IRS adjusted my refund and I received $208.99 less than what I expected. When I recheck my refund, I think my calculations are correct. Is it possible that IRS might make a mistake. IRS only disputes the tax amount. We are both getting same gross and adjusted income according to the notice they sent me. The only difference is in amount calculated. When I filed my refund I did not attach my QD and CG Tax Worksheet. Could that make a difference (I thought it was not required to attach as the sheet says keep for your records).

I calculated my refund using Qualified Dividend and Capital Gain Tax work sheet. Here are my calculations for each line.

1. 71444
2. 452
3. 1539 (Yes checked)
4. 1991
5. 0
6. 1991
7. 69453
8. 70700 (married filing jointly)
9. 70700
10. 69453
11. 1247
12. 1991
13. 1247
14. 744
15. 111.6
16. 9551 (from tax table)
17. 9662.6
18. 9919
19. 9662.6

According to IRS either this line is 9871.65 or they are reducing around $208 some from my child tax credit which I calculated as $2000 for two children. Do you see an issue with my Qualified dividend and capital gain tax work sheet?

Thanks

Sorry, but I would have to see the actual IRS letter and do some modeling on my tax software to be able to comment with any authority.

If my experience is any indication, it is very possible that they miscalculated something. In my case, they correctly found an error that I had made which resulted in my tax being about $100 more-no problem with that.
But when recalculating, for some unknown reason they credited me with my estimated payments twice, thereby turning my $ 100 error into a plus $ 1,000 error because of their mistake. It appears to me that they do corrections by hand because it is difficult to believe that a computer system could make an error that basic.
It took six months to get them to accept my check for the over refund they had sent me. They rechecked it four times in several offices of IRS (Houston, Atlanta, Phila.) and kept insisting their refund check was in the correct amount.
Letters to them In my case-maybe AtlantaTaxExpert gets better results-- letters to them are usually answered in about 43 days telling you that they will get back to you within another 45 days, etc.
Finally, they agreed to accept my check which I paid via certified mail immediately. Case closed?-NO.
Once they decided to bill me, they put a hold on any further refunds (supposedly until they received the payment-no good deed goes unpunished) but they forgot to remove the hold (which they later apologized for in a letter) and since they had forgotten to remove the hold, they didn't send the next year's refund until we went through the 45 day reply sequence another 2 or 3 times the next year.
I guess what I am saying is: Think long and hard before getting into a letter writing campaign with these folks. I had no choice- they could have charged me with fraud at some point for accepting an obvious overpayment. I'll get down off my soapbox but it will be a long time before I forget the experience of trying to deal with them.

Noted

Given the numbers you provide the math is correct, so the issue is whether the IRS agrees with your lines 1, 2, and 3 of the worksheet. I played with the numbers a little, and it appears that their calculation is based on setting line 3 to $0, not $1539. So check to verify that the smaller amount on line 15 or 16 of Schedule D (which is where Line 3 of this worksheet comes from) is $1539 and not $0.