TurboTax does not issue or send your tax refund. Your refund is issued and sent by the IRS and/or your state, and it goes to the bank account that YOU specified when you prepared your tax return. So you are the one who was responsible for entering correct banking information. If you chose to use "refund processing" in order to have your TurboTax fees deducted from your federal refund, then your refund goes from the IRS to the third party bank first. That third party bank takes out the TurboTax fees and sends the rest of the refund to the bank account or card that YOU entered. If you entered wrong information, then the refund goes back to the IRS or back to the third party bank. Then they have to issue and mail a paper check to the address on your tax return.
You are saying that your refund was reduced, but you have not explained how you know it was reduced. The IRS (or state) sends you a letter to explain why your refund was reduced. That letter can come a few weeks later than the reduced refund, so you have to wait for it. As mentioned above, there have been a lot of people whose refunds were reduced because they made mistakes with the child tax credit and/or the recovery rebate credit. The IRS letter will explain. The bank account used had nothing to do with why your refund was reduced. So there is some other reason for the reduced refund.
TurboTax does not get any information from the IRS after you file your tax return, so no one at TT knows why your refund was less.
You have not mentioned any specific amounts. 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 or why you owe more. 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/
**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**
