Different numbers for my refund on year 2022

[momosi051]

Hi,
I was using turbotax for many past years and for my 2022 tax return, turbotax calculated my Federal return to be more than 35K, BUT IRS mailed me that they recalculated so the result came up to be only $1798. How did could happen? Does TurboTax make mistakes on calculations? I was having a very simple W2 form that I worked at only 1 company. If you could explain why this happened or if still there's any chance that I can revisit on this, that would be appreciated. Thank you.

[xmasbaby0]

You expected a refund of over thirty-five thousand dollars?   Did you double check all of the amounts you entered and look for misplaced decimal points or extra zeros?  It sounds like you make a mistake in the amount income or tax withheld that you entered and the IRS caught and corrected the mistake.  Look at the amounts you entered from the boxes on that one W-2 that you entered.

[momosi051]

I didn't put those numbers manually and TurboTax imported my W2 and was showing numbers automatically. And I checked everything at the moment and was having right numbers, and the result (refund amount) came to be that.

[VolvoGirl]

Sounds like a decimal point got dropped or entered as a comma.  Check the W2 withholding on 1040 line 25a and all the withholding.  You have to double check any imported or downloaded W2s and 1099s that they got imported correctly.  

[momosi051]

No, it wasn't changed into comma or anything. I checked every numbers a couple times and all were imported right.

[VolvoGirl]

Did you check lines 25 for the withholding?  You had a 35,000 refund on line 35a?  Look at every line.  Which other lines look wrong?  Start at line 1 and work the math all the way down.  You should be able to spot a big error like that.  

[momosi051]

Yes it shows the number I said and these calculations came from TurboTax and I didn't calculated manually and put.

[taxlady28]

Sometimes things happen in the background with computers, and we cannot see anything wrong on the screen but there is a problem somewhere.   When I was a programmer, we used to call that a gremlin.  As millions of bytes of data are processed the tiniest little miss can do that.  It does not happen often but just another risk of our modern age where we rely on computers and data.

[VolvoGirl]

We know the Turbo Tax calculations are right.  So there has to be a wrong input number.

Turbo Tax is a self prepared return.  It has no way of knowing or checking that you entered or imported something wrong or in the wrong place or entered something twice  Or left something out.  It doesn't check against any outside sources.  The IRS has copies of all the W2s and 1099s your employer and banks/brokers, etc. sent in to match against.  Turbo Tax only checks the calculations of what you entered.

[momosi051]

I already told you that the numbers was imported automatically from my W2 and the imported numbers were right as I check many times and I got these results. This is why I was asking here to hear answers from TurboTax professionals, as I don't understand what had happened.

[xmasbaby0]

A refund of $35,000 and a refund of less than $1800 indicates something was wildly, wildly different.   A day or two ago a user here in the forum reported that their refund was "off" and after looking at their amounts TEN times they finally realized where they had made a giant mistake that was causing the problem.  Review your amounts again.  Or call the IRS to see what they changed. They are going to send you a letter about the changed refund, but it usually takes a few weeks for the letter to be sent.

[VolvoGirl]

We can't see your return.  Nobody can see it but you. You need to check every line on your 1040 return not just the imported lines.  Like what is the total income on line 15 and tax on line 16?  Then all the withholding and credits.  Are you looking at a printout of your actual tax return?  

Your total tax is line 24.  Minus the payments on line 33 gives you the refund on line 35a.  How come the payments are 35,000 more than the Total Tax on line 24?

[momosi051]

Thank you for your suggestion.