Tax refund almost nothing

[Sam Khan]

Hello,

I am working on my son's tax return. He is single and his wages are little over $80K and Federal income withhold is little over $10K. When I enter all of his info, his tax return is about nothing. Any idea what's going on? 

[Sam Khan]

Just to add one more info, my son lives in TX but works for the consulting company, so he stayed in NJ for the consulting work. 

[Hal_Al]

Getting  nothing back sounds about right.  $80,000 minus the $12,550 standard deduction = $67,450 Taxable income

Seethe tax table at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040tt.pdf 

[Sam Khan]

So no refund at all? 

[Hal_Al]

About nothing.  What I'm saying is: the TurboTax calculation sounds right based on the limited info you supplied. 

[NM1]

I recently had to explain to my early-twenties son why he and his friends shouldn't view tax season as a competition to see who can get the biggest refund.

People only get a tax refund if they overpaid during the course of the tax year. The default rates of paycheck withholding provided by the IRS for employers to use are intended to produce pretty close to the right amount. In his situation it's unlikely TurboTax missed a deduction or credit he's entitled to (assuming you answered all the questions accurately, of course). So a small refund means everything worked as it should. That's a Good Thing.

If for some reason he specifically wants a refund next year, he could give his employer a W-4 now, asking them to withhold a little extra from each paycheck in 2022, but unless he expects to have some other source of income which isn't being taxed directly, he would effectively be giving the government a free loan of his money until next tax season, so it isn't a very good strategy.