My refund was almost half as much as every single person I work with. They have my exact same job and salary.

[mack5781]

I'm a researcher at the University of Florida and all my colleagues who do the same job had refunds of nearly $1,400. Meanwhile, mine was less than $900. Please help

[MR_ED · Accepted solution]

There can be many reasons that this can happen. The big reason is that they may be having a lot more taxes withheld. Many have extra money withheld so they can get a larger refund. Another reason could be that some may itemize deductions while others take the standard deduction. This could reduce their tax liability and increse their refund. Another thing that comes into play is other income. Some have more or less unearned income than others. Unearned income can be interest, dividends, capital gains etc. So you see that there are a lot of factors that can give some taxpayers a larger refund.