How & What To Do If Tax Refund Is Less Than Expected? – Get Answers

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Some of the Taxpayers get the lower amount of tax refund and that is not matched with their own calculations. Here we will solve your doubt in this post. We will answer How the less Tax Refund is treated and why the IRS pays the less tax refund. What the citizen can do if they feel they get less tax refund than expected. There is a term called tax refund offset where the tax refund is reduced to pay off the outstanding debts. These outstanding debts may be owed by you. In this post firstly we will see the term tax refund offset and for what payments the outstanding debts are? See this post to get the answer of How & What To Do If Tax Refund Is Less Than Expected?  

How & What To Do If Tax Refund Is Less Than Expected?

This Tax Refund is reduced to pay off the outstanding debts you may own. The Internal Revenue Services automatically takes a part of the refund or your full refund to offset the Government Debt you own. This Tax Refund Offset is managed by the Bureau of Fiscal Services. The amount is directly sent to the agency for which you own the debt. This agency can be a federal agency or state agency. This is why your tax refund may be less than you expected. Now we will see How & What To Do If Tax Refund Is Less Than Expected?  

How & What To Do If Tax Refund Is Less Than Expected

Tax Refund 2024- Overview

TitleHow & What To Do If Tax Refund Is Less Than Expected?
Year2024
CountryUnited States of America 
Name of the AgencyBureau of Fiscal Services 
Name of the Payment Tax Refund 
Official Web Portal usa.gov 

What To Do If Tax Refund Is Less Than Expected?

If you feel your tax refund is lower or less than you expected then you can contact the Bureau of Fiscal Services. This agency will not provide you details about the debt or they cannot refund your money. They can only provide you the details about the agency for which you may own debt. This information can be obtained by the Bureau of Fiscal Services by contacting 800-304-3107. Here we will see the payments for which the amount of tax refund can be reduced by Internal Revenue Services. These payments are Overdue Federal Tax Debt, Child Support, Student Direct Loan, State Income Tax Debt, Federal Agency non tax debts and many more. 

How Tax Refund Offset Works?

If the individual owns any debt from a state or federal agency and you do not pay this debt on time then this agency will give you a letter with the time period of 60 days to pay off the debt. This letter provides you with details such as what the debt is for, how much debt amount you own, the debt will be deducted from the federal payment. If the individual does not pay off the debt in a given time then that agency will send your information to the BFS database. This database will check any payment you are going to receive. Then what they do is they deduct the debt amount from the payment you are going to receive such as tax refund. This process is known as administrative offset. If the money is deducted then the authorities will inform you regarding this through Notice. This Notice will provides you the details such as:

  • Original Amount of Tax Refund 
  • The Offset Amount (Debt amount you may own)
  • Information about the agency who receives the debt payment
  • Address and Phone Number of the Agency whom you may own debt. 

What if the Individual doesn’t receive Notice? 

What the individual can do if he/she does not receive notice for the Tax Refund Offset. If the individual does not get a notice or letter regarding the deduction from tax refund then they can freely contact at 800-304-3107. The individual can call at this if he/she disagrees with the amount and does not receive any notice or letter. 

How Can Individual Correct the Offset If that was made in Error?

If someone feels that they do not own the debt or they feel that the amount is wrong then they can seek help by contacting at 800-304-3107. This notice or letter you get regarding this will have the information for your debt. Then you can see that and if you also find that the offset amount was an error then you can write or call at a given number. Only the agency for whom you own debt can refund your offset amount. 

FAQ Related To How & What To Do If Tax Refund Is Less Than Expected?

If the Couples files the tax return jointly and one of the partners owns the outstanding debt then what can another partner do to get the correct tax refund?

The individual can fill the Form 8379 or they can contact at 800-829-3676. If the individual already files this Form 8379 then they can contact at 800-829-1040.

Why does the State Agency not get the debt amount of child support after offsetting the tax refund?

The IRS sends this money to the Child Support enforcement federal office. Only this office will pay the amount to the state agency. 

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