Your tax return is the form you send to the government that shows your income and calculates your tax. The money the government sends back to you is your refund.
Getting a big refund should not be your goal. You get a refund because you paid more than necessary, so you get a refund of the overpayment. A tax refund is not free money from the government. It's your own money that you sent in and you let the government hold it all year. Then they send it back to you after you file your tax return. This year the IRS got backlogged and a lot of refunds were delayed for months. If that happens, the government holds your money much longer.
Did you try the Tax Withholding Estimator on the IRS web site? It will tell you if you need to have your employer withhold tax, and it will let you adjust your withholding to get the approximate refund amount that you want.
