Credit for retirement savings contributions-husband contributed 8,723, yet only giving credit of $200, that's not 10%, unless max is per person since I didn't contribute

[fish]

The credit for retirement savings seems new to me this year, maybe due to cutoffs in previous years, not sure I've seen that before and we have been using turbotax for many, many years.  However, my husband contributed $8,723 and it says based on our bracket it's 10% up to $400.  I didn't work last year, so I didn't put any money into a retirement account.  We do have Roth IRA, so I'm not sure if I make a contribution to that if we would get any more back. I just want clarification because turbotax deluxe only gave us a $200 credit for it.  I'm not sure if it's per person or married filing jointly that the number is based on (that's how we file married filing jointly).

[Critter]

Did you review the form 8880 to see why the credit was reduced or how it was calculated ?   
You can peek at only  the Federal form 1040 and the summary of the state info by going here:

1) lower- Left side of the screen...click to the left side of the "Tax Tools" text selection.
2)  then select "Tools"
3) then select "View Tax Summary" from the pop-up
4) then back to the left-side and "Preview 1040"

Then hit the "Back" on the left side to get back to your tax entries.
To view your entire return using the online editions (including the state) before you file, you will need to pay for your online account.
To pay the TurboTax online account fees by credit card, without completing the 2018 return at this time, click on Tax Tools >>> Tools  and then Print Center.  Then click on Print, save or preview this year's return.  On the next page, to pay by credit card, click Continue.  On the next screen it will ask if you want Audit Defense, if you do not want this option just click on the Continue button.  The next screen will ask for all your credit card information so you can pay for the account.

[fish]

Thank you for telling me where to find that information.  It seems like if we wanted to, I can still contribute to my ira and get 10% back.  That's helpful to know.

[dmertz]

"We" do not have a Roth IRA because IRAs are individual accounts.  You must make your own contribution to your own IRA, not to your husband's IRA.

[dmertz]

The credit is per the individual who makes a retirement contribution.  The maximum credit for each individual's retirement contributions is calculated on only the first $2,000 of that individual's retirement contributions for the year.  If AGI limits the credit to 10%, the maximum credit per individual is 10% of $2,000 = $200, so it appears that the your credit calculated by TurboTax is correct.

Note that the IRS web page regarding this credit has erroneous information regarding the maximum possible credit and that might be misleading you into thinking that the credit is calculated differently.  Chapter 3 of IRS Pub 590-A has the correct information:  https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p590a.pdf