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Married filing jointly. As a household, we made $22,000 LESS than last year. Nothing else has changed in a sense of tax breaks or anything. Why’s are we getting less money back in our refund?

I just don’t understand.
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2 Replies

Married filing jointly. As a household, we made $22,000 LESS than last year. Nothing else has changed in a sense of tax breaks or anything. Why’s are we getting less money back in our refund?

Well---how about looking at how much less you had withheld from wages for starters.  And if you got earned income credit, the EIC is affected by the amount you earned, as is the additional child tax credit.  Look at the amounts in your W-2's box 2 for each of those years.

 

To compare the child-related credits you can look over your Form 1040's for each year and see the difference:

 

Look at your 2018 tax return to see the child-related /dependent credits you received:

Child tax credit line 12a

Additional Child Tax Credit line 17b   (schedule 8812)

Credit for Other Dependents line 12a

Earned Income Credit (EIC) line 17a

Child and Dependent Care Credit line 12     (comes from Schedule 3 Form 2441)

 

The dependents you listed are on the first page of your Form 1040 below your address.

 

 

Look at your 2019 Form 1040 to see the child-child-related credits you received

 

Child Tax Credit line 13a

Credit for Other Dependents line 13a

Earned Income Credit line 18a

Additional Child Tax Credit line 18b

Child and Dependent Care Credit line 18d

 

 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900923-what-is-the-child-tax-credit

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900643-what-is-the-child-and-dependent-care-credit

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899157-what-are-the-qualifications-for-the-earned-income-credit-e...

https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/earned-income-tax-credit/use-the-eitc-assistant

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4499708-what-is-the-500-credit-for-other-dependents-family-tax-cre...

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**
AmyC
Employee Tax Expert

Married filing jointly. As a household, we made $22,000 LESS than last year. Nothing else has changed in a sense of tax breaks or anything. Why’s are we getting less money back in our refund?

Several factors are involved in your refund. The possibilities are: change in credits received, changed w4 withholding or jobs.

 

You need to go through and actually compare last year to this year line by line.

 

You may have  lower credits due to lower income or a child aging out of the credit. For example: Your oldest turned 17 so you lost the Child Tax Credit and have reduced EIC due to lower income.

 

@xmasbaby0 just posted some great information and links:

 

Child Tax Credit

Child and Dependent Care Credit

Earned Income Credit

Other Dependents credit - for dependents 17 and up

IRS EITC assistant 

 

 

 

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