Taxes

The IRS will send you a letter explaining why your refund was reduced.   TurboTax does not get any information from the IRS after you file your tax return.   If you used a paid version of the software and chose to pay from your federal refund, then you did sign an agreement that says your fees can be taken from your account.  We cannot see your software version so we do not know if you used the Free Edition or if you upgraded to a paid version.

TurboTax never knows if you owe back taxes or child support that can cause the IRS to grab your refund.  Nor does TT know if you answer a question incorrectly.   Lots of people have made mistakes this year because they got confused about the recovery rebate or the child tax credit, resulting in reduced refunds.

 Sometimes we can make an educated guess as to the reason for your reduced refund if you mention specific amounts--for example if your refund was short by $1400 per person---it is likely to be a mix up regarding the 3rd EIP payment.    If you received the 3rd stimulus check of $1400 per person in 2021 then you got letter 6475 from the IRS about it.   You needed to enter the amount you received.   If you already received that money then line 30 on your Form 1040 should have been blank.

  If it is short by $1800 or  $1500 or  a multiple of that amount  ---   maybe a mixup regarding the advance child tax credit payments. If you received monthly child tax credit payments of $250 or $300 per month between July and December of 2021, then you got letter 6419 from the IRS, and you were required to enter the amount of the advance payments.   Only the remaining amount of the CTC should have been on line 28 of your Form 1040.

The IRS knows how much they sent to you for the 3rd stimulus check and they know how much they sent for advance child tax credit payments.   If you answered something incorrectly on your tax return then the IRS made a correction that resulted in a reduced refund for you. 

 Or---the fees you were supposed to pay for using TurboTax + the "refund processing fee" charged by the third party bank….

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 or $44.99 in CA)

How can I see my TurboTax  fees?   

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

What is Refund Processing Service?

The IRS will send you a letter that explains why your refund was reduced.   Meanwhile it might help you to check your online IRS account.

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

https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-refunds/why-is-my-tax-refund-not-what-i-expected-49240/

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/questions-and-answers-about-the-third-round-economic-impact-payment-topic-j-payment-issued-but-lost-stolen-destroyed-or-not-received