What the IRS says: “All or part of your refund was applied to another federal tax debt you owe.” Here’s what it actually means, your deadline, and exactly how to respond.
The IRS offsets refunds against any open federal tax balance automatically. The notice shows which year absorbed the money. Checking matters because the 'debt' is sometimes a disputed or already-resolved balance — and because injured-spouse rules protect a spouse's share of a joint refund from the other spouse's separate debts.
Notice family: Return Adjustments — The IRS changed something on your return — math corrections, credit adjustments, payment mismatches. Often correct, frequently not. You typically have 60 days to dispute a change you disagree with.
Verify the target year's balance is real (online account or transcript)
Joint return, one spouse's debt: file Form 8379 (Injured Spouse) to recover your share — up to 3 years back
Debt disputed: keep disputing; a reversal refunds the offset
Debt real: at least it's paid — recheck remaining balances
Form 8379 with a short cover letter is the response when a spouse's separate debt ate a joint refund. Otherwise respond only if the offset target is wrong.
Describe the notice and your side of it — use placeholders, never your SSN or account numbers (the letter keeps [YOUR NAME]-style fields so you fill in the real details privately before mailing). A mail-ready draft with an enclosure checklist comes back in ~20 seconds.
Your IRS response letter draft will appear here.
All or part of your refund was applied to another federal tax debt you owe. In practice: The IRS offsets refunds against any open federal tax balance automatically. The notice shows which year absorbed the money. Checking matters because the 'debt' is sometimes a disputed or already-resolved balance — and because injured-spouse rules protect a spouse's share of a joint refund from the other spouse's separate debts.
There is no fixed response deadline on this notice, but acting promptly keeps your options open. The respond-by date printed on your own notice always controls.
Form 8379 with a short cover letter is the response when a spouse's separate debt ate a joint refund. Otherwise respond only if the offset target is wrong.