rbynaker
Level 13

Ironically, this wasn't one of the things that the IRS had to cobble together in the middle of tax season.  These provisions have been around for a year now, they could have come up with a better reporting system.

That said, nothing has changed since I posted in this thread on 3/3/21.  You can't increase a refund with a deferral.  You never could.

I'm with Lisa, I haven't had anyone do this either (I'm considering doing it for myself just 'cause I'm curious how the IRS is going to handle it).  Anyone with a deferral amount that is less than their total refund shouldn't have bothered trying to defer.

There are conceptually some borderline cases where the only correct solution is to have the IRS hold the refund.  Say I have a balance due of $1,500 which includes $2,000 of deferrable SE tax.  I do the SE deferral paperwork and now my return shows a $500 refund.  Somewhere in the IRS system will be data that show I owe $1,000 on 12/31/21 and $1,000 on 12/31/22.  And then it will also show that my $500 refund was held and applied to the 12/31/21 balance due.  This is the only way to get the full $1,000 deferred to 12/31/22.

What a mess.