Married filing joint 3 kids no change in income. I've estimated my refund using the refund calculator and it is telling me double last year's. What could make it so high?

[SweetieJean]

Different deductions or taxes withheld?  And "double" is relative. $100 to $200 is not much of a change.

[j-m-richmond]

The tax estimator says around 12000 refund. No real changes since last year. I got about 6500 last year. Is there something different this year that I'm unaware of?

[j-m-richmond]

I think I figured it out. A lot of our income the previous year was unemployment and this year it is all wages.

[SweetieJean]

$12,000 is still pretty high, though.

[SweetieJean]

Use the actual TT program to get more accurate numbers.

[j-m-richmond]

I will. I was simply estimating my numbers. When our W2s come in I'll use the program.

[SweetieJean · Accepted solution]

That would explain it, since wages qualify for EIC and ACTC, while unemployment comp does not.