I didn't receive my full federal refund

[mesquitebean]

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@ dcscf136 wrote:

I already received a letter and the amount is nothing close to what I got today, that is what I dont understand? :( 

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Are you expecting both state and Federal refunds?   They come separately.

Did you choose to pay any TurboTax fees out of your Federal refund?   If so, the funds go first from the IRS to the intermediary company that handles that (SBTPG aka Tax Products Group).   If you chose that payment method, you can log into the refund lookup tool at the SBTPG website to see if you can learn any info about how your refund is being handled.

To log in, choose the taxpayer portal at:
https://www.sbtpg.com/

SBTPG has a phone contact page at the following link. It also shows their business hours.  Even when they are closed, you may be able to get automated info, or you can log in as above.

https://help.sbtpg.com/hc/en-us/articles/230084587-Contact-Information

[dcscf136]

No Tennessee does not have state taxes, only federal. As I stated I received a letter re: the RRC and I agree that money should be deducted in addition to the small  TT fee which is not near the amount that is being withheld. I have been on the phone, talked to a representative that could not tell me anything other than what I already know and that my return is still under review. If it is still under review how can the IRS release any refund? that does not make sense. Something is wrong again this year. A LOT of people's tax returns last year and already this year are not right. What can I do if I have done everything in my power to do. I have called all day today been on the phone for 10 hours now trying to figure out what the problem is. :( 

[Kimmie61]

It was I believe from earn credit. Ypu said i was approved and they said no. So u need to reimburse me 600.00 plus40.00 when it was supposed to b free

[catharinea40]

I did not receive my full refund and I had to pay to file my taxes. 

[DoninGA]

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@catharinea40 wrote:

I did not receive my full refund and I had to pay to file my taxes. 

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Paying the TurboTax account fees and receiving a tax refund have no relation to each other.

Did you receive the federal or state tax refund?  They come separately.

Did you request to have the TurboTax account fees paid from the federal tax refund?  The TurboTax fees and the $40 service charge for this option will be deducted from the federal tax refund before it is deposited.

Go to this IRS website for federal tax refund FAQ's - https://www.irs.gov/refunds/tax-season-refund-frequently-asked-questions

Why is my refund different than the amount on the tax return I filed? 

All or part of your refund may have been used (offset) to pay off past-due federal tax, state income tax, state unemployment compensation debts, child support, spousal support, or other federal nontax debts, such as student loans. To find out if you may have an offset or if you have questions about an offset, contact the agency to which you owe the debt.

We also may have changed your refund amount because we made changes to your tax return. This may include corrections to any incorrect Recovery Rebate Credit amount. You’ll get a notice explaining the changes. Where’s My Refund? will reflect the reasons for the refund offset when it relates to a change in your tax return.

Tax Topic 203, Refund Offsets for Unpaid Child Support, Certain Federal and State Debts, and Unemplo... has more information about refund offsets.

[Discus120]

My refund amount was $1,203.84 less than the amount shown on my return. Why?

I payed Turbotax with a credit card and not out of my return. And Why would the IRS have a different calculation than the ones applied through the turbotax software? According to Turbotax software I overpaid $10,125 and for some reason the program said I paid a penalty of $1.00. So my next question, why did I pay a penalty if I overpaid $10,125?

[mesquitebean]

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@ Discus120 wrote:

My refund amount was $1,203.84 less than the amount shown on my return. Why?

I payed Turbotax with a credit card and not out of my return. And Why would the IRS have a different calculation than the ones applied through the turbotax software? According to Turbotax software I overpaid $10,125 and for some reason the program said I paid a penalty of $1.00. So my next question, why did I pay a penalty if I overpaid $10,125?

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The underpayment penalty is figured per quarter.  So it's possible to have a penalty even if one has overpaid for the year's total if any one quarter was underpaid.  You'd have to look at Form 2210 to see how it was calculated.

We're not going to know in a user community the specific reason the IRS changed your refund amount.  The amount $1203 is "close" to a stimulus payment of $1200, but that may just be a coincidence.  If the IRS reduced your refund, they should send you a letter in about 3 weeks or so saying why, and providing your options if you disagree (they are not always right.)  Or you could phone them if you wish to see if you can learn in advance, but it's not easy to reach them.   We can tell you how to try to reach a live agent.

In the meantime, check the IRS "Where's My Refund" tool.  There "might " be a message there about why it was lowered, such as if there was an offset.

https://www.irs.gov/Refunds

Also see this FAQ for some general info:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/refunds/help/why-is-my-direct-deposited-refund-or-check-lower-than...

[randy Schliesman]

Why is my refund only $322 when it was estimated at $932?

