Hey Todd,
After reading your post I had to pull out my 1040 to see what was up! I'm not an accountant but after looking over the form and instructions, it seems the $600 does NOT affect what your regular refund (if due) would be. If you did not get a check you would be entitled to a special tax credit and that would have ADDED the $600 to your normal refund. I see no line on the 1040 form that asks to add the refund check so unless I missed something (I did look it over quickly) I do not expect that $600 to reduce my normal refund. My thinking is the gov't. wanted to get that money in the hands of consumers quickly so what they did was ADVANCE the EXTRA you would have gotten from the tax cut. Any tax accountants here that can explain it better??

Steve