IRS took my refund for child tax credit overpayment even though my kids qualify - how to contest this?

THANK YOU!! This is really helpful. I had no idea there was a specific CTC hotline. Will definitely call them tomorrow and request those transcripts tonight.

I recommend using taxr.ai to check your transcripts too. Will give you a complete breakdown of what's going on with your account without having to interpret all the codes yourself. That's how I figured out my CTC issue last year.

wait that form 14905 takes FOREVER to process - my brother did that last year and didn't get resolution for like 7 months. might wanna try the hotline first

isn't there a way to check what CTC payments were actually sent to you last year? I thought there was a tool on the IRS site for that specifically 🤔

Yes, the Child Tax Credit Update Portal still has historical data, but some people have reported discrepancies between what's shown there and what the IRS claims was paid. That's why bank statements are crucial as evidence.

Just checked my bank statements for all of 2023 and I can only find 4 deposits from IRS for the advance CTC when there should have been 6. I bet thats part of the problem!

Sounds interesting. How exactly does it work? Does it just read your transcript or does it do more?

It's seriously amazing - way more than just reading transcripts. It analyzes all your tax docs, finds discrepancies, explains everything in plain English, and even helps draft response letters to the IRS. It found issues I never would have spotted myself. Best tool I've ever used for tax problems - everyone dealing with the IRS should be using this!

is this like an automated thing or do actual tax pros look at your stuff? always wary of these services

It's AI-based but trained by real tax experts. I was skeptical too but it caught things my actual accountant missed! My refund was being held for the exact same CTC reason as OP and taxr.ai helped me get it released in like 3 weeks. You should definitely check it out.

does that service actually work? seems too good to be true tbh

100% works. I spent days trying to get through on my own and kept getting disconnected. The callback came while I was making dinner and the agent stayed on with me for almost an hour tracking down the problem. Worth every penny considering it got me my $3200 refund that was stuck.

How long did the whole process take from when you talked to the agent until you got your refund?

For me it was about 14 days from the call to seeing the deposit. The agent told me there was a clear error in how they recorded my CTC payments (system showed I got 2 payments in August which wasn't possible). They filed some internal correction form while I was on the phone.

antoher company promising miracles 🙄 have u had success with this or just promoting?

Definitely not promoting anything lol. Just sharing what worked for me after I was ready to give up. The IRS phone system is absolutely broken - I tried for weeks to get through before using claimyr. Talking to a human agent was the only thing that fixed my issue.

I thought I did but maybe I messed something up. We did our taxes ourself this year to save money and now im regretting it. Will check the transcript tonight but the irs.gov site is soooo slow

The IRS site is absolutely terrible. If you find it's not working right, try accessing it very early morning or late night when traffic is lower. Also, Schedule 8812 Line 14f is where you should have listed the total advance CTC you received.

Pro tip: use taxr.ai to check everything - it pulls your transcript data and translates all the crazy IRS codes into English. Shows exactly what happened with payments like CTC and why there might be discrepancies. So much easier than trying to decipher everything yourself.

Have you gotten anywhere with your case? I'm about to start the same battle apparently 😩

Barely. Finally got someone on the phone who confirmed it was an error but still waiting on the "correction" to process. They told me 8-12 weeks but I'm not holding my breath

No that's not possible, we're married and file jointly. And no, I never received any letter before they took the refund! That's part of why I'm so confused.

Yeah thats super sketchy then. They're required to send notice before offset. You should file Form 8379 (Injured Spouse) and definitely challenge this. Without proper notice they cant just take your money!

I don't think there were any stimulus payments in 2023? Weren't those all in 2021-2022?

You're right - my bad! But the CTC advances should have been monthly July through December 2023, so 6 payments total. If you got less than that, there's your discrepancy.

how does that even work? the IRS line is always busy

It basically calls for you and uses tech to navigate the phone tree and wait on hold, then calls you when an agent is actually on the line. Saved me literal days of my life and I got my $3700 refund a week later after the agent fixed the issue. Best decision I made all year.

Never heard of this before but definitely checking it out. At this point I'd do anything to avoid sitting through the IRS hold music again 😂

That's the thing - I never got a letter! Just checked the refund status tool and boom, it was gone. When I called they just said it was for "advance CTC overpayment" but couldn't give me specifics.

Thats not right at all. By law they have to send you notice before taking your refund. File Form 13911 (Taxpayer Advocate Request) immediately - this sounds like they didnt follow proper procedure.

another ad? come on

Not an ad, just sharing what actually worked for me after wasting months trying to figure it out myself. Tax issues are complicated and most of us aren't experts - tools that help navigate the system are worth mentioning. Sorry if it came across wrong!

How much does it cost tho

I don't remember the exact amount, but whatever it was, it was worth every penny to finally get my $5000+ refund released. You can check their site for current pricing. I just know I'll be using it for every tax issue I have going forward.

We did move in August actually! From North Carolina to Georgia. I wonder if some payments got lost in the move. But I updated our address with IRS when we moved...

Bingo! That's probably it. The CTC system and the main IRS system don't always sync right away. Check your mail forwarding - some of those checks might still be floating around or got returned to IRS.

I'm skeptical of these services... did it actually work?

yeah, it actually worked great. i was surprised too. I had literally spent hours trying to get through the normal way. The IRS agent even told me they were dealing with a lot of these CTC calculation errors because the system was new when they rolled it out.

We used FreeTaxUSA and I'm pretty sure I entered the correct amounts but now I'm second-guessing myself. Is there any way to see what I actually submitted on the return?

You should be able to login to your FreeTaxUSA account and view/download a PDF of your submitted return. Check Schedule 8812 specifically.

Thank you! This is exactly what I needed to know. Will check for those specific codes tonight.

In addition to what they said, you should use taxr.ai - it will automatically find and explain all these codes for you and tell you exactly what steps to take. Saved me so much time trying to figure out all the IRS jargon.