Paying taxes

First of all, an amount of exactly $500 sounds like a mistake with the first time homebuyer credit. Because this has been the subject of a lot of misunderstanding, I wanted to reach out and make sure you understood that if you no longer live in the home where you took the credit when you bought it 2008, you should not be making a repayment anymore, but some other steps may have been missed in the past. Let us know if you need more details.

Now onto the credit card charge. TurboTax passes the information to a third-party credit card processor. I don’t know exactly how this works but there are two possibilities.

1. The charge is pending, but will not actually go through until your return is accepted by the IRS. In this case, the charge will fall off your account in 3 to 7 days if it is not confirmed.  If the charge is only pending, I would wait up to seven days or longer, to make sure that it actually goes through or drops off. If it drops off, you can file and make a new payment. If it goes through, then follow the steps in part 2 below.

2. If the charge has been confirmed and posted to your credit card account, then you can e-file by selecting “I will pay by mail,” as your payment option. This will let you e-file without making a new payment. Then, go to the IRS website at www.irs.gov/payments and make your own separate payment arrangement for the remaining balance. At the IRS website you can pay by direct bank debit or using a credit card. (Note there is a service charge for using a credit card.)