Personal return

[RussellFam5]

Why was my return substantially lower then previous years

[xmasbaby0]

We cannot see your screen, your return or your account.  Have you entered ALL of your 2023 information?  All your income, etc.? 

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. 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/refunds/help/why-did-my-refund-go-down-compared-to-last-year-s/00/...

[Vanessa A]

We are unable to see your return.  However, generally this happens when you make an error in  your entries or you have a change in your situation. 

  If nothing changed, start by double checking your entries. Then you can go back and compare your return from last year to this year.  Click here for instructions on how to see your 1040 online.  If you use the desktop version, you can just click on Forms mode at the top of the page.

Were you self-employed and have a liability for Self-Employment Taxes.  These taxes are 15.3% of your profit.  So if you made a profit of $10,000, you would owe $1,530 for self-employment taxes.  If this is your situation, you should be making quarterly estimated payments to cover your SE taxes and avoid penalties.

You had multiple jobs and each employer withheld enough to cover the wages you made with them, but when you combine your wages from multiple employers you are in a higher tax bracket and neither employer withheld at the higher rate. If you have multiple employers, you may want to complete a new W4 form for the one you make the most for or even for 2 of them.  You will want to  complete section 2 and probably section four to have an additional amount withheld every pay period. You can calculate the amount extra to be withheld, if your job situation is not expected to change, by dividing your $1,700 due by the number of pay periods you have in a year (usually 26 or 52) and entering that on line 4c.

You claimed an exemption on your W-4, or you did not update it.  For example, you had a child that was 15 when you started the job, but now they are 17 and no longer eligible for the child tax credit or your filing status has changed. 

Did you have a child that turned 17 and lower your Child Tax Credit from $2,000 to the $500 Non-Refundable Other Dependent Credit ?

Did you get the Earned Income Tax Credit in previous years and not this year?