Why did i receive less than what i was supposr yo get

[KaitlynW · Accepted solution]

A possible reason that your refund was lower than you expected, is that your refund was reduced by the government, either to correct a calculation error or through a refund offset. Or, for other possibilities, please see Why is my federal refund less than I expected?

A refund offset is when an IRS refund is reduced or intercepted to pay off delinquent debt, such as past-due child support, outstanding student loans, or unpaid state income tax.

You will receive a notice in the mail if an offset occurs. The notice will include the original tax refund amount and your offset amount. It will also include the agency receiving the offset payment and that agency’s contact information.

If you believe you do not owe the debt or you want to dispute the amount taken from your refund, you should contact the agency that received the offset amount.

If you have questions regarding the offset of your federal tax refund or offset of another U.S. government-issued payment, you can call the Treasury Offset Program (TOP) Call Center to obtain agency contact information during their customer service hours.

Toll Free: 800-304-3107
TDD number: 866-297-0517

If you suspect your refund is being held, sometimes people make progress contacting their local IRS center or a Taxpayer Advocate.

Please see this link to find your local Taxpayer Assistance Center: https://apps.irs.gov/app/officeLocator/index.jsp

This link will offer your more guidance on Taxpayer Advocates: https://www.irs.gov/Advocate



If some of the refund that you were expecting was from your state tax refund, you may wish to contact your State Department of Revenue to determine if they have offset your refund. Click here to visit your state's Department of Revenue site.

[MM114]

Hi,

I received a federal tax refund of about 5k lower than expected from my 2020 tax forms filled out on Turbotax Premier desktop (I have been using Turbotax desktop for several years, and this is the first time this has happened). I e-filed Federal tax through Turbotax: Federal tax filing and refund all happened in May 2021. CA State e-file submission through Turbotax failed, so I mailed the CA state return, and got the correct refund later.

I don't expect any debt to federal or state. I called the phone number you suggested in this post, and they confirmed that I didn't have any debt. I called several other IRS numbers as well (ending in 4477,  1040, 1954). When selecting questions about refund, ..., they all go to the same hotline, and after entering all the information, it says they can't provide any information on this refund.

I tried Where's My Refund on IRS website, but that gives me:

We cannot provide any information about your refund. Be sure to:

• verify your filing date; --> I checked the exact date from Turbotax submission and the confirmation email
• check with your tax preparer or tax software provider; or --> what I'm doing now 🙂
• verify you received your electronically filed acknowledgement e-mail. --> I did receive that

If you filed a complete and accurate tax return, your refund should be issued within 21 days of the received date. However, processing may take longer under certain circumstances. --> It's been more than 7 months.

I also got my "Record of Account Transcript" from IRS website, and it shows different values for "Refund Amount" vs "Refund issued" (as I stated above, about 5k different).

I haven't received any letter from IRS or state, about any discrepancy in the refund.

Any suggestion on how to resolve this?

Thanks

[DanielV01]

You might get a clue if the account transcript shows any changes or adjustments in the descriptions of your account.  This would suggest that something was changed.  Admittedly, reading the transcripts can be confusing.  And in the end, you might be best served calling the IRS and going over your account with them.  There wouldn't be a way for anyone in this public forum to give you a specific answer on your refund, because there are many possible reasons it could be.

@MM114

[MM114]

Thanks. Any suggestion as what number to call to talk to an IRS representative, as opposed to an auto-response? (I haven't had any luck there yet)

Thanks

[JulieS]

The main number is 800-829-1040.

Two additional lines for refund questions are 800-829-1954 and 866-897-3315. 

[MM114]

Thanks.

Good suggestion to read the account transcript. I may have found out the discrepancy, but don't know the reason for it. I have nonzero Interest credited and nonzero ACCOUNT BALANCE.

Refund Amount - Refund issued + |Interest credited to account| = |ACCOUNT BALANCE| = 5k

Why isn't my account balance zero, and why is it negative?

(ACCOUNT BALANCE
PLUS ACCRUALS
(this is not a
payoff amount)) = -5k

Thanks

[ThomasM125]

@MM114 If it is an even $5,000, it may  represent an estimated tax payment that you made but was applied to 2021 tax year in error. Also, you may have made an error in calculating what your estimated tax payments were for 2020. In any case, you should have received a letter from the IRS explaining the discrepancy. If you contact them, they should be able to readily explain why your refund was less than what was listed on your tax return.

[Critter-3]

Also check the account transcript for the prior and current tax years if you make estimated payments.  Also review the return transcript against what you filed ... you may see the issue that way.