There are several factors that could change the amount of your tax refund - resulting in either a smaller refund than expected.
- Examples that could decrease your refund include math errors, mistakes, delinquent federal taxes, state taxes, child support, student loans or other delinquent federal nontax obligations, and withholding of the earned income tax credit (EITC) portion of your refund if further review is needed.
One possibility is that you used the Refund Processing Service to pay your TurboTax Online fees. If you did, your TurboTax fee plus the additional processing fee is deducted from your federal tax refund.
Another possibility is that your refund was reduced by the government, either to correct a calculation error or through a refund offset. The IRS Where's My Refund tool will contain a disclaimer if your refund may have been offset. You'll get an explanatory letter from the government if your refund differs from what was on your filed return.
