Why did my federal refund increase when I entered my husband's 2022 Roth IRA contribution? Roth contributions are not tax deductible.

[MK63]

We do not qualify for the saver's credit.

[DanaB27]

To clarify, did you go already through the saver's credit questions? You might have to go through the questions first to show the correct refund.

Correct Roth IRA contributions are not deductible.

[Edited 3/20/2023 | 2:00 pm PST]

@MK63

[MK63]

Yes, I answered the saver's credit questions. We do not qualify based on income.

We have not over-contributed to the Roth.

If I increase the Roth contribution, ie. +$500, our refund increases even more. 

This does not seem correct. Is there a glitch in TurboTax?

[BillM223]

Yes, you are correct that Roth IRA contributions are not tax-deductible. And you say that you exceeded the limit for the Saver's Credit ($68,000 for filing married joint).

Are you using the Online product? If so, please go look at your 1040 and the three schedules.

In your tax return, look to the left, click on Tax Tools, then underneath, click on Tools, then in the center, click on View Tax Summary, then back on the left, click on Preview my 1040.

The 1040 will appear with the three schedules beneath it (be prepared to scroll down a lot).

Look at line 4 on Schedule 3. This is the Savers Credits. Is there a number there? Does it change when you increase the Roth IRA contribution?

Now look at line 20 on Schedule 1 - this is the deduction for a traditional IRA. If this number changes, then it would seem that seem that you are contributing to a traditional IRA, not a Roth IRA.

Keep poking around until you see what changes.

[MK63]

Thank you for the help; I did as you suggested.

There isn't a number on line 4 of Schedule 3, regardless of the Roth IRA contribution I input.

The number on line 20 of Schedule 1 remains constant (a portion of my Roth that I recharacterized to a traditional IRA), regardless of the Roth IRA contribution I input.

We want to contribute $3500 additional to each of our Roths. We will still be under the max contribution limit.

When I change my Roth contribution to the new number, our refund remains unchanged.

When I change my husband's Roth contribution to the new number, the refund increases by hundreds of dollars (all without changes to line 4, schedule 3 or line 20, schedule 1). 

I'll continue to poke around, but I remain stumped as this doesn't seem correct.

[KrisD15]

Silly, but are you sure it isn't a tax balance due? 

[MK63]

That would make more sense, but it's definitely a refund (in green).

[BillM223 · Accepted solution]

OK, I realize that this is asking for a lot of "poking around", but what IS changing on the 1040 and Schedules 1, 2, and 3 besides the refund? There have to be other numbers changing in order for the refund to change. Try printing the 1040 and the three schedules both before and after and compare them.

[MK63]

Really appreciate your help. Comparing 1040's and 8606's revealed the issue. We took an early Roth distribution to pay for son's college.  The Roth IRA basis wasn't correct, so we were being taxed on a portion of the early distribution. So when I entered our current year Roth contribution, our basis increased, thus decreasing tax liability and increasing refund. I corrected the Roth basis and all is well. Thanks again!