ON479–A CARE tax credit reassessment error on 2021 to 2023 turbotax filing

I encountered the same problem with the form ON479-A  too. Since this form is incorrect, I got notice of re-assessments for 2021, 2022, 2023 from CRA recently.  I reported the problem to Turbo Tax and they don't seem to have a clue of what went wrong.

On Feb 26, 2025, I called Turbo Tax at [phone number removed] around noon time to speak with Modupe about the problem with the form ON479-A. She told me she could not open the form ON476-A from her end and could not help me.

I called Turbo Tax again after1 p.m. on Feb 26, 2025 to speak with Yuval. He understood the issue of ON 479-A did not calculate correct family income on the form. He tried to connect with a higher-level agent to address this issue. Yuval put me on hold for over 1.5 hours to wait for a higher-level agent. The higher-level agent finally became available but he or she did not even speak to me and concluded that the issue of ON 479-A not populating correct family income is a user error, not a software error.

Then I got a link from the Turbo Tax Aniqua (Moderator) around 8:50 p.m. on Feb 26, 2025 about how to submit a claim under the Turbo Tax 100% Accurate Calculations Guarantee.

On Feb 27, 2025, I tried to follow Step 2 of preparing the claim as outlined in the link.
Step 2
Go to our Contact Us page.
Follow the prompts and enter your information. Once you've entered your info, a phone number and incident ID will appear. Make a note of your incident ID. Call the number provided. A specialist will process your claim.

I went to Contact Us page and found no prompts to follow. I only saw the following:
Our experts are ready to help you. There are multiple ways to get in touch with us.
>Post a question in community
>Contact us on social media
>Use TurboTax Live
>Call us
You can call customer support at [phone number removed].

So I called the customer support at 9:45 a.m. on Feb 27, 2025 to submit a claim under the Turbo Tax 100% Accurate Calculations Guarantee. The agent Gen told me that Turbo Tax is currently conducting an investigation on the childcare credit issue under the reference number of INV-1344-6724-0510-2063-616. Gen advised me that there will be a fix to this childcare credit issue for the 2024 filing very soon. When I asked her to help me to submit a claim for 2021, 2022, and 2023, she did not know anything about the 100% Accurate Calculations Guarantee or how to submit a claim. Gen kept telling me to contact CRA to amend the returns for 2021, 2022 and 2023 for the childcare credit errors and assured me that this error will be fixed for the 2024 filing very soon.

After spending over 1 hour on the phone with Gen, she finally understood that we cannot amend the tax returns once CRA sent out reassessments. Gen then agreed to find a way for me to submit a claim. Gen’s suggestion for filing a claim is to write a letter to Intuit and wait for their reply. This is totally different than the procedure outlined in the link sent to me by Turbo Tax Aniqua (Moderator).

If anyone can help sorting out what the next steps should be, I would be appreciative.  It is quite frustrating getting the run around and conflicting messages.

I prepare tax returns for my family using Turbo Tax, been using it for years, and they too have had their 2022 and 2023 returns reassessed by CRA and have to repay the CARE credit they received.  This is a substantial amount of money they have to repay!

I started inputting their 2024 information slips and the program is generating this credit again.  Turbo Tax is not populating either of their incomes in the calculation and giving them the CARE credit again.  The program will not allow me to override the income lines.

I just received a CRA audit for 2021, 2022 and 2023.
All three audits resulted in an error with Ontario CARE tax credit.
I now owe a substantial amount + interest.

I checked the software and found the issue.

I am using TurboTax Canada Standard edition.
In the 2021 edition, the software calculated the CARE tax credit and showed the amount in form ON479.

If you check form ON479 it tells you to complete form ON479-A to calculate the amount even though it already has calculated the amount for you. Unfortunately, if you search for forms, there is no ON479-A.

In hindsight, I noticed that there is a form called ONCARE which should have been named ON479-A.

Even though I am filing a joint return with my spouse, TurboTax defaulted to only calculating the credit using the income from the lower earning spouse. You have to go to the ONCARE form and select that there are two or more supporting persons, and one is your spouse. Once you do this, the credit amount is calculated using the household income.

I don't understand why the software wouldn't just default to two supporting persons, when you are filing a joint return.

Also, why would you even know to check the calculation? Am I expected to manually check every calculation?

The same issue existed in the 2022 and 2023 versions.

I checked the 2024 version and noticed that they corrected the form name.

I haven't checked to see if the calculation defaults to the household income.

I consider this to be a TurboTax issue, and I am going to request a refund for the interest charged by the CRA which is close to $1800.00

Let me know if you will do the same!

