Print out a copy of last year's return, compare it to this year. Look for changes. Tax withheld on W2, income, child tax credit- did one of your kids turn 17?, go through and compare the forms. Find what is different. Once you locate the cause, we can go back into the program and maybe change an answer.
It could be the perfect storm of kids turning 17, raise at work into new tax bracket, payroll not withholding enough and so on. Best to really compare the 2 forms.
You should change your W4 at work to have them withhold a different amount of tax.
I don’t have any kids. I’m single. Only difference was I made about 10,000 more due to a 3 month wage increase due to COVID-19 and some serious overtime. All according taxes were taken out. If it wasn’t for the COVID pay increase I would have only made half that. The W-2 is correct I’ve had it checked by the previous employer I had at the time.
There are a lot of factors that could effect your tax refund or amount due from year to year. Even though you withheld the same percentage on your check, you could owe more taxes by being in a different tax bracket by making the extra money you did. This would increase not only your taxable income, but also your tax bracket (the percentage you are taxed).
2020 Federal Income Tax Brackets and Rates for Singles:
12% $9,876 to $40,125
22% $40,126 to $85,525
24% $85,526 to $163,300
32% $163,301 to $207,350
Some of the other reasons you could see an increase in tax are:
To further understand the exact differences, you would have to do a line by line comparison of your return as stated above by AmyC.