My refund got reduced, how do I appeal?

[griffith2621]

After filling out my turbo tax in February, Turbo tax said my federal refund would be $2405. When I checked the IRS website to see where my refund was, it said that my refund would only $1,805. How will go about appealing this when the check and paper work show up?

[xmasbaby0]

You will have to wait for the IRS letter that tells you why your refund was reduced.

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

[griffith2621]

From what I can tell. I just followed the the on screen prompts as best as I could. 

[sdc3665]

My refund was reduced from $3,133 to $333.  That was with your assistance.  I am afraid to think about what it would have been without your help.  I am truly frustrated when you go through each item, approve and send with such an egregious error.  I would appreciate a thorough review from your team along with an explanation.

[xmasbaby0]

@sdc3665 So your refund was reduced by $2800?   As in--2 x $1400 = $2800?   The amount a couple  (or a single person with one dependent)   would have received as the 3rd EIP payment in 2021?

LOTS of people have made mistakes this year with the recovery rebate credit by "forgetting" that they received the $1400 per person stimulus checks last year.  They answered no to the questions for the  recovery recovery rebate credit and put the $1400 per person on line 30 of their returns.  But you cannot get it twice, so the IRS removes it when it is there by mistake.

Try checking your online account with the IRS

https://www.irs.gov/payments/your-online-account

Does the IRS show that you received a $1400 stimulus or EIP check in 2021?   Did you receive it?   When you were asked on your tax return did you say no?   Was there $1400 on line 30 of your tax return?

If the IRS says you got $1400 last year but you did not receive it you can have it traced.

LOST THIRD STIMULUS CHECK

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/questions-and-answers-about-the-third-round-economic-impact-payment-top...

If you need to trace a payment that the IRS says has been issued to you, mail or fax a completed IRS Form 3911, Taxpayer Statement Regarding Refund.