@Mfaherty1 No one else has access to your tax returns. And TurboTax does not get any information from the IRS after you file your return, so no one at TT knows why the IRS reduced your refund. When the IRS changes your refund they send you a letter several weeks after the change. You say this happened for last year's return too--so what did your letter tell you last year? Did you owe back taxes or child support that caused them to seize your refund? Or did you make a mistake with the recovery rebate credit that you were supposed to enter information for? If you made a mistake with that---they reduced your refund by the amount that was on line 30 of your Form 1040.
And...if your refund was reduced again for 2021----wait for your letter from the IRS. TurboTax never knows about back tax or child support you may owe and cannot check for that when you prepare your return. And TT also does not know if you received those stimulus checks---it is up to you to know and answer the questions about it correctly. TT cannot check to see if you received stimulus checks--the software calculated based on your answers even if your answers were incorrect.
2021 tax returns have been especially confusing for people because of the new stuff people have had to answer questions about. The recovery rebate credit and the child tax credit have caused all kinds of confusion for people. Your problems for 2021 may be coming from the information on lines 28 or line 30, but until you get your letter from the IRS you will not know for sure.
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 it is short by $1800 or $1500 or a multiple of that amount --- maybe a mixup regarding the advance child tax credit payments. 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/
**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.**
