IRS Transcript Codes

150: Return filed and tax assessed

Code 150 means the original return posted and the IRS assessed the tax on it. The amount is that tax. It is a debit. A second return does not post as another 150. A duplicate return posts as 976. An amended return posts as 977.

976: Duplicate return posted

Code 976 means a duplicate return posted. The IRS replaces what would have been a second 150 with 976. That year stays frozen from refunding until a later adjustment posts.

977: Amended return posted

Code 977 means an amended return posted, including a Form 1040-X. The IRS can also generate 977 from code 971 with action code 010 or 013. If a dollar amount is on the 977 line, it is a payment sent with that return. It is not the new tax. A later change to the tax posts as 290, 300, or 291.

290: Additional tax assessed

Code 290 adds tax after the original return is already on the account. It is a debit. The IRS can also post 290 with a zero amount when an adjustment does not change the tax. A 290 can generate interest, which shows as code 196. Additional tax from Examination or Appeals is code 300, not 290.

300: Exam or appeals assessment

Code 300 is additional tax from an Examination or Appeals adjustment on a year that already has a code 150. It is a debit.

291: Prior tax abated

Code 291 removes some or all of a tax amount already assessed under 150, 290, or 300. It is a credit. Where the computer had charged interest on that tax, the IRS may also abate that interest.

806: Withholding

Code 806 is the withholding and excess Social Security tax claimed on the return. It is a credit. On a wage earner's account it is often the largest credit next to code 150.

610: Payment with the return

Code 610 is a payment that arrived with the tax return, including a payment sent with a voucher. It is a credit.

A payment after the return has posted is code 670. An overpayment moved to another period in the same account is code 826. A refund reduced for a debt outside the IRS is code 898. The refund itself is code 846.

670: Later payment

If the return has already posted, code 670 is a later payment on that year. If the return has not posted, it is a prepayment. It is a credit. A payment that arrived with the return is code 610.

766: Refundable credit

Code 766 means the IRS allowed a refundable credit other than withholding or estimated tax. It is a credit. The same code also reverses a Treasury offset, code 898, when it carries the same offset trace number.

768: Earned income credit

Code 768 is the earned income credit posted from the return. It is a credit.

846: Refund issued

Code 846 means the IRS refunded an overpayment. The amount is the refund, and it can include interest. It is a debit, because that credit is leaving the account. The date on the line is the refund date on the account transcript.

776: Interest the IRS owes you

Code 776 is interest the IRS computed because the account was overpaid. It is a credit. Interest you owe the IRS is code 196, and that one is a debit.

196: Interest you owe

Code 196 is interest the IRS charged. It is a debit. It often posts with a balance-due notice or after a code 290 adjustment.

570: Credit hold

Code 570 means more tax may still be pending, and it freezes that tax year. While it is open, the IRS does not refund the credit or offset it out. A return condition, an open exam indicator, or another pending item can cause it. Code 570 by itself does not mean the return is in audit.

571: The 570 hold released

Code 571 reverses code 570 and releases that hold. It does not mean every issue on the year is finished, and it does not by itself issue a refund. A refund still posts as code 846.

810: Refund freeze

Code 810 freezes that tax year against refunds, offsets, and a credit elect. The IRS adds a one-digit code for the type of freeze. Code 4 is the frivolous-return program. Code 811 reverses 810. Another freeze can still block the credit after that.

811: Refund freeze released

Code 811 reverses code 810 in whole or in part. A zero amount releases the credit only if no other freeze is open.

420: Referred to exam or appeals

Code 420 means the return was referred to Examination or Appeals. The return has been assigned there. That is not the same thing as a finished audit.

If the referral is already an open exam, read what happens in an IRS audit and appeal.

826: Overpayment moved to another year

Code 826 is a debit for an overpayment the IRS moved to another tax period in the same account. The matching credit on the period that received the money is code 706. The IRS does this before it refunds, when that other period has a balance due.

706: Overpayment received from another year

Code 706 is the credit that lands in the tax period receiving the money. The debit that left the other period is code 826.

898: Treasury offset

Code 898 means the Treasury Offset Program reduced the refund. The debt is outside the IRS, such as certain past-due child support or a defaulted student loan that Treasury collects. The line carries an offset trace number. A reversal can post as code 766 or 899 with that same number.