You may receive a reduced
refund for several different reasons.
1. You
chose to have your TurboTax fees deducted from your refund. If this is
the case the amount you receive will be the amount shown as your refund on your
return less your TurboTax fees and less the $34.99 refund processing fee
charged by the 3rd party bank for processing your refund.
2. You
were expecting the total amount of your federal and state refunds. You
usually do not receive your federal and your state refunds at the same
time. Since federal refunds are processed by the IRS and your state
refund is processed by the state the two are unrelated. The IRS and the
states generally do not coordinate their processing or deposit schedules.
3. Your
refund was subject to an “offset”. This is usually when you owe back
taxes or child support but can also include amounts owed on state income tax,
unemployment compensation debts, spousal support, or other federal nontax
debts, such as student loans. If your refund is reduced for a federal tax
debt you will receive a notice from the IRS. If your refund is reduced
for another type of debt you will receive a notice from the Bureau of the
Fiscal Service (BFS). You can also call the BFS at 800-304-3107.
4. The
IRS withheld a part of your refund while they do further verification for a
particular credit like the Earned Income Credit. In this instance the IRS
will send you a partial refund now and will release the remainder of your
credit once they have completed the verification process.
5. The
IRS changed something on your tax return. If this happens the IRS will
send you a letter explaining the changes, usually within 14 days.
If the IRS withheld a
portion of your refund or made changes to your tax return and you do not
receive a letter within 14 days you can call the IRS at 800-829-1040. If
you call this number before the 14 days are up, though, they will not have any
information to give you. See #9 of the IRS’s Ten Things to Know About Tax Refunds.
