To find out who took your federal tax refund, check for a notice from the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS), which usually sends a letter explaining the "offset" (reduction) for debts like child support, student loans, or unpaid state/federal taxes. Use the IRS "Where's My Refund" tool, call the TOP interactive voice response system at 800-304-3107, or review your online IRS account.
If you need more information on the offset, contact the Bureau of the Fiscal Service at 800-304-3107 (or TTY/TDD 866-297-0517) to find out where Treasury applied your tax refund.
For federal tax offsets, you will receive a notice from the IRS. For all other offsets, you will receive a notice from BFS. To find out if you may have an offset or if you have any questions about it, contact the agency to which you owe the debt. See Tax Topic 203 for more information about refund offsets.
Offset letter
BFS will send you a letter explaining why your federal refund was reduced and that it may take several weeks before the federal refund reaches FTB. They will also send any remaining federal refund amount to you. To get a copy of your letter, contact us.
Use the IRS Where's My Refund tool or the IRS2Go mobile app to check your refund online. This is the fastest and easiest way to track your refund. The systems are updated once every 24 hours. You can contact the IRS to check on the status of your refund.
There are many reasons why the IRS may be holding your refund. You have unfiled or missing tax returns for prior tax years. The check was held or returned due to a problem with the name or address. You elected to apply the refund toward your estimated tax liability for next year.
The IRS $600 rule refers to a change in reporting requirements for third-party payment apps (like Venmo, PayPal) for taxable income from goods and services, where platforms must send a Form 1099-K if you receive over $600 in a year, intended to capture gig economy/side hustle income, though delays and phased implementation have adjusted the timeline, with current rules for 2024 using a higher threshold ($5,000) before fully phasing to $600 for future years, but remember all taxable income, regardless of form, must always be reported.
If you never received your tax refund
To replace a lost or stolen tax refund check, you can request a refund trace in the IRS Where's My Refund tool. You will need to enter your Social Security number, filing status, and the exact whole dollar amount of your refund.
IRS procedures prior to garnishment
Once the IRS assesses your tax, you will generally receive notice and a Demand for Payment of the amount due. If you fail to pay this invoice, at some point after you will receive a Final Notice of Intent to Levy and a Notice of Your Right to a Hearing.
Garnishing your refund
If you're expecting a tax refund but have concerns about creditors garnishing it, you may be worrying too much. Federal law allows only state and federal government agencies (not individual or private creditors) to take your refund as payment toward a debt.
Use Where's My Refund, call us at 800-829-1954 and use the automated system, or speak with a representative by calling 800-829-1040 (see telephone assistance for hours of operation). However, if you filed a married filing jointly return, you can't initiate a trace using the automated systems.
The California Department of Social Services, in conjunction with the Treasury Offset Program, the Food and Nutrition Service, the State Controller's Office, and the Franchise Tax Board, administer a federal and state Income Tax Refund Intercept Program.
How to Prevent Tax-Related Identity Fraud
Yes, the IRS will automatically apply your refund to what you owe, even if you have a payment plan, through a process called a "refund offset," and they are often required by law to do so for back taxes and other debts like child support or other federal/state obligations. However, this isn't true for taking money directly from your bank account for unpaid bills (levies), as they must follow proper procedures first.
Suppose you are concerned about any tax offsets that may be pending on your social security number. In this case, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) provides a useful toll-free number, (800) 304-3107, which allows you to quickly and conveniently obtain information regarding any offsets.
To check if your federal payment (like a tax refund, Social Security, or federal salary) has been offset for a debt, call the Treasury Offset Program (TOP) at 1-800-304-3107, or contact the agency that handles your payment (like the IRS or SSA) if you got a notice, as they can tell you if your refund was reduced for debt collection, says the Bureau of the Fiscal Service and IRS.
Not all debts are subject to a tax refund offset. To determine whether an offset will occur on a debt owed (other than federal tax), contact BFS's TOP call center at 800-304-3107 (800-877-8339 for TTY/TDD help).
Yes, employees can access information about any garnishments withheld from their earnings under the “deductions” or “other deductions” section of their pay stub.
If you have an objection to the debt, you have the right to request a review of your objection. If you're successful, your tax refund and other federal payments will not be offset, or the amount being offset may be reduced. If you're unsuccessful, your tax refund and other federal payments will be offset.
What do I need to know? In some cases, the return preparer might steal your whole refund by changing direct deposit information. Another common fraud situation is when the preparer files a tax return without your authorization or changes the return without your knowledge.
Three major categories of fraud, especially in business, are asset misappropriation, bribery and corruption, and financial statement fraud, but other common types for individuals include identity theft, credit card fraud, and investment scams, often involving first-party (consumer) or third-party (impersonation) tactics. Fraud types can also be categorized by the parties involved: first-party (you against a company), second-party (someone you know), and third-party (stranger impersonating someone else).
IRS FLAGS 1.1 MILLION POSSIBLY FRAUDULENT TAX RETURNS, STOPS $105.3 MILLION IN ILLEGAL REFUNDS: A Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report on the early results of the 2023 filing season shows that the agency is still taking identity theft seriously.
Independent contractors must report all income as taxable, even if it is less than $600." If you fail to report your income, it can result in hefty penalties. You should even report cash income. These can be monetary penalties or, in severe cases, criminal penalties.
The "20k rule" refers to the traditional IRS threshold for reporting income from payment apps and online marketplaces on Form 1099-K: over $20,000 in gross payments AND more than 200 transactions in a calendar year. While a law (the American Rescue Plan) temporarily lowered the threshold to $600, recent legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) (OBBBA), has reinstated the $20,000/200-transaction rule for tax years starting in 2025, providing relief for casual sellers and gig workers.