{"id":20228,"date":"2017-06-14T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-14T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/"},"modified":"2021-08-11T12:09:10","modified_gmt":"2021-08-11T17:09:10","slug":"tax-refund-less-than-shown-on-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/refunds-and-payments\/tax-refund-less-than-shown-on-return\/","title":{"rendered":"The tax refund I received is less than expected. Why is it less than what was on my return?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Don&#8217;t worry \u2014 we&#8217;ll help you figure out why the refund from your tax return is less than expected. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>There are lots of reasons why this might happen. In most cases, the IRS takes part of your refund to pay for outstanding government debts you might owe.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>These include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/tax-dictionary-overdue-tax-return\/\">Overdue federal tax debts<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Past-due child support<\/li>\n<li>Federal agency nontax debts<\/li>\n<li>State income tax debt<\/li>\n<li>Unemployment compensation debts owed to a state (for fraudulent wages paid or contributions due to a state fund)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/refunds-and-payments\/student-loan-tax-refund-garnishment\/\">Student direct loan<\/a> and guaranteed loan repayments<\/li>\n<li>Small Business Administration (SBA) loan repayments<\/li>\n<li>Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) loan repayments<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The IRS handles outstanding debts for federal taxes. The Department of Treasury\u2019s Bureau of Fiscal Services (BFS) handles all other outstanding debts. If they take refund money to pay a debt, you\u2019ll get a notice from the BFS with information about why the refund from your tax return is less than expected. The notice will show all of these:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Original refund amount<\/li>\n<li>Your offset amount (the amount of your refund money they take)<\/li>\n<li>The agency receiving the payment<\/li>\n<li>Address and phone number of the agency<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Unexpected Smaller Tax Refund: What If I Don\u2019t Receive a Notice?<\/h2>\n<p>If you don&#8217;t get a notice, you can call BFS at <b>800-304-3107<\/b> or <b>866-297-0517<\/b> (TDD for people who are deaf).<\/p>\n<p>Contact the agency if you think you don&#8217;t owe the debt or you disagree with the amount taken from your refund. Contact the IRS only if your original tax refund unexpectedly differs from the amount on your return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Don&#8217;t worry \u2014 we&#8217;ll help you figure out why the refund from your tax return is less than expected. &nbsp; There are lots of reasons why this might happen. In most cases, the IRS takes part of your refund to pay for outstanding government debts you might owe.&nbsp; These include: Overdue federal tax debts Past-due [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-irs","category-refunds-and-payments"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<title>Tax Return Less Than Expected | H&amp;R Block<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover why the tax refund you got is less than expected or different from what was shown when you filed. 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