If I file my 2020 taxes with Turbotax, what are the chances of my tax return not coming in like my stimulus has not?

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@ericoakes6969 wrote:

This did not answer my question. Basically I'm understanding that since I filed through turbotax last year I did not receive my much needed stimulus check, so I am trying to find out if I should file with them again and take the risk of my taxes also being deposited into a different account and I will not get those either

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The direct deposit of a tax refund is based on the bank routing and account numbers you enter in the File section of the program.  That bank information is sent with the tax return to the IRS.  The IRS then direct deposits the federal tax refund into the bank account you specified.

The issue arose in 2020 when users selected to have their TurboTax account fees paid from their federal tax refund.  That information was sent to the IRS so the IRS sent the federal tax refund to a third party processor, SBTPG, where the account fees and service charge were deducted from the refund.  SBTPG then direct deposited the remaining refund into the bank account as requested by the user.

Then Congress stepped in and authorized stimulus payments which were to be distributed by the IRS.  The IRS sent stimulus payments to the bank accounts the IRS had on record.  Those payments were sent to SBTPG for the users who selected the pay with refund option.  The trouble was the accounts were closed by SBTPG after they finished sending the tax refund to the user's bank account.  So SBTPG sent the stimulus payments back to the IRS.  Now the IRS had no way to direct deposit the stimulus so ended up mailing the payment as a check to the last known address.  It was a mess and the whole thing started again with the second stimulus.  However, this time SBTPG stepped up and started processing the second stimulus payments.

The other issue was when users opted to have their refund deposited onto a Turbo Visa Debit Card.  That is an affinity card owned and distributed by Green Dot Bank.  Apparently after a period of time the bank will close the debit account if there is no activity.  So again the IRS had no direct deposit information for these users.  Another mess.

So if you do not use the option to have your TurboTax account fees paid from the federal tax refund and if you do not choose the option to have your refund deposited onto a debit card, there should not be an issue.

I personally have used TurboTax for almost thirty years and every single tax refund has been direct deposited into my own bank account with no problems whatsoever.