Hello. My refund is over $500 short of the amount I was supposed to get. Do you know if I was penalized for something? Thank you...

[SweetieJean · Accepted solution]

One possibility why your deposited amount is less than your expected refund is that you used the Refund Processing Service to pay your TurboTax Online fees. If so, your TurboTax fee plus the additional processing fee of $34.99 ($39.99 in California) plus state sales tax is deducted from your Federal tax refund.

Another possibility is that your refund was reduced by the government, either to correct an error or through a refund offset. The IRS Where's My Refund tool will let you know if your refund have been offset.

You'll get an explanatory letter from the government if your refund differs from what was on your filed return.

Federal and state refunds are sent separately, each on its own timetable, so you may have gotten one but not the other.