr after posting my skeptical comment, and they actually got me through to TurboTax in less than 15 minutes. The agent confirmed everything about the SBTPG situation and explained that I had paid $39.99 for the refund transfer plus my TurboTax Deluxe fee of $59.99. The agent was actually super helpful once I finally got to talk to a human. They even offered to waive the transfer fee as a one-time courtesy when I explained I didn't understand what I was signing up for. Money's being credited back to my account in 3-5 business days. Sometimes I guess you have to eat your words!

For anyone dealing with this in the future - you can avoid the whole SBTPG thing completely by just paying for TurboTax upfront with a credit card instead of choosing to have the fees taken out of your refund. The "pay with my refund" option is what triggers them to use that third party processor. Also, if you're eligible, remember that IRS Free File exists! If your income is under $73,000, you can file completely free. TurboTax and other companies deliberately hide these options but you can find them through the IRS website directly.

Is no one else bothered by the fact that TT basically gives itself an interest-free loan from your refund and then charges YOU for the privilege?? The more I think about it, the more annoyed I get. They're literally using our money to float their business for a few weeks and then charging us for it.

This is exactly why I switched to doing my own taxes using the IRS Free File Fillable Forms. Yes, it takes a bit more work to understand the forms, but at least I know exactly where every dollar is going and I'm not getting hit with surprise fees. The whole SBTPG situation is a perfect example of how these tax prep companies make their money - not just from the software fees, but from all these ancillary services that most people don't even realize they're signing up for. When you're going through the filing process, they make it seem like paying with your refund is just a convenient option, but they don't clearly explain that convenience costs you an extra $40. For anyone who wants to avoid this next year, either pay the software fee upfront or look into the actual IRS Free File options that others have mentioned. Don't let these companies profit off your own money!