# Anyone else get this email from TurboTax



## Jleakakos (Jul 17, 2019)

I did my taxes 3 months ago and I received this today

At TurboTax, we are committed to helping you get your maximum refund through ensuring your return is filed with 100% accuracy. Unfortunately, we recently became aware of an issue that affected the accuracy of your 2019 tax return. When you imported your Uber income, some of your rideshare income and expenses were not categorized correctly.

We have worked with Uber to resolve this issue; however, you will need to take steps to correct your previously filed tax return. In order to have an accurate tax return, you need to check and, if necessary, amend your tax return(s) and if you have an underpayment of tax, pay the amount due on or before *July 15, 2020*, to avoid penalties and interest.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. If you need our help, we've provided contact information at the bottom of this letter.


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## KevinJohnson (Mar 23, 2020)

Just a guess but it sounds like their program screwed up and you have to redo it. They are telling you now because they are in a way liable for the work.


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## May H. (Mar 20, 2018)

Yes, this is legit and every driver who used Turbo Tax should look over their return for errors. Funny that it’s just being acknowledged now because drivers discovered the flaw over two months ago.


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

KevinJohnson said:


> Just a guess but it sounds like their program screwed up and you have to redo it. They are telling you now because they are in a way liable for the work.


Actually I owned a tax prep business for 20 years and believe it or not, the Tax Preparer has no legal liability for your taxes they prepared. Hard to believe but true. You are still the one liable to the IRS for the correct taxes.


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Seamus said:


> Actually I owned a tax prep business for 20 years and believe it or not, the Tax Preparer has no legal liability for your taxes they prepared. Hard to believe but true. You are still the one liable to the IRS for the correct taxes.


 IRC § 6694 imposes a penalty on a tax return preparer that understates a taxpayer's liability, and that is determined by whether he made any part of the understatement due to taking an "unreasonable position" that he knew (or reasonably should have known) of the position, or if he made any part of the understatement due to "willful or reckless conduct." Penalty for unreasonable position is $1000 or 50% of income derived. For willful or reckless conduct the penalty is $5000 or 50% of derived revenue.

Like you stated,ordinarily the taxpayer will be responsible for any *additional income tax*, but the preparer can potentially be held liable for the additional penalties and interest.


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## MSPDriver (Jul 7, 2018)

I'm confused. It seems like they are asking us to keep the Gross Trip Earnings the same, leading to you having the same income, but apparently you can't write off Uber's service fees? Seems like that expense should be written off since it wasn't money I received. Would this raise most drivers' net income by a few thousand dollars, resulting in an increase of tax by about 1000? Doesn't make sense. Ultimately we should just be getting taxed on the net payouts... so either Gross Trip Earnings AND Uber's fees should be reported, or Net Payout without Uber fees reported... seems like they are asking us to pay income taxes on the money that Uber took from the fares.

Turbotax Link


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## PlayLoud (Jan 11, 2019)

MSPDriver said:


> I'm confused. It seems like they are asking us to keep the Gross Trip Earnings the same, leading to you having the same income, but apparently you can't write off Uber's service fees? Seems like that expense should be written off since it wasn't money I received. Would this raise most drivers' net income by a few thousand dollars, resulting in an increase of tax by about 1000? Doesn't make sense. Ultimately we should just be getting taxed on the net payouts... so either Gross Trip Earnings AND Uber's fees should be reported, or Net Payout without Uber fees reported... seems like they are asking us to pay income taxes on the money that Uber took from the fares.
> 
> Turbotax Link


Yeah. WTH.

I just went back to a month where I only had two rides.

$21.36 gross
$8.40 fees ($3.70 Uber Service Fee, $4.70 Booking fee) 
$12.96 is what hit my bank account. (The service fee was NOT removed from the gross)

If they want to tax me on the gross, I get to deduct that service fee! UBER collected that money, not me.

But this being the government, HTF am I going to win this?

They're looking to remove ~$1,200 in deductions for the year.


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## PlayLoud (Jan 11, 2019)

Actually, I spoke with a CPA at TurboTax as I thought something was wrong with this. Normally you need the Self-employed LIVE version (or something like that) for this service, but I think because they messed up on their import, they provided that service to me for free. I shared my screen with the CPA, and after showing her how the Uber fees were included in my gross (viewing my payment history breakdown at Uber's page), she agreed that I didn't need to remove the Uber fees. She DID however find that they imported something else wrong (and I missed it even after looking it over again today per TurboTax's instructions). TurboTax imported the "Expenses, Fees and Tax" into the "Total Additional Earnings" line. It was mentioned in the link provided in the TurboTax email, but since I recognized the number it was showing, I didn't bother to verify it was the correct description.

