IRS Surprise Money Issued As People Find Tax Refund Deposits in Bank Accounts. If it comes via direct deposit, you may see the code "IRS TREAS 310 . Those filers likely wont receive refunds until later in the summer. If your income was below $150,000 last year and you collected unemployment, you may have overpaid what you thought you owed in taxes and find a surprise refund in your bank account or mailbox.. Thing is, I've already received my federal and state tax returns back in February/March and they were for a different/lower amount. There are legal ways to correct the situation. If you missed the deadline, the IRS urges you to file your taxes now and remember that 2020 unemployment benefits of up to $10,200 are exempt from taxes. Dont staple, bend, or paper clip the check. Expect a notice within a few days of receiving the payment. Contact the Automated Clearing House (ACH) department of the bank/financial institution where the direct deposit was received and have them return the refund to the IRS. Chatbots and the new AI: What will Silicon Valley unleash upon the world this time? If youre a regular reader of our blogs, you know that we have, for the last few years, featured a different state of the month, and have profiled a number of things about that state. Next, alert your tax preparer or accountant. For additional IRS help, see the Let Us Help You page. First, don't deposit or cash the check. The recorded voice gives the taxpayer a case number and a telephone number to call to return the refund. Write on the check/money order: Payment of Erroneous Refund, the tax period for which the refund was issued, and your taxpayer identification number (social security number, employer identification number, or individual taxpayer identification number). You will need to file a 2020 tax return to get the first and second stimulus checks and a 2021 tax return to get the third stimulus check. That will significantly reduce your tax liability and may qualify you for other pandemic benefits. Cashing an erroneous refund check may result in interest due the IRS. Nonetheless, A.W. I requested a direct deposit refund. Mail the voided Treasury check immediately to the appropriate IRS location for your state. However, you should verify that your financial institution accepts direct deposits for the type of account you want to direct your deposit to and verify the account and routing numbers. The IRS has issued all first, second and third Economic Impact Payments. I'm scared to spend it if it comes through cause I don't want to end up owing anything back. They threaten arrest, suspension of SSNs, and/or high penalties. Some super small checks averaging $18 a pop began flooding mailboxes in the past week as the U.S. Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service sent interest payments to cover delays in federal income tax refunds for some 2019 returns. For others, the cash sometimes thousands of dollars came as a surprise. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. Routing #:274972605 Phone #: 765.644.3623, IRS warning on new tax refund scam with direct deposit refunds, Frequently Asked Questions about Splitting Federal Income Tax Refunds. If you havent looked around for a more affordable auto insurance policy in a while, you could be overpaying by as much as $1,100 a year. making up to $10,200 of jobless benefits tax-free. Why are you mailing it to me as a paper check? About 75 percent of U.S. filers get an annual tax refund from the IRS, and according to the agency, the average 2022 tax refund was $3,121. At any rate, unexpected deposits are likely to be an ongoing issue as the IRS works through its tremendous backlog of tax returns, and payments from tax credits, refunds, and the occasional stimulus check continue. When you get a check with a different amount than you expected from the IRS it means there is a problem. 3. If you happen to notice an automatic deposit made in your bank account from the IRS or you get a refund check in the mail that you werent expecting, you are likely the victim of the latest tax scam. Should I buy index funds when the market is down? Follow the steps below as issued by the IRS. Officials have advised taxpayers to be patient. The IRS may have changed the amount for a number of reasons, ie: an error or back taxes. See our article titled Returning a Refund, Economic Impact Payment, or Advance Payment of the Child Tax Credit for full details. I don't understand why they're sending me this money. If I am filing a joint return with my spouse, must our refund be deposited to a jointly-held account? In one version of the scam, criminals posing as debt collection agency officials acting on behalf of the IRS contacted the taxpayers to say a refund was deposited in error, and they asked the taxpayers to forward the money to their collection agency. Should I be concerned?? If you fail to notify your IRA trustee of the intended year for the deposit, your trustee can assume the deposit is for a prior year.