Tax season shock as ‘typo’ slashes refunds – find out if you are affected
More than 50,000 taxpayers were hit with a tax season shock after a blunder by officials.
A simple typo in tax documents meant some filers received smaller payouts than expected, while others were sent notices demanding additional tax payments.
Officials said the issue, which affected taxpayers in New York state, has now been fixed – but not everyone has received their corrected refund yet.
The problem emerged in early March when tax authorities flagged an error affecting married couples filing jointly.
Those with incomes between $107,650 and $161,550 were mistakenly told they would receive smaller refunds than they were owed – or, in some cases, that they owed additional income tax.
New York’s Department of Taxation and Finance said affected returns will be automatically reprocessed, with corrected notices and any additional refunds sent directly to taxpayers. No action is required from those impacted.
The mistake was traced back to a typo in a withholding table used in submitted tax forms. It was discovered in late February and corrected in early March – but not before tens of thousands of returns had already been processed incorrectly.
An Albany tax preparer told the Times Union: ‘When you have these issues come up in your returns, you lose credibility with your clients.’
In early March, New York’s Department of Taxation and Finance alerted tax professionals to the issue, which affected married couples filing jointly
More than 50,000 taxpayers were jolted this year after a typo led to reduced refunds – or even notices demanding additional tax payments
According to the department, around 52,000 people in New York were affected – equating to less than 1 percent of the people expected to file taxes.
Refunds were issued after the error was detected, but the department said not all refunds have necessarily been received yet as the returns continue to be examined.
Most recent data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) shows that, as of March 20, 2026, the IRS has received approximately 78.9 million individual income tax returns for the 2026 filing season (tax year 2025).
This is a slight 0.9 percent decrease compared to the same period in 2025. The IRS has processed about 77.8 million of these returns, with an average refund amount of $3,571.
The IRS expects roughly 164 million individual tax returns to be filed for the 2026 season. The deadline to file is Wednesday, April 15.