You should have received a letter from the IRS telling you why your refund amount was changed. The two most common reasons so far this season are:
- You did not enter that you received the stimulus payment in TurboTax, so your return said you were getting the money back, but the IRS caught it and said, no, you already received it.
- If you look at line 30 of your 1040 and it shows an amount there, and you already received the $1,400 per person last year when they sent out the stimulus payments, this is likely the reason.
- You did not report the full amount of your Advanced Payments for the Child Tax Credit that you already received. Again, the IRS will catch this and make the changes to your return.
- This you can see on line 28. The amount on that line if you receive the Advance Payments should be one half of what you were eligible for. If you had 2 kids under 6, you would have been eligible for $7,200 so the correct number would be $3,600 on line 28 if you received Advance Payments. If it shows $7,200, then you did not enter your advance payments which is why the IRS changed your return.
You should look for a letter from the IRS and if you do not have one or do not receive one, you would need to call the IRS at 800-829-1040 as no one else would have the answer as to why your refund was reduced.
