SAHM with Small Business Confused: Transcript Shows -$2,661 EIC but Only $1,473 Refund Balance
Filed my taxes with my small business income as a SAHM and noticed something weird on my transcript. I just got my tax transcript and I'm confused about what I'm seeing. According to my transcript from the IRS (United States Department of the Treasury), my account balance shows -$1,473.00, which matches what I expected my refund to be. The transcript shows a request date of 02-05-2025 and confirms there's no accrued interest or penalties as of Feb. 17, 2025. What's confusing me is the transactions section. It shows: CODE EXPLANATION OF TRANSACTION | CYCLE | DATE | AMOUNT 150 Tax return filed | 20250603 | 02-24-2025 | $1,188.00 16211-424-31491-5 768 Earned income credit | 04-15-2025 | -$2,661.00 My transcript shows my filing status as Head of Household with an Adjusted Gross Income of $7,813.00 and Taxable Income of $0.00. It also shows my SE Taxable Income (Taxpayer) as $7,763.00 with a total self-employment tax of $1,188.00. The negative amount (-$2,661.00) for the earned income credit is showing bigger than my original federal refund of $1,473.00. I didn't pay for early deposit with TurboTax this year so I'm totally lost on why this is happening. Is this normal? Does this mean I'm getting more back than I thought? The total account balance still shows -$1,473.00, but that earned income credit amount has me confused. My return due date/received date shows as Apr. 15, 2025 with a processing date of Feb. 24, 2025. Can someone help me understand what's going on with these numbers?
14 comments
Ethan Clark
Tax pro here. The negative number on your transcript actually represents a credit to your account. Its larger because it likely includes any withholdings or estimated tax payments you made throughout the year. This is normal - the final refund amount is calculated after all credits and debits are applied to your account.
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Aisha Hussain
omg thank you so much! that makes so much more sense now 🙏
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StarStrider
in the same boat and was freaking out about the negative numbers lol
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Yuki Sato
hey if your trying to understand your transcript better you should check out taxr.ai - its only $4.99 and breaks down everything super clearly. saved me hours of googling and reddit searches tbh https://taxr.ai
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Carmen Ruiz
does it actually work? sounds to good to be true ngl
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Yuki Sato
yeah its legit! uploads your transcript and gives you a full breakdown of whats happening + timeline predictions
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Carmen Ruiz
just tried it and WOW 🤯 finally understand wtf is going on with my refund. worth every penny fr
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Andre Lefebvre
Transcript codes be looking like hieroglyphics fr fr 🤣
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Zoe Alexopoulos
wait till you see the TC codes and dates... its like trying to decode ancient alien messages 👽
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Jamal Anderson
TC 150 got me questioning my whole existence rn
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Mei Wong
Running a small biz is hard enough without all this tax confusion. The IRS really needs to make this stuff more user friendly smh
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QuantumQuasar
facts 💯 like we ain't all accountants irs!
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Liam McGuire
Check if you have any credits applied. Child tax credit? EIC? Those can make the numbers look funky on transcripts.
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Aisha Hussain
yeah i got the child tax credit, maybe thats part of it
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