2018 Refund smaller than expected

[tbergman]

Mid-year my employer changed names and ownership. The LLC I was working for was transferred to be owned by a larger LLC. So essentially my yearly salary was split between two W-2 forms. 2017 was my first year getting a refund, and I didn't owe anything but in 2018 I ended up owing taxes even though my employer took taxes from every paycheck (not sure how I could owe anything if I'm single and not exempt from any taxes).

I guess I'm wondering if this change affected my return and if I should do something to make it right. Also, I started the year making 65k and it was decreased to 56k due to budget cuts during these company changes.

[xmasbaby0]

No one on Answer Xchange can see your tax return. One thing that may be affecting your refund for 2018 is that employers began withholding less tax when the new tax law passed.  Your paychecks were more, but that means a smaller refund now.  There are are lot of variables that affect your refund or tax due including how much you earned, how much tax you had withheld, your filing status, the number of dependents you claim, your deductions and credits, etc.  You may have lost Earned Income Credit or the Child Tax Credit. Are you 65 or older ?  If so, your standard deduction is higher. Or do you have a healthcare penalty?  We used to be able to suggest comparing two years of tax returns side by side to find the differences.  But with the drastic change in the 2017 and 2018 forms, that is impractical this year.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4482394-how-will-tax-reform-affect-my-2018-federal-tax-return

And of course, always check your own data entries, looking for errors such as misplaced decimals or extra zeros.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901008-why-did-my-refund-go-down-compared-to-last-year-s

[tbergman]

Thank you for your quick response, and I understand. Yes when the new tax law passed we did see a small increase (less than $20 lol..) but I don't think that it would decrease my federal return from $824 to -$118

Also, like I mentioned this is only my second year collecting a return, I'm 23 (never any dependents), in 2017 my salary was $45k and in January 2018 it increased to $60k and backdown to $56k mid-year. I would think that I should receive SOMETHING back.

[xmasbaby0]

Double check the amounts you entered from your W-2.