How is it possible that investment interest of $4853.13 is raising my federal taxes over $900? The money was earned but not taken out of the account?

[RobertB4444]

Whether you pull the money out or not doesn't matter.  You earned it and you own it and have the right to spend it whenever you want.  So it is taxable.

$900 on $4853 is about 18.5% which says that you have earned enough to be in the 22% tax bracket.  Earnings in that bracket increase taxes at a higher rate.

@v-harris1 

[VolvoGirl]

When you enter one taxable transaction, you can't just watch the monitor. You increased your overall adjusted gross income and with that come many other changes in your return, not just the incremental tax on the one transaction. More income can make more of any Social Security taxable and can increase or decease any credits you qualified for.

And it increased your AGI and that would decrease some deductions if you itemized on Schedule A. And by increasing your AGI it might reduce some credits you were getting like EIC. It could be the Medicare Net Investment tax.