I called TurboTax to know what line to claim work from home expenses on my 2022 tax return. They had a tax expert phone me (I hadn't paid for this service, nor did I ask for it) who started probing how I had calculated my expenses. He offered unsolicited advice stating that I was not claiming enough. Despite my concerns that I did not want to get audited, that I thought the amount he was suggesting to claim and the tax return amount was too high, he continued to convince me that I should claim 30% of my expenses. He justified this saying that I use my bathroom and my kitchen and that the CRA would not bat an eye at 30%. (This call would be recorded and if listened to, would easily show he offered me incorrect tax advice that I did not ask for, and that I was in fact doing it the correct way prior to his unsolicited advice.)
Despite my better judgement, I followed his advice. In December of 2023 I received a letter from the CRA asking me to provide proof of my work from home expense claims. When I phoned the CRA, they explained that the amount I claimed was suspiciously high. I told them about my conversation with a TurboTax tax expert and how they had insisted I claim 30%, and the agent told me that was incorrect and terrible tax advice.
The CRA reassessed my taxes and are now saying I owe them over $3,700. Ironically, the calculation they used to determine this amount was the original calculations I was using prior to speaking with the tax expert.
I escalated this situation to TurboTax through the "100% Guarantee" process on Feb 20, 2024, submitted the documents and was told they would investigate (INV-28136 & Support ID [phone number removed]) and get back to me in 8-10 business days after spending SIX HOURS ON THE PHONE in total.
On the 11th business day (March 6th), I still had heard nothing so I followed up and spent another hour on the phone. The gentleman I spoke with told me he was submitting an urgent review and that I had to call back on Saturday, March 9th, to follow up. I called back on Monday, March 11th and spoke to a supervisor of some sort named Mitch. He promised me he would speak with his supervisor and phone me back yesterday... I never received a call.
In total I have spent about 7-8 hours on the phone now with TurboTax trying to deal with this situation caused by your "tax expert". I am livid and the amount of stress and anxiety this has caused is insane. I am at a loss, no one is taking this situation seriously and I need to have this resolved. Every time I call back I have to re-explain my situation and spend an hour on the phone. No one has taken ownership or accountability and no one seems to quite grasp what an incredibly horrible experience this has been. $3,700 is a lot of money and if they listen to the call, they will clearly hear that this was incorrect advice that they provided me. This amount should be reimbursed to me considering it was completely an error on TurboTax's part, had I never spoken to that "tax expert", I wouldn't have had any issue.
I work full-time and having to spend the equivalent of A WHOLE DAY OF WORK is unacceptable! Not to mention the hours spent dealing with the audit and having to gather and submit all my documents. I need someone to take this seriously and help make this right. I was a huge fan of TurboTax prior to this, but this experience has been a nightmare. I have lost sleep, I have had to miss meetings because of being on the phone, I have had anxiety attacks, I've had to ask the CRA for an extension because I'm waiting on TurboTax to resolve this... I am literally fed up but I will not keep fighting for you to do what is right.
Please, someone just listen to the call, all you need is in that call in black and white. I even have since received from the CRA notification how they recalculated my taxes and it will match verbatim how I told your "tax expert" I was calculating my work from home expenses in the first place. PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME RESOLVE THIS!
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