topic How come I got less refund than last years refund? in After you file

How come I got less refund than last years refund?

enselynn1 — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 09:24:28 GMT

Re: How come I got less refund than last years refund?

ee-ea — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 05:53:16 GMT

The best way to find out what happened is to make a line by line comparison of this return and the prior one(s).

Re: How come I got less refund than last years refund?

xmasbaby0 — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 06:01:42 GMT

We cannot see your screen, your return or your account. Have you entered ALL of your 2023 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.

Lots of tax laws changed. Those changes are resulting in lower refunds for lots of people.

There is no recovery rebate credit (stimulus $) for 2023. The childcare credit is less and is not refundable. The child tax credit is different and it is less. And for some people, earned income credit is different because there is no “lookback” to an earlier year. Those are some of the reasons your refund may be less.

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 2023 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 2023 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 $1600. 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 $1600. If your child is older than 16 at the end of 2023, 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.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-refund/refund-go-compared-last-year/L97JmhUbi_US_en_US?uid=ld9ijm41

Print out 2022 and 2023 and compare them side by side to see what is different.

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/tax-payments/video-why-would-i-owe-federal-taxes/L3VXudPiN

Re: How come I got less refund than last years refund?

JohnB5677 — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 19:40:22 GMT

TurboTax refund is based on several things. The three primary ones are:

Total Income
1. You are taxed on total income, not on each individual income source.
2. The combined income will be taxed higher than any individual source.
3. Be sure to confirm that you have accounted for every income source.
Withholdings
1. Each income source may have their own withholding,
2. If you didn’t tell your employer that you had other income, you may not have had sufficient withholdings.
3. Be sure that all withholding amounts have been properly accounted for.
Deductions and Credits
1. If you Itemized, did you take the same deductions.
2. There are several Credits that have changed as @xmasbaby0 stated above. did you have any of those credits.

You can view your tax return by following these steps. It would be best if you have a copy of last years tax return.

To view your 1040 form on a Mobile device.

Select Tools.
Next, select View Tax Summary in the pop-up, then.
Preview my 1040