Why did I get 55 dollars when my coworker who got the same income got nearly 800

[VolvoGirl]

Everyone is different.  Is one of you married or have kids?  Depends how much you have withheld during the year.  Many things.  You would have to compare the returns side by side, line by line to see what’s different.

[Anita01 · Accepted solution]

Income is only one small part of your refund.  Major differences can stem from whether you both claim yourselves or if one of you is someone else's dependent.  One of you may itemize deductions and one may take the standard deduction.  You may each have filled your W-4 out differently to have different amounts withheld during the year.  All these things go into how much tax you owe when you file.  It can also make a big difference if one of you had more than one job during the year.  

At year-end, all your income is combined and then, based on a lot of different factors, the tax you owe on that income is calculated.  The amount of tax you had withheld during the year is then subtracted from what you would owe, to determine your refund.

It's not necessarily a bad thing to get a small refund.  All it really means is that you had more money to spend during the year instead of making an interest-free loan to the government all year and then having to wait to get your own money back.