Federal tax seems too low

[Midget57]

My taxable income is $84400 and my Turbotax federal tax comes back as $5865 that is only about 6% nowhere near what a married filing joint table suggest.   Should be at least $9615 +22% over $83K.  Any good ideas why?

[GeorgeM777]

There is a slight difference in tax from what you have stated.  For MFJ in the 22% tax bracket, the tax is $9,328, plus 22% of the amount over $81,050.  However, you are correct in that your federal tax amount does appear to be much less than what it should be.

Have you double checked your withholding entries?  We do not know if your spouse worked; however, we have seen situations where one spouse's withholding is much greater than it needs to be based on that spouse's earnings.  The net effect of that excessive withholding is a lower tax bill or a substantial refund.  

Do you have any carryover losses from the prior year?  TurboTax will carryover prior year losses and apply them if eligible.  Lastly, do you have any tax credits that have been applied to your tax liability?  Tax credits lower your tax liability dollar for dollar.  

Midget57

[VolvoGirl]

Are you looking at the tax on line 16?  

It depends what kind of income you have. Even though the full amount shows up in the total income on the 1040 line 7, if you have capital gains or qualified dividends the tax is not taken from the tax table but is calculated separately from Schedule D. The tax will be calculated on the Qualified Dividends and Capital Gain Tax Worksheet. It does not get filed with your return. In the online version you need to save your return as a pdf file and include all the worksheets to see it.

For the Desktop version you can switch to Forms Mode and open the worksheet to see it. Click Forms in the upper right (upper left for Mac) and look through the list and open the Qualified Dividends and Capital Gain Tax Worksheet.

[Midget57]

Thanks VolvoGirl,  Your clue was spot on.  Just retired so this is the first year taxes are not dominated by wages.  The qualified dividends were definitely driving the total tax.  In Qual div/Cap gains form - line 24 which had the number I was more familiar with, but there is an or use the lesser in line 25.  And good tip for others to use the view - forms.  I use that a lot.  I was surprised the 1040 line 16 does not link back to that worksheet - links to tax smart work sheet (that was not as helpful).  Thanks again would not have figured it out without your clue