Why is my tax refund less than half of what the tax calculator estimated?

stewards010 — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 10:50:29 GMT

I put in all the same information, family details, but they wouldn't let me add my child care expenses. When I got to the end instead of a $9k return I'm only getting $4K. Why??

Re: Why is my tax refund less than half of what the tax calculator estimated?

xmasbaby0 — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 18:42:23 GMT

We cannot see your return. You cannot get the childcare credit unless you have entered your income from working. And...if one of you is self-employed you cannot get the childcare credit if you show a loss. We do not know how long ago you used TaxCaster....or what may have been different when you entered your data into the software. Lots of people are being taken by surprise by the fact that the child tax credit is different for 2022.

We cannot see your screen, your return or your account. Have you entered ALL of your 2022 information? All your income, etc.? Many tax documents that you need do not arrive until late January or even February, so maybe you do not have it all there yet.

There are a lot of variables that affect your refund or tax due including how much you earned, how much tax you had withheld, your filing status, the number of dependents you claim, your deductions and credits, etc. You may have lost Earned Income Credit or the Child Tax Credit— did a child turn 17? If you received the EIC last year, remember that changes in the amount you earn have a big effect on the amount of EIC you can get. (Sometimes earning more money means less EIC) Are you 65 or older ? If so, your standard deduction is higher. Everyone has a higher standard deduction now so it is harder to use itemized deductions.

And…..the child tax credit is very different for 2022 For 2021 you could get $3600 for a child under 6 or $3000 for a child between 6 and 17 even if you had no income/did not work. That is NOT the way it will work for your 2022 tax return. The “old” rules are back. The maximum amount of the child tax credit is now $2000; the refundable “additional child tax credit” amount is $1500. In order to get that credit, you have to have income from working. The credit is calculated based on the amount you earned above $2500 multiplied by 15%, up to the full $1500. If your child is older than 16 at the end of 2022, you do not get the CTC. But you may still get the non-refundable $500 credit for other dependents instead.

And of course, always check your own data entries, looking for errors such as misplaced decimals or extra zeros or typos.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901008-why-did-my-refund-go-down-compared-to-last-year-s

Print out 2021 and 2022 and compare them side by side to see what is different.

Re: Why is my tax refund less than half of what the tax calculator estimated?

Critter-3 — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 18:44:35 GMT

"but they wouldn't let me add my child care expenses"

Let me guess ... either you didn't enter any income yet or you are married and the spouse has no income being reported ? If so look again when you have entered in all the income.

topic Why is my tax refund less than half of what the tax calculator estimated? in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Why is my tax refund less than half of what the tax calculator estimated?

Re: Why is my tax refund less than half of what the tax calculator estimated?

Re: Why is my tax refund less than half of what the tax calculator estimated?