Your overpayment was moved to pay a balance you owe on another IRS account or year. Here is what it means, what usually happens next, and what to do.
On your account transcript it reads: 826 Credit transferred out to another tax period Hold or watch
TC 826 moves your overpayment out of this tax year to pay a balance you owe on another IRS account — a prior year's income tax, a civil penalty, or another tax period. The receiving year shows a matching TC 706.
Also written as: IRS code 826, code 826 on transcript, 826 IRS code, transaction code 826.
A CP49 explains where the money went. Any overpayment left after the transfer is refunded under TC 846. If you believe the balance it paid should not exist, dispute that balance — the transfer simply follows from it.
| On the same transcript | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| 826 + 846 | Part of the refund paid another IRS balance; the rest was refunded. |
| 826 with no 846 | The whole overpayment went to another balance. |
| 826 here, 706 on another year | The two halves of one transfer. |
It lists exactly which year and balance received the money.
A 706 there confirms the credit landed.
Not the transfer itself.
Paste it into the free decoder — every code explained, open holds flagged, refund and offsets summarized. Runs in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere.
Decode my transcript →Yes. The IRS applies overpayments to other federal tax balances you owe before refunding anything — that is TC 826.
826 pays another IRS balance. 898 pays a non-IRS debt (child support, federal student loans, state tax) through the Treasury Offset Program.
On your IRS account transcript for the tax year — in your IRS Online Account under tax records, or by mail using Form 4506-T. The transactions section lists each code with its description, date and amount. Return transcripts do not show transaction codes.
Yes. IRS code 826, code 826 on transcript, transaction code 826 and TC 826 all refer to the same three-digit transaction code the IRS posts to your account.