Why is my refund not the same as the sum of federal income tax withheld?

It depends if you have taxable income after the standard/itemized deduction was applied. if so, there is a tax liability assessed in your return that may be more than your W2 withholdings.  Also if you had self-employment income, there may have been your share of self-employment taxes that you needed to pay.

 

Also, if you received more income than was withheld, you may have received refundable credits such as the Earned income Credit.  

 

Here is how you can look at a snapshot of your return.

 

1. Click on Tax Tools in the black left menu bar in your return
2. Click on Tools>view tax summary
3. Now go to Preview my 1040 in the menu bar
4. Look at lines 11,12, and 15.  If there is a taxable amount in Box 15, then there is a tax liability.
5. Assuming there are no additional taxes assessed, the same amount should appear in Line 24 of the 1040.
6. Now your W2 withholdings should appear line 25 reducing your tax to 0. Any excess amount is the amount of your refund.
7. Check all the entries in the 1040 because there may be other credits that further reduce your tax liability that may result in a bigger refund.
8. Sometimes the W2 withheld is not enough to cover a tax liability thus could result in a taxpayer owing taxes rather than receiving a refund.

Anyway, these a just a few ideas that may answer your question without actually looking at your tax return.

 

 

 

you want the federal withholding back?

 

No, in that case, IRS would get nothing and the country would really be broke.

@kconnor04