Should my Retirement Savings Credit, as determined by TurboTax, be $249 if I contributed $6,000 to my Roth IRA and my AGI is under $19,500? I thought it would be higher.

[dmertz · Accepted solution]

This tax credit is a nonrefundable credit and is limited by your income tax liability.  It cannot be used to reduce income tax liability to less than zero.  It cannot be used to reduce other taxes such as self-employment tax.

[boidoingtaxes]

Thank you! This explains everything to me. I still had some taxes due which confused me since the credit was lower than I thought it would be but I didn't realize the credit did not reduce self-employment tax.