Check your bank statement carefully! Sometimes the bank takes processing fees too. My credit union charged me a $15 "transfer processing fee" for receiving my tax refund through direct deposit last year. It wasn't the tax preparer or the IRS, it was my own bank!

Similar thing happened to me but mine was actually a tax offset due to a really old unpaid parking ticket I forgot about from like 6 years ago!! The city reported it to the treasury offset program. The IRS should have sent you a letter explaining why your refund was different than expected.

Is anyone else finding the IRS ITIN renewal process totally baffling in 2025??? Their website keeps giving me error messages when trying to check my ITIN status. And the PDF of Form W-7 won't even download properly on my phone. This whole system feels designed to be impossible to navigate.

Just went through this exact same process last month for my green card application! A few things that might help: First, make sure you're clear on which type of Tax ID you have. If it's an ITIN and you haven't filed taxes with it in 3+ years, it's likely expired and you'll need Form W-7 to renew. If it's an EIN for a business, those don't expire. For the renewal, you'll definitely want to get your tax compliance sorted out first - USCIS really scrutinizes tax history during the naturalization process. I had to get transcripts going back 5 years to prove I was current on all filings. One tip: if you're in a time crunch, consider visiting an IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center in person rather than mailing everything. They can verify your documents on the spot and it tends to be faster than the mail process. You can schedule an appointment on the IRS website. Good luck with your citizenship application - having all the tax documentation properly organized will definitely help your case!

This is exactly what happened to me last year! The frustrating part is that the IRS notices are so cryptic - they don't clearly explain what "TP TAX FIGURES" and "IMF TOTAL TAX" actually mean or why there's a difference. In my case, the $200+ discrepancy turned out to be related to how I calculated the Additional Child Tax Credit. I had used the worksheet correctly, but there was a limitation based on my earned income that the IRS computer caught that I missed. One thing that helped me was getting the Account Transcript (not just the Return Transcript) - it shows more detailed transaction codes that can help you pinpoint exactly where the adjustment occurred. You can request it online through your IRS account or by calling. Don't give up if you're confident in your calculations. Sometimes the IRS makes mistakes too, and you have the right to challenge their correction if you can provide supporting documentation.

I went through this exact same situation about 6 months ago and it was incredibly stressful! The difference between TP TAX FIGURES and IMF TOTAL TAX on my transcript was about $340, and like you, I was convinced the IRS had made an error. After weeks of trying to figure it out, I discovered the issue was with how I had calculated my Earned Income Tax Credit. I had used the correct income figures, but I missed a subtle rule about how investment income affects EITC eligibility. The IRS computer system caught this automatically when it cross-referenced my 1099-INT forms. My advice: Don't assume you made the error, but also don't assume the IRS did. Get your hands on every piece of documentation - your Account Transcript, all your tax documents, and any third-party reporting forms (W-2s, 1099s, etc.). Compare line by line what you reported versus what third parties reported to the IRS. The good news is that if you can prove your calculation was correct, the IRS will absolutely reverse their adjustment. I've seen it happen. But you need solid documentation to support your position. Keep pushing for answers - that $287 difference could very well be rightfully yours!

Has anyone used TurboTax to handle this situation? Will it automatically catch this error or do I need to manually adjust something?

I work in tax preparation and see this exact issue constantly with restaurant W-2s. Your employer is definitely making an error. Allocated tips (Box 8) represent tips the IRS thinks you should have received based on your restaurant's sales, but they're completely separate from your actual wages and reported tips. The key thing to understand is that Box 1 should only include: your hourly wages, any tips you actually reported to your employer during the year, and other taxable compensation. Allocated tips should NEVER be added to Box 1 because they weren't actually paid to you as wages. When this happens, you end up paying tax twice on the same amount - once as part of your wages and again as allocated tips on your tax return. I'd strongly recommend getting this corrected before filing. Most payroll companies understand this once it's explained properly, but some smaller restaurants don't realize they're making this mistake.

Has anyone here actually been audited over depreciation issues? I've been using my "best guess" for business use percentage of my computer for years (about 75%) but don't really have detailed logs to back it up. Starting to worry if that's a red flag.

Just wanted to add something important that might help - the IRS requires "contemporaneous records" for business use claims, which means you should be tracking your laptop usage as it happens, not reconstructing it later. I learned this the hard way when my CPA told me my retroactive estimates wouldn't hold up well in an audit. For laptops and other mixed-use equipment, I now keep a simple spreadsheet noting dates, hours used for business vs personal, and what type of work I did. Takes maybe 2 minutes a day but gives you solid documentation. The IRS Publication 463 has specific guidance on what constitutes adequate records for business use of listed property (which includes computers). Also worth noting - if your business use ever drops below 50% in any year during the depreciation period, you may have to "recapture" some of the accelerated depreciation you took in earlier years. So if you're on the borderline with that 80% figure, definitely keep detailed logs to protect yourself.