Look at line 16 on your 1040, then also look at line 24. If the amount on line 16 is less than the full credit, then this is the maximum amount of the credit you use this year will be that number. If you have other credits, that may also reduce the tax liability, this may also reduce the amount of the credit you receive. The second page of your 1040 will explain how your refund is calculated.
At $60,000 you are not paying $13,200 in federal taxes. If you are single and your AGI is $60,000, your tax would be $8,513 per the tax table for 2023. This is the amount that the credit applies to. So this credit, along with any other credits you have that are non refundable are then subtracted from the $8,513. If you have other credits that are not able to be carried forward, these will also reduce the amount of the credit you would get. For example, if you have the Other Dependent Credit, this would lower your tax liability to $8,013, which would limit your credit to $8,013. Then say your total credit with your carryover from last year and anything you may have added this year is $11,000. This will reduce your tax liability to $0. But you will still have a remaining credit of $2,987 to carry over to next year.
If your employer withheld $10,000 from your wages, you would get a $10,000 refund because you have no tax liability. Your withholdings do not play a factor into the amount of the credit you can get in a particular year. The credit simply allows you to get more back of what you paid in during the year. If you didn't have the credit, in the above scenario, you would have a refund of $1,987 instead of the full $10,000.
If you look on line 16 of your form 5695, this will show any eligible carryforward, but as stated, they are ONLY for the residential energy credit, not the Energy Efficient Credit.
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