What if I only got a little money back not my full tax return?

[Vanessa A]

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:

1. 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.
2. 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. 

[Theresa 1]

I got my federal return in the mail but the recovery rebate credit wasnt included, the $1400 I never received the last stimulus. And turbo tax put it through so I was expecting that to be included. What do I do now to claim the recovery rebate? Thanks

[JamesG1]

You have electronically filed your 2021 Federal tax return and the IRS has accepted the tax return. 

If the IRS has reduced your refund, they will be sending you a communication explaining why they reduced the amount of your refund.  Once you know the nature of the problem, you may be able to correct the problem by amending your 2021 Federal tax return.

If you did not receive $1,400 for the third stimulus payment, the IRS may think that you were already issued the third stimulus payment.

At your IRS online account, you can find whether a payment was issued to you that you did not receive.  You can also find this information on your tax transcript.

If you need to trace a payment that the IRS says has been issued to you, mail or fax a completed IRS Form 3911, Taxpayer Statement Regarding Refund.