Why did I get more for a return last year at a notary than this year on TurboTax?

[xmasbaby0]

We cannot see your screen, your return or your account.  Have you entered ALL of your 2023 information?  All your income, etc.?  

Lots of tax laws changed.  Those changes are resulting in lower refunds for lots of people.

There is no recovery rebate credit (stimulus $) for 2023.  The childcare credit is  less and is not refundable. The child tax credit is different and it is less.    And for some people, earned income credit is different because there is no “lookback” to an earlier year.  Those are some of the reasons your refund may be less.

There are a 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— did a child turn 17?  If you received the EIC last year, remember that changes in the amount you earn have a big effect on the amount of EIC you can get. (Sometimes earning more money means less EIC)  Are you 65 or older ?  If so, your standard deduction is higher. Everyone has a higher standard deduction now so it is harder to use itemized deductions.

And…..the child tax credit is very different for 2023    For 2021 you could get $3600 for a child under 6 or $3000 for a child between 6 and 17 even if you had no income/did not work.   That is NOT the way it will work for your 2023 tax return.  The “old” rules are back.   The maximum amount of the child tax credit is now $2000; the refundable “additional child tax credit” amount is $1600.   In order to get that credit, you have to have income from working.  The credit is calculated based on the amount you earned above $2500 multiplied by 15%, up to the full $1600.  If your child is older than 16 at the end of 2023, you do not get the CTC.  But you may still get the non-refundable $500 credit for other dependents instead.

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

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-refund/refund-go-compared-last-year/...

Print out 2022  and 2023  and compare them side by side to see what is different. 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/refunds/help/why-did-my-refund-go-down-compared-to-last-year-s/00/...

[John Betcher]

The amount of your income tax refund depends on a lot more than who prepares your taxes. The other key factors are:

1) the amount of income taxes payable based on your income and expenses; and

2) The amount of estimated tax payments plus tax withholding taxes you paid in for the current tax year.

If you overpaid your estimated taxes and/or withholding you will get a refund of the amount of that overpayment. If you did not overpay your estimated taxes during the tax years, you will not get any refund and may owe additional taxes at filing time.