For 2020 federal return, Turbo Tax shows my Taxes Owed has doubled from 2019, but my Taxable Income only increased 10%?

[ErnieS0]

There are numerous reasons why your taxes owed doubled from 2019 even though your taxable income only increased 10%. It is not possible to tell without looking at your tax information.

First check your withholding to make sure you did not make a mistake. Do the amounts in Box 2 of your W-2 (Federal income tax withheld) match what is in TurboTax?

Next, did your situation change? Your total income may have only increased by 10% but if type of income changed, it may have a big impact on your tax due. For example, if you lost your job and collected unemployment and had no tax withheld, that would be the reason. The same applies if you had to tap a 401(k) and had to pay a 10% early withdrawal penalty because you were under age 59 ½.

Or you may have lost some credits. For example, maybe your children got too old for the child tax credit or the daycare credit. Or they graduated college and you could no longer claim an education credit. Or your income may have put you out of reach of the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Saver’s Credit.

A TurboTax tax expert can explain the change to you. To learn how to schedule a review go to How do I schedule my review using TurboTax Live?

[alexkphillips]

Thanks for your help.  I am a long-time Turbo Tax user and I tried to quickly enter my numbers into my Federal return, making the mistake of not entering a number in the qualified dividends field.  I am retired with investments that pay dividends.  Turbo Tax used the ordinary tax table instead of the qualified dividend and capital gain tax table to compute my tax.  It was my fault and by  looking closely at the 2019 and 2020 underlying forms I discovered the mistake.