We have been hit by penalties for the same issue and would be open to joining in any legal action as necessary

This is new on the 2024  under Review: Warning

“To calculate the Ontario Child Care Tax Credit correctly, ensure all checkboxes for you and any supporting person listed and their income is accurately reported”. 🤔 🤔

Did not see this warning in previous years. Anyone?

For those that have sent in a claim, what did you do for the "Copy of the tax return prepared with another tax preparation method" requirement? Are we supposed to buy a different software, re-enter all the information and show that it produced a different result?

 @TurboTaxVeronique,  I also sent in a claim under the accuracy calculation warranty and the package was delivered to  TurboTax Returns Dept., 8 Spadina Avenue - Suite 1900 - Toronto, On - M5V 0S8.  Canada Post tracking showed "Delivered to recipient's delivery partner" on April 4th.   I have not received any confirmation of receipt.  Please also send me the AG form you are referring to.  Thank you.

Hi, did you send the claim to Intuit Canada? My case got rejected and I am considering group legal action. If possible, we should join together. Thank you

Beware the issue is still happening with the 2024 version of TurboTax as of April 18, 2024. I cannot believe with the discovery of this error a few months ago that TurboTax has not updated  their software to include a review that the Ontario 479Aform is completed correctly. 

I have been using TurboTax for as long as I can remember since I stopped doing returns by hand, so I am an experienced user. This error is the  first time TurboTax has let me down and produced inaccurate calculations. For my daughter‘s families 2024 return returns, she  actually had a few thousand dollars more income than her husband and it took me a good half hour or so to figure out how to manipulate the program not to claim this child care, tax relief credit  in her husbands return. . I feel sorry for users who buy the software at Staples or Costco who do not have an accounting/business background like I do who try to do their returns themselves. There are many instances in TurboTax where the software uses the proper spouse‘s income for calculations, for example this year, because my son-in-law had less income, the software transferred the childcare expenses that I inputted in my daughter‘s name to his return so the software knew I was preparing joint returns. Before finalizing returns the software goes through the review process and identifies a number of tax saving tips, items that need review, and errors that need to be fixed. The software should include a review of the ON479 A form to ensure, when applicable that both spouses incomes are carried forward into this form.

for my oldest daughter, she was caught up in the Cra review process for 2021, 2022, and 2023 and was assessed over $10,000 in Child  care  access relief credits not due to her plus another $2400 of arrears interest. What I find strange is that for my youngest daughter, who’s return was prepared with the same software version, the software included her husband‘s income in the 2021 calculation to properly calculate no credit applied to her but for 2022 It did not and she was caught up in the Cra review for that year and has  to pay back almost $2000 in credits received plus arrears interest. 

so who is at fault? It’s at me for not following through the credit that TurboTax calculated back through the T1 to the On479  to the ON479A forms to double check the programs calculations?. Is it TurboTax’s fault for not including a proper review of this line item and letting taxpayers file an inaccurate tax return? or is it Cra fault for certifying  the TurboTax product with this error built-in and further not identifying the error  in 2022 while processing the 2021 return and putting a stop to it then thus preventing taxpayers from making the same error when filing in 2022 and 2023 and thus incurring huge amounts that need to be paid back to Cra plus the interest arrears in 2025 when someone at CRA finally figured out there was inaccurate calculations being produced by the TurboTax software?

I think the onus is on TurboTax to honour their 100% accuracy, guarantee and cover the arrears interest.  TurboTax is  denying they are  at fault and blaming it on the user.  When you look at their 100% accuracy guarantee fine print, you must make a claim to TurboTax within 30 days of the Cra reassessment. In our case, we just found out about the issue from recent reports in the global mail and other new sources and when I checked, Cra had reassessed my oldest daughter’s returned back on February 7, 2025, more than 30 days ago so I am sure they will use that as an excuse, not to honour their warranty. For my youngest daughter, Cra did not catch up to the error yet and  so we voluntarily corrected her 2022 return the other day and when the reassessment was processed, she was still charged interest arrears back to 2022.

this is a real mess and would create great  hardships for young families. I am going to seriously rethink using the TurboTax product in future years and I would suggest others do the same. I think taxpayers would be  better off going to a professional tax  preparation service that uses  more sophisticated software. Software these firms use cost them thousands of dollars a year in licensing fees as opposed to the $40 you pay for your TurboTax at Costco and Staples. Is the old adage, you only get what you pay for. Very disappointed in the TurboTax product and how TurboTax is handling this situation and absolving themselves of any responsibility of the hardships they have caused many young Ontario families.