BFS Debt Warning on My March 6 Refund Despite Having No Outstanding Debts - Should I Be Concerned?

Just checked Where's My Refund and got this concerning message about my refund potentially being reduced. The exact message I received shows: Refund Status Results Return Received Refund Approved Refund Sent Your tax refund has been approved for direct deposit. However, it may be partially or completely reduced to pay a past due obligation, such as child support, another federal agency debt, or state income tax. If so, the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS), who issues IRS refunds, will send you a notice with the amount of the debt and contact information. The details of the debt are not provided to the IRS. This application will be updated with the refund amount remaining, if any, after the debt is deducted. If your refund is not credited to your account by March 8, 2023, please revisit this site or use our free mobile app, IRS2Go, for your revised refund status. Updates to refund status are made no more than once a day. The weird thing is, I don't have any debts or child support obligations at all. According to the message, if there is a debt, the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS) will send me a notice with the debt amount and contact information, and the IRS doesn't have the debt details. The application is supposed to be updated with whatever refund amount remains after any debt is deducted. They specifically mentioned if my refund isn't in my account by March 8, 2023, I should check back on their site or use the IRS2Go app for revised refund status. The message also notes that they only update the refund status once per day. I'm really starting to worry because I was counting on this refund, and I know for a fact I don't have any outstanding debts or obligations they're mentioning. Has anyone else received this message before? What did it end up meaning? Did you actually lose part of your refund when you were confident you didn't have any debts?

0 coins

15 comments

Eloise Kendrick

This IRS refund status message shows three key phases: Return Received, Refund Approved, and Refund Sent, indicating your return has made it through the entire processing cycle. The system is displaying the standard BFS (Bureau of Fiscal Service) offset notice, which is an automated message that appears when refunds enter the final disbursement phase. The key points from the notice are: - Your refund is approved for direct deposit - There's a possibility of reduction for debt obligations - The cutoff date is March 6, 2023 - Updates occur only once per day Importantly, this message is often a generic notification that appears regardless of whether you actually have any debts. If you have no outstanding obligations (child support, federal agency debts, or state taxes), your refund should arrive in full. The BFS would send a separate notice if they were actually going to reduce your refund - you haven't received such a notice, which is a good sign. The March 6 date is your target deposit date. If your refund hasn't arrived by then, that's when you should return to check for updated status information. Keep in mind that while the IRS coordinates refund processing, it's actually the BFS that handles the final disbursement, which is why the IRS systems don't show specific debt details.

0 coins

- 1M