Your return was adding the entire $1200 before you entered the amount you received. If you would have entered $1200, the refund would have dropped by $1200. The full stimulus amounts were already included in your refund amount. You can look at Form 1040 to see that the stimulus does not affect the amount of your refund. The recovery rebate (the amount you were shorted) is included on Line 30. If you received the correct amount of stimulus payments, $0 will show on Line 30 and your refund amount does not include any stimulus payments. If you did not receive the correct amounts of stimulus payments, the difference between what you should have received and what you did receive will show up on Line 30 and this amount is added to your refund amount.
Your refund is the amount of tax you owe less withholding, payments, and credits. Those who received their stimulus don't get anything added to their refund. But if you did not receive the correct amounts, the missing payments are added to your refund.
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