Tax short

How much more than $1,000?  

You should receive a letter from the IRS telling you why your refund amount was changed.  The 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. 
   • If you do not remember getting the stimulus payments you can go back through your bank records to double check.  Many people either didn't realize they did receive it or they forgot, but end up seeing it when they go back through their records. 
   • The Recovery Rebate is ONLY for those who did not get the Third Stimulus Payment. 
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 would show on line 28 of your return. If you have 2 kids and you see $6,000 on line 28 then the IRS records show that you already received $3,000 in Advanced Child Tax Payments, but you entered that you did not receive any.  
   • Again, if you do not remember getting these payments you can go back through your bank records from July-December.

A couple other reasons include

1. You owed back taxes, child support, student loans or something else that caused your refund to be Offset to pay some of the past due debt. You should have received a letter if this was the case.
2. Something was not reported correctly on your return and the IRS recalculated your return causing you not to have a refund. This could include things such as missing income or inaccurately reported income (ex. you entered $5,500 for your W2 box 1 instead of $15,500)

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.