[randy Schliesman]

How do I contact turbotax about this?

[DaveF1006]

It depends.  You would not report this to Turbo Tax. You need to contact IRS to see if there is a treasury offset.  Related Resources Treasury Offset Program Call Center 800-304-3107.

[mesquitebean]

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@ randy Schliesman wrote:

Why is my refund only $322 when it was estimated at $932?

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Are you expecting both Federal and state refunds?  If so, which one did you receive?  They come separately.  Do not go by any "total refund" amount that TurboTax shows you on a summary screen, which is a sum of the Federal and state refunds.   Look at the deposit descriptor in your bank/card account to see who sent the deposit. 

If the deposit descriptor says it's from a third-party company "Tax Products PE SBTPG" (or similar), that means you chose to pay TurboTax fees out of your Federal refund, and the deposit went through an intermediary bank first.  Of course, the fees and service charge for that option won't explain that degree of difference.

Or did you choose to get your deposit on a Turbo Visa Debit Card and had a refund advance that had to be paid back?

Also, if it's a Federal refund, look at your Form 1040, Line 35a to verify the refund amount that was originally submitted.

If the IRS reduced your refund, they should send a letter in about 3 weeks or so explaining why, and what your options are if you disagree.  You might get a clue now by looking at the IRS "Where's My Refund" tool to see if there is a message:

https://www.irs.gov/Refunds

[genevalouise]

Why did I not get all my refund

[xmasbaby0]

@genevalouise 

Did you enter  ALL of the stimulus money that you had already received correctly in the recovery rebate credit section when you prepared your 2020 return?  The IRS cross checks and if you did not enter all of the money you received, they recalculate your refund.

MY REFUND WAS LESS THAN I EXPECTED

There can be a number of reasons why your refund was less than the amount you expected. First of all, look carefully at your actual tax returns.  There is sometimes confusion about the amount of refund to expect when users misinterpret the “summary” they saw in TurboTax. The amount of your refund is on your tax return.  Federal refund is on line 34 on Form 1040  State tax forms are all different so we cannot tell you what line to look at on your state form.  BUT it is important to actually LOOK at your tax return forms yourself and see the amounts of your tax refunds and/or tax due.  A lot of confusion would be avoided by doing that.

TurboTax does not receive feedback from the IRS regarding money that was offset from your refund.  If you owed back taxes, child support, student loan debt, etc. you will receive a letter of explanation from the IRS in several weeks.  The WMR site will contain a message regarding your offset.  It is also possible that the IRS caught a mistake you made and reduced your refund. 

A possible reason for the reduction could be that the recovery rebate credit was completed incorrectly and you may have entered the amount of stimulus already received wrong, which could have reduced the refund you thought you were seeing.

 It is also possible that your state reduced your refund for debts owed in your state—if the state reduced your state refund you will receive a letter from the state.

https://www.irs.gov/uac/tax-refund-offsets-pay-unpaid-debts

 IRS Treasury Offset Program Call Center at 1-800-304-3107

Be aware also that your Federal refund and state refund do NOT come together.  Federal and state tax returns are processed by two completely separate entities.  There is no rule as to which one will come first,

Did you choose to have TT fees deducted from your Federal refund?  (Remember that if you did that, you also agreed to an extra refund processing fee of $39.99)

How can I see my TurboTax  fees?   

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2565973-how-do-i-review-my-fees-in-turbotax-online

 https://www.irs.gov/uac/tax-refund-offsets-pay-unpaid-debts

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/refunds/help/what-is-a-refund-offset/00/26301

Reduced Refund      https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc203

 NOTE: You can contact the IRS Treasury Offset Program Call Center at 1-800-304-3107 to ask if they have an offset for you on file. TurboTax would not have that information.

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/tax-payments/who-can-garnish-an-income-tax-refund/L7cPPzDyc

[paula-o]

I found the reason! Line 30, how does this get populated? It shows $251 and the IRS subtracted this amount from the Turbotax-calculated refund amount and therefore, $1027 - $251 = $776. Is line 30 populated by turbotax or by me? I have never heard of a Recovery Rebate Credit so I am thinking turbotax put that amount in there by mistake. Can someone follow up to let me know how this occurred? Thank you!

Paula

[xmasbaby0]

@paula-o When you prepared your 2020 return you were supposed to go to the Federal Review section and complete the recovery rebate section to enter the amount of stimulus money you had already received.   If you neglected to do that, the software thought that you did not receive any stimulus money at all, and added some stimulus money to line 30.   When the IRS cross checked, they discovered that you had, in fact, received money and they recalculated your refund--because you cannot get the stimulus twice.