If you have a child who was born in 2016, make sure that you said the child lived with you the whole year, so that you get the personal exemption and credits that you qualify for.
Why didn’t I get back more for my dependent?
First, the $4050 personal exemption “tax break” is not a refund. It lowers the amount of our income that you re taxed on.
When you claim dependents, your refund is based on a number of variables. First, you must have income. If you had more taxes withheld than your tax liability, some of the money withheld from your pay will be refunded to you. Your tax lability can be reduced by the non-refundable Child Tax Credit. (The amount of the Child Tax Credit does not come to you as a refund) In order to qualify for any of the refundable credits your income must have been earned by working. You might qualify for the Additional Child Tax Credit or the Earned Income Credit. The amount you receive is based on how much you earned and how many children you are claiming . You do not always get “thousands” back in your refund. You can look at a table showing how your EIC was calculated by going to page 30 of the IRS publication 596.
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p596.pdf
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