The IRS Code 806: What Does it Mean on a Tax Account Transcript?

The IRS 806 Code on a tax account transcript simply indicates the amount of federal income tax your employer withheld from your wages during a fiscal year. All employers must submit W2s and 1099s to the IRS for each employee or independent contractor they hire.

The IRS refers to this amount as credit a taxpayer generated throughout the year and uses it to calculate the tax refund. Hence, seeing Code 806 isn’t a reason for concern.

On the contrary, it’s an indicator of how much money was collected from your paychecks in the last twelve months through either a 1099 or W2 form.

Let’s take a closer look at the IRS Code 806 and what it means on a tax transcript.

The Key Purpose of Tax Account Transcripts

A tax record or transcript contains information about a taxpayer and lists all actions the IRS takes while processing a tax return. Its main role is to keep taxpayers informed about the current status of their tax refund.

This information is communicated through a series of codes added to tax account transcripts during different stages of a tax return review.

The fastest way to acquire a tax account transcript is to create an IRS account and navigate to the Get Transcript section of the IRS website. Optionally, you can request a tax account transcript from the IRS2Go or Where’s My Refund? apps.

Taxpayers who don’t use the IRS’ e-filing system can have a paper version of their tax account transcript delivered to their home addresses.

The Importance of Transaction Codes

All tax returns that enter the Individual Master File system are assigned codes that indicate their current status or the actions the IRS has taken during the review.

It’s important to remember that these codes are purely informative. Consequently, taxpayers shouldn’t take any action until they receive a notification from the IRS that provides them with the list of steps they must take to amend a certain issue.

Code 806 will be added to a transcript as soon as the IRS receives a tax return and uploads it to the IMF system because it verifies the amount withheld from the taxpayer’s annual wage. Hence, on its own, this code only informs a taxpayer their federal taxes were paid on time.

Debunking the IRS Code 806

According to the IRS, Code 806 indicates a credit created through the federal and FICA tax payments to the IRS in the last twelve months.

The tax account transcript has five sections, but only four sections are important for understanding the IRS Code 806.

You’ll find the number 806 in the Code column, while the W2 or 1099 withholding description will be located in the Explanation of Transaction column. The code’s description is always the same regardless of the method you use to access a tax account transcript.

Although it’s not specified in the description, IRS Code 806 also refers to all excess FICA taxes claimed on a 1040 or 1041 form.

The presence of Code 806 and Code 150 in your account transcript simply means that the IRS has accepted your tax return for review because the agency didn’t detect any problems with the sums you specified in your paperwork.

The Date Column

The date section of Code 806 doesn’t contain information that could be valuable to taxpayers because it only shows when the account data was added to the IMF system.

In most cases, the date will be the same as the date in Code 150 or a day after. It’s important to remember that neither of these dates can help you determine when the IRS will issue your refund.

The Amount Column

This is by far the most critical segment of Code 806 because it shows the exact amount the taxpayer’s employer withheld from their wages through W2 or 1099 forms. This amount is identical to the amount taxpayers provide in section 25d of Form 1040.

Hence, the amount column indicates how much credit a taxpayer generated during a year. The amount should be negative if all taxes were paid on time. A positive value in this column indicates that a taxpayer has outstanding tax debt.

The Implications of the IRS Code 806

The IRS uses the withheld amount to calculate the taxpayer’s refund, and if the account doesn’t have any other credits or offsets, Code 806 and refund amounts will be the same.

However, this isn’t the case often since most transcripts also include Code 150 Tax Return Filed, Code 290 Additional Tax Assessed, and Code 766 Credit to Your Account codes that are subtracted from or added to the Code 806 amount.

Code 806 can help you find out the approximate value of your tax refund. All you need to do is add together all credits listed on your tax account transcript and subtract the value of Code 150 or any other offset you might have on your account.

The resulting value should be the approximate amount you’ll receive after the IRS approves your tax refund.

Frequently Asked Questions About the IRS Code 806

Final Thoughts

You shouldn’t be surprised if you see Code 806 in your tax account transcript because it only means that the IRS received an electronically filed tax return.

The code indicates the amount of money the IRS received from a taxpayer’s employer based on a W2 or 1099 Form. The sum represents the credit a taxpayer generated in a year and serves as a basis for the calculation of the tax refund.

Don’t be alarmed if you see this code in your tax account transcript. Still, you should check if the amount next to the code matches the sum you specified in section 25d of Form 1040 and contact your employer and the IRS if you notice any discrepancies.