Q. I did not get stimulus is that why my return is bigger?

A. Yes, probably. But more info is needed. 

Under the CARES Act, if you were claimed, or qualified to be claimed, as a dependent on someone else’s 2019 return you did not receive a stimulus check, in 2020.   If you qualified as a dependent for 2019, but will not be for 2020, you will most likely get it in 2021, when you file a 2020 tax return.

That said, most 17 year olds (or even 18 year olds) do qualify to be their parent's dependent.  You are, apparently, telling TurboTax (TT) that you cannot be a dependent.  What makes you think that is the case?

Possibly. A larger refund could be because of the stimulus, if you qualified for the Rebate Recovery Credit in 2020. Regarding your age, parents can still claim dependents in school full-time up to age 24.

To qualify for the Rebate Recovery Credit, the IRS states: 

"Generally, you are eligible to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit if you were a U.S. citizen or U.S. resident alien in 2020, cannot be claimed as a dependent of another taxpayer for tax year 2020, and have a Social Security number valid for employment that is issued before the due date of your 2020 tax return (including extensions)."

I recommend checking your input and checking this IRS site: Get My Payment Link to confirm your results.

To return to this area in TurboTax, follow these steps:

• In your return, click the Other Tax Situations tab toward the top of the page
• Scroll down to the end and click Let's keep going
• At Let's make sure you got the right stimulus amount, click Continue
• Be sure to report an amount for each of the stimulus payments as received. If the particular payment was not received at all, enter 0 and click Continue