If you have a discrepancy between your return and your refund, it may be caused by a refund offset or a correction made on your return.
A refund offset is when the government applies part or all of a taxpayer's refund towards the taxpayer's past-due income tax, child or spousal support, student loans, or state unemployment compensation debts. If this happens, you should get a letter from the government explaining why you didn't get the entire refund as stated by @SweetieJean. You can also get this information by looking up your refund at the IRS Where's My Refund page.
The IRS may have also made a correction to your tax return, resulting in a lower than anticipated refund. Again, you'll get an official explanatory letter when this happens. Common corrections for the 2021 tax year involve Line 28 (Child Tax Credit) and/or Line 30 (Recovery Rebate Credit). If these credits were taken in error, the IRS will automatically adjust your return to disqualify you from the credit amount.
@Swilliam1
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