@DooWahDiddy (DooWahDiddy) posted a new topic, subject "Why did the IRS do this?". It read:

   Obviously I've been meaning to ask this for a few weeks now, but here goes:
    
    I went to a new accountant for my taxes this year, and about a month after I filed I got a letter telling me the amount of my refund had changed because “We computed your recovery rebate credit for you on Line 70 of Form 1040.”
    
    So I thought, Damn, I'm not going to get as much back as I thought I was, but it turned out to _increase_ my refund by $100.
    
    So my question is: Should I get a new accountant next year? Did he miss something, or was this an adjustment everyone got from the new administration, or what? I wasn't aware the government would fix an error in your favor, you know? I figured they'd say “Uh huh, you can't claim that, your refund is actually _this_ ”, but I didn't think they would say, “Wait, you missed one. Here, let's give you more money.”

Then @Caldazar (Caldazar) said

    Line 70 was for a recalculation of the economic stimulus rebate. Back in early/mid-2008, Congress passed a Stimulus Act that gave folks an advance on their tax refunds. To calculate the refund at the time, they used your 2007 numbers. If your 2008 numbers were different such that you were actually entitled to a greater refund, you were supposed to calculate that on line 70. However, the IRS allowed you to put “RRC” on that line in which case the IRS would calculate the number for you (you might have lost your Notice 1378, for instance). Check your copy of your filled-out tax forms to see what happened; I'm guessing you may not have provided your 2008 stimulus rebate info (or you never got a rebate to begin with), so your accountant may have just put “RRC” and left ucasey@example.net. Or maybe he/she was plain lazy; who knows.
    
    But on a broader note, the IRS is not out to screw you over. If you make an error and they catch it, they will correct it. Even if the error is in your favor.

To which @Gary_T (Gary T) replied

    “Why did the IRS do this?”
    
    Because, easy as it is to think of them as trying to wring every possible penny out taxpayers, they actually try to properly implement the tax laws.

To which @DrCube (DrCube) replied

    My question, since the OP has been answered, is why I have to do my taxes in the first place if there are armies of accountants at the IRS re-doing them all again?

After which, @RealityChuck (RealityChuck) added

    DrCube:
    
    > My question, since the OP has been answered, is why I have to do my taxes in the first place if there are armies of accountants at the IRS re-doing them all again?
    
    They don't have an army big enough to check all returns. In addition, they are checking the numbers you have entered, but not gathering the information – they have no way of knowing all the details of your life.
    
    Yet.


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