My refund was the wrong amount

[JeanneLO]

Please see this TurboTax FAQ on why your direct-deposit refund or check may be lower than what you expected: What is a refund offset?

You will receive a letter of explanation when your refund is less than you expected. You can also get this information by looking up your refund at the IRS Where's My Refund page.

@donaldabker

[NN11]

Turbo Tax shows refund I get is  $7500 while IRS received tax filing that Refund I get is 5500.

I wonder what happened when I filed electronically. Where is the difference of  $2000?

[xmasbaby0]

@NN11 

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

[Deborahjoann91]

How can I talk to a real person to help me refigure my tax return? It is not the correct amount. - [email address removed]

[xmasbaby0]

@Deborahjoann91 TurboTax receives no information from the IRS after you file your tax return.  No one at TurboTax knows what the IRS changed or why your refund was reduced.  Only the IRS can tell you.   When the IRS reduces your refund they send you a letter a few weeks later that explains why the refund was changed.

[Sherry411]

Mine is too large also.  Did you get any answer

[MoniqueLO_]

If you do not receive a letter explaining the increase then you will need to contact the IRS to inquire about your refund being too large. Please see How do I contact the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)? for more information, including the IRS phone number and hours of operation. You may want to try calling right when they open since they have been very busy throughout the day.

@Sherry411

[SweetieJean]

See this new IRS posting:

Easy steps to avoid tax return errors that can delay processing or adjust refunds | Internal Revenue...

[donnado15]

my refund was half the normal amount... Why ?? Subtracted your mistake and then some... WHY? IRS is too **bleep** busy to take my call and i need answers

[DoninGA]

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@donnado15 wrote:

my refund was half the normal amount... Why ?? Subtracted your mistake and then some... WHY? IRS is too **bleep** busy to take my call and i need answers

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Does the IRS website indicate that you were sent less than what was reported on your federal tax return Form 1040 Line 34? - https://www.irs.gov/refunds

If so, you will need to wait for the IRS to send you a letter which will have the changes the IRS made to the return which changed the refund. If you disagree with the IRS there will be a procedure in the letter to dispute the IRS changes.

If not, and you requested to have the TurboTax account fees paid from the federal tax refund, then you will need to contact the third party processor for the status of your tax refund, Santa Barbara Tax Product Group, using their website - https://www.sbtpg.com/

Tax Products Group Contact Information - https://help.sbtpg.com/hc/en-us/articles/230084587-Contact-Information
On this page you can also scroll down and click on Submit a request

Or https://taxpayer.sbtpg.com/

Call 1-877-908-7228

[PHernandez1987]

My charges were $157.03. My federal refund amount was calculated at $2318.  My refund after charges was $2121.97.  It should have been $2318 minus the $157.03 equalling $2160.97.  

You owe me, P Hernandez, ss# [removed], case number [phone number removed],  $39.

[MoniqueLO_]

Your personal information has been removed for privacy and security reasons since this is a public forum. 

In this public forum we cannot diagnose why your refund has been reduced. For additional information, please see this Help Article or this TurboTax blog.

If you elected to pay your fees with your refund, then you would need to contact TPG as they are the one who would be handling your refund. You can also check out this TPG Help Article to check on your refund.

@PHernandez1987