She did say it looks like the tolls needed to be taken off of my deductions, just with the way the math was working.

So, she recommended removing the tolls, leaving the Uber fees as they were (deducted), and changing that "Total Additional Earnings" to the correct amount.

Now I have to file an amended return, but I'm getting back an additional $825. :smiles:

I'm still pissed I didn't catch this when I was doing my taxes 3 months ago.

Now I have to actually snail mail this (can't e-file an amended return), and I'm sure the IRS isn't busy at all with all the Kung-Flu stuff going on.


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## Launchpad McQuack (Jan 8, 2019)

PlayLoud said:


> Now I have to actually snail mail this (can't e-file an amended return), and I'm sure the IRS isn't busy at all with all the Kung-Flu stuff going on.


.....and yet people still try to convince me that the expenses associated with accounting and recordkeeping are not "necessary" business expenses because "Uber does all the accounting and recordkeeping for you."


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## MSPDriver (Jul 7, 2018)

PlayLoud said:


> Actually, I spoke with a CPA at TurboTax as I thought something was wrong with this. Normally you need the Self-employed LIVE version (or something like that) for this service, but I think because they messed up on their import, they provided that service to me for free. I shared my screen with the CPA, and after showing her how the Uber fees were included in my gross (viewing my payment history breakdown at Uber's page), she agreed that I didn't need to remove the Uber fees. She DID however find that they imported something else wrong (and I missed it even after looking it over again today per TurboTax's instructions). TurboTax imported the "Expenses, Fees and Tax" into the "Total Additional Earnings" line. It was mentioned in the link provided in the TurboTax email, but since I recognized the number it was showing, I didn't bother to verify it was the correct description.
> 
> She did say it looks like the tolls needed to be taken off of my deductions, just with the way the math was working.
> 
> ...


So if my "Total Additional Earnings" is equal to the incentives payment under "Table 2," as well as matching Box 7 (nonemployee comp) on the "1099-MISC" section, then it seems like the "Expenses, Fees, and Taxes" was not counted twice and I don't have an error. If I did have an error, I think it would be the sum of the incentives and expenses. Looking it over, it seems to make sense, so it seems like I do not need to do anything.


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## tcaud (Jul 28, 2017)

Your gross earnings are what Uber paid to your account. Avoid that "uber fees" bullshit... you're working for Uber from the court's standpoint.

Your net earnings are your gross minus your phone bill, tolls, mileage deduction, and amenities you provided on the job. (this is also your AGI)

If someone argues with you about this, dump them and just do what I said, do the return yourself. I do it every year and never get looked at.

Online tax services won't argue with you as long as you do the return yourself.


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## Amsoil Uber Connect (Jan 14, 2015)

UberTaxPro said:


> IRC § 6694,...
> 
> Like you stated,ordinarily the taxpayer will be responsible for any *additional income tax*, but the preparer can potentially be held liable for the additional penalties and interest.


There was a guy at work that was doing a lot of coworkers returns. Not knowing anything then, I wondered what the deal was as they were saying that he will get you a lot money back. Turns out he was doing home mortgage deductions for those who did not have a home. It took a couple of years but they caught up with him.

One would think that trusting U/L to get it right, importing the numbers ,... one would triple check to make sure you get it right.

My only beef with Turbo was there Waste Gate is malfuctioning. And as a first time user, nothing Turbo about it. And as a driver , efile not allowed. Not that I efile n e way.
But seriously why do I have to wait until the end to see the Line #'s on the return itself to match it up to last years return. That is SO not helpful. smh...


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## WokeUP (Dec 19, 2018)

Jleakakos said:


> I did my taxes 3 months ago and I received this today
> 
> At TurboTax, we are committed to helping you get your maximum refund through ensuring your return is filed with 100% accuracy. Unfortunately, we recently became aware of an issue that affected the accuracy of your 2019 tax return. When you imported your Uber income, some of your rideshare income and expenses were not categorized correctly.
> 
> ...


anyone who uses anything endorsed by uber or lyft needs their head examined. CPA only! you get what you pay for.


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## lkm370 (Aug 12, 2018)

Can we just ignore this and not re-amend? I got the same email yet my dad and brother all filled out theirs the same exact way as i did and they didnt get an email from turbotax.


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