The stimulus is not taxable why did my federal refund decrease?

[xmasbaby0]

You might have become confused by the flow of information in the software.   That "refund monitor" on your screen displays a "refund" amount that includes the stimulus money. as part of your 2020 refund.   But later when you enter the amount of stimulus you really received already, it removes the stimulus already given to you.   And it looks to you like you "lost" your refund,   But ---you do not get the same stimulus money twice--that is why it came out.

Look on line 30 of your Form 1040 for your recovery rebate amount.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901539-how-do-i-preview-my-turbotax-online-return-before-filing

Click on Tax Tools on the left side of the screen. Click on Tools. Click on View Tax Summary. Click on Preview my 1040 on the left side of the screen.

[DoninGA]

The program gave you the maximum tax credit you were eligible to receive based on the information you entered on the 2020 tax return and before you entered the stimulus payments you actually received.

Once you entered the actual payments the tax credit was reduced thereby reducing the tax refund to what you are supposed to receive.

[Critter-3]

Your 2020 return starts out by assuming you didn't get any Stimulus payment so it gives you the full amount of the credit  and that is reflected in the Refund-O-Meter.  Then near the end of the interview  you enter how much you actually got in advance  and the  floating refund is adjusted accordingly so you  don't get the credit  twice.

Check line 30.  The Recovery rebate credit is on 1040 line 30.  It either adds to your refund or reduced a tax due.

Before filing,  You can preview the 1040 or print the whole return

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/accessing/help/how-do-i-preview-my-turbotax-online-return-before-f...

It would be nice if they would have asked for that information in the beginning  in the MY INFO  section  BEFORE you entered in the income   BUT the programmers  did not ASK  us posters in this forum  AND  they probably will not listen to us now and change the interview flow   so I will be posting this answer A LOT  this year.