@user17713397972 wrote:
I understand, but last year my income was $40,000 and my refund was $275. This year my income is $50,000 and my refund appears to be $2,000. I'm just wondering why it appears so little last year.
I filed my first tax return last year because I moved to US
When you fill out a W-2 at your workplace, that is used to estimate the amount of tax to have withheld. The default formula is designed to give most taxpayers a "modest" refund, whatever that means. Because you can be penalized if you owe a tax payment when you file (and some people have trouble coming up with even a small tax payment), the default formula leans toward the side of collecting a little too much tax.
Remember that a big refund (let's say $5000 for example), just means the taxpayer paid $100/week extra to the IRS. That means they had $100 less per week to spend on weekly expenses. It's also an interest-free loan to the US government. It can be a (rather poor) way to have a forced savings account so it feels like you "won" something, but it just means you paid too much in so you get some back.
You can customize your withholding using the IRS web site, if you want a certain size refund, or if you want to balance out even and not owe or get a refund. https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator
If this is your first full year as a legal US resident (green card or citizen), there are certain tax benefits you might qualify for that you did not qualify for last year. The only way to know for sure would be to do a side by side comparison of the two returns.
But as the others said, there is no single "normal" refund that is right for everyone.
