WHy such a paramount difference between 2023 refund vs 2022... I worked MORE in 2023... Is this a good reason to do an Amend?

[sammy10005]

thanks in advance.....

[ee-ea]

A great way to find out what happened is to make a line by line comparison of this return and the prior one(s). If you find an error, amend.

[xmasbaby0]

We cannot see your screen, your return or your account.  Have you entered ALL of your 2023 information?  All your income, etc.?  Many tax documents that you need do not arrive until late January or even February, so maybe you do not have it all there yet.

Lots of tax laws changed.  Those changes are resulting in lower refunds for lots of people.

There is no recovery rebate credit (stimulus $) for 2023.  The childcare credit is  less and is not refundable. The child tax credit is different and it is less.    And for some people, earned income credit is different because there is no “lookback” to an earlier year.  Those are some of the reasons your refund may be less.

There are a lot of variables that affect your refund or tax due including how much you earned, how much tax you had withheld, your filing status, the number of dependents you claim, your deductions and credits, etc.  You may have lost Earned Income Credit or the Child Tax Credit— did a child turn 17?  If you received the EIC last year, remember that changes in the amount you earn have a big effect on the amount of EIC you can get. (Sometimes earning more money means less EIC)  Are you 65 or older ?  If so, your standard deduction is higher. Everyone has a higher standard deduction now so it is harder to use itemized deductions.

And…..the child tax credit is very different for 2023    For 2021 you could get $3600 for a child under 6 or $3000 for a child between 6 and 17 even if you had no income/did not work.   That is NOT the way it will work for your 2023 tax return.  The “old” rules are back.   The maximum amount of the child tax credit is now $2000; the refundable “additional child tax credit” amount is $1600.   In order to get that credit, you have to have income from working.  The credit is calculated based on the amount you earned above $2500 multiplied by 15%, up to the full $1600.  If your child is older than 16 at the end of 2023, you do not get the CTC.  But you may still get the non-refundable $500 credit for other dependents instead.

And of course, always check your own data entries, looking for errors such as misplaced decimals or extra zeros.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-refund/refund-go-compared-last-year/...

Print out 2022  and 2023  and compare them side by side to see what is different. 

[LeticiaF1]

As both ee-ae and xmasbaby0 mentioned, many factors may reduce your refund.  Some of those include:

• Starting an additional job (especially self-employment).
• Getting a significant raise, but your W-4 staying the same.
• Adjusting your withholding to maximize your take-home pay.
• Selling stock, crypto, or other investments.
• A change in filing status.
• Receiving unemployment benefits, but not having taxes withheld.
• Taking an early withdrawal from your retirement account.
• Having a child turn 17 in 2023, now receiving the Credit for Other Dependents instead of the Child Tax Credit.
• Started receiving Social Security benefits or Roth IRA distributions.
• Paying off your mortgage, so you can no longer deduct mortgage interest.
• Paying off your student loan, so you can no longer deduct the interest.
• Finishing school, so no longer eligible for certain education credits.
• Earning little or no income and not qualifying for the Earned Income Credit.

You can access your personalized refund information in TurboTax:

1. Open or continue your return.
2. Select Federal in the left menu.
3. Choose Federal Review.
4. Under the Explain Why section of the Federal Review screen, select Why am I getting a refund of $? to see more details on your refund and how it was calculated.

If your refund seems extremely off, double-check the amounts you entered. A typo of just one dollar can have a big impact on your refund.

[Opus 17]

There is no reason to amend unless you actually made a mistake, such as by entering your income incorrectly.  

If no mistake was made, then your tax is your tax.  The only way to know what changed is to compare last year and this year's returns side by side.  You might have fewer credits.  Or you might have more taxable income but your withholding didn't keep up.