Where's my TurboTax refund?

Much has been made about Intuit's server problems that caused a delay for last-minute tax filers trying to get their tax returns in on time. The company has done the right thing by refunding the $17 fee charged to those that ran into problems between 3 p.m. PDT Tuesday, April 17, and 4 a.m. PDT Wednesday, April 18. But where's my refund?

The only thing I did "wrong" was to get my taxes done early and electronically file back in February. I had to pay nearly $34 for my Federal and Massachusetts returns to be processed, but because I was diligent and got done early, I didn't run into the problems of those who waited until the last second. Had I waited until April 17 to file, I would have been $34 richer. It's not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, but it's the principal of the matter.

There's also the issue of why Intuit and its competition charge at all for filing electronically. Shouldn't that be included in the price of the software? One Senator seems to thing so. I wouldn't mind paying a few bucks more for TurboTax 2007 if I didn't have to shell out more money at the end to file. That's another issue for another day.

If anyone from Intuit is reading, I'll be happy to give you my home address so you can send my $34 to me.

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