I put all my information in the free calculator on turbotax.com, it says I'm getting back 152 dollars. But when I am actually filing, its only saying I get back 80. Why?

The TaxCaster calculator is usually pretty accurate for estimates, and we think it has value for that purpose. However, the TurboTax program itself processes additional details of your tax situation, giving you a guaranteed accurate result for official reporting (for your greater time investment).

 You wrote that all the info adds up perfectly between the two versions — are you saying that the “Income” amount in the TaxCaster summary equals line 9 of your 1040, the “Deductions” amount equals line 14, and “Taxable Income” is the same as line 15? Also, how about “Federal Tax” compared to line 16? If all of these match, it’s likely that the nuances pertaining to a credit are creating the different results.

@lysergicrose, if everything was entered correctly in the return, that’s the correct version. However, we do want you to have complete confidence in our products (like we do — and here’s our guarantee). If you provide more details regarding those categories, we can probably explain why the estimate was higher...