I went through almost the exact same situation last year as a J1 research scholar! Sprintax was showing I owed state taxes when my colleagues with identical situations were getting full refunds. What I discovered was that Sprintax had incorrectly applied my tax treaty benefits - it was treating part of my research income as taxable when it should have been completely exempt under Article 20 of my country's treaty. The issue was in how I had answered one of their screening questions about the nature of my work. Here's what worked for me: I contacted my university's international scholar services office, and they had a tax specialist who reviewed my Sprintax entries. We found that I had selected "employee" instead of "visiting researcher" in one of their early questions, which completely changed how the software applied my treaty benefits. After correcting that one selection, my calculations matched my colleagues exactly - full federal refund and no state tax liability. Before making any drastic changes, I'd suggest having someone knowledgeable review your Sprintax entries step by step. Sometimes it's just one incorrect answer that throws off the entire calculation. If your university doesn't have tax support, the resources others mentioned (taxr.ai for analysis or Claimyr to reach the IRS) seem like good backup options based on the success stories here.

Sprintax offers ITIN request for $19.95 Does anyone know if it's true?

any help on this would be appreciated

This thread has been absolutely invaluable! I'm dealing with a client who needs 2010-2012 transcripts and have been stuck for months using the standard Form 4506-T process. The Master File approach through Account Management Services that multiple people have confirmed sounds like exactly what I need. What really strikes me is how the IRS essentially operates with completely separate database systems - the "legacy IDRS system" for pre-2013 records versus their current transcript systems. No wonder so many of us have been hitting brick walls when the standard departments literally can't access the older records! I'm planning to call the Practitioner Priority Service first thing Monday using the exact language everyone has shared: "Master File archived wage data for pre-2013 records." Having the specific reference number format (AMS-2025-xxxxx) and knowing to ask for Account Management Services gives me confidence I'll finally reach someone who can actually help. As backup strategies, I'm also going to contact my client's former employer directly (they worked for a large hospital system that likely maintains payroll archives) and check with the state unemployment office since they received benefits during part of 2011. The bank statement approach mentioned by @FireflyDreams is brilliant too - those direct deposit records could help identify any forgotten employers. This community knowledge-sharing is so much more valuable than any official IRS guidance. Thank you to everyone who took the time to document what actually works instead of just repeating the standard procedures that don't seem to help with these complex older cases!

Can someone give me help to get my 2015 and 2014 wage scripts ?

This is such a great thread! I'm dealing with a similar situation right now where I saw code 898 on my transcript and immediately freaked out thinking the IRS was taking money from my refund. But reading through all these explanations has been incredibly helpful - I had no idea that $0.00 next to "Refund applied to non-IRS debt" actually means the OPPOSITE of what it sounds like! It's so reassuring to know that this code appears on everyone's transcript as part of the Treasury Offset Program check. The IRS really needs to work on their communication - making "we checked for debts and found none" look like some kind of scary government seizure is just unnecessarily stressful for regular taxpayers trying to understand their own documents. Thanks to everyone who contributed their knowledge here. You've probably saved countless people from hours of worry and confusion! This community is amazing at breaking down these cryptic government codes into actual human language 😊

I just wanted to add my experience since I went through this exact same confusion last month! When I first saw code 898 with "Refund applied to non-IRS debt" on my transcript, I was convinced the government had secretly taken money from my refund for some unknown debt. But after doing some research (and panicking for a few days), I learned that the $0.00 amount is actually the BEST thing you can see there. It means the Treasury Offset Program ran their automatic check for things like unpaid child support, defaulted student loans, back taxes, etc., and found absolutely nothing to take from your refund. Your partner's math is perfect: $1,819 withholding - $764 tax liability = $1,055 refund. That February 26th date next to code 846 is when the money was actually sent to his account. Those weird March 2026 dates are just the IRS using their bizarre internal processing cycles - I swear they design these transcripts to be as confusing as possible! But everything looks completely normal and he definitely got his full $1,055. It's frustrating how the IRS can make "congratulations, you got your full refund with no issues" look so scary with their cryptic codes! 😅