Ohio Teacher W2 causes dramatic change in refund

[dealsproffitt]

So my wife works for a local school district and from looking at things, they only withheld about 3% in federal taxes.  Also, she pays into STRS and STRSPK which do not appear on her W2.  After entering her W2 I go from getting a nice return to having to pay a decent amount.  Am I missing something here? I believe she is claiming 0 on her deduction from the school and I even paid extra from my check as well. 

[xmasbaby0]

Well, going forward she could change the amount she has the school district withhold.  But for your 2022 return, it is what it is.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator

WHY DID MY REFUND GO DOWN WHEN I ADDED ANOTHER W-2?

You started off with your first W-2 and your refund looked high?  Then you added another W-2 and it stopped looking so good? That is normal.  When you added more income, your tax liability increased, so you saw your refund decrease.  The program began by giving you your standard deduction—- which lowered your taxable income.  (if you are filing joint it took $25,900 off your income right off the bat)   So you are not being taxed on as much of the income on that first W-2.  Then you added taxable income--so the refund went down. Your refund (or tax due) is based on the total of your income, not “per W-2.”  Wait until you have entered ALL of your income and credit/deduction information.  

You can't really tell anything until it is all entered.  That “refund monitor” does not mean anything until everything has been entered.