With same income why did my taxable income jump so much from last year

[shortmi1947]

I'm retired so my income is pretty much the same from year to year, close to same amount and from the same institutions. For 2017 my taxable income was in the mid 50's. For 2018 my taxable income was in  the mid 40's. I attributed this to the Trump tax cuts. For 2019 my taxable income went back up to the mid 50's. I had assumed the tax cut was still in place since it is not suppose to expire until 2025.

So my question is, why would my taxable income increase  back to near 2017 levels.

[ReginaM]

There could be a couple of reasons that you are getting back less this year then last year.

Back in 2018, the IRS reduced the amount withheld from employee paychecks so people had more take home money. This was done because the IRS did away with the personal exemption and increased the standard deduction. The net affect of this has lowered the amount of refunds realized by the taxpayer.

You may want to verify that you entered everything into TurboTax correctly by following these steps:

1. Select Tax Tools on the left hand side of your screen,
2. Select Tools,
3. Select View Tax Summary,
4. Select Preview my 1040 on the left hand side of your screen.

Also, you might want to file a new W-4 with the folks who your are receiving your retirement income from to make sure you are having enough withheld to pay your taxes.  Here is a link to the IRS Withholding Estimator to assist you determine how much you should have withheld by your employer.

[shortmi1947]

I can't tell what happened between this year and last year. When I look at the total income in this year's Federal Review for 2018 and then look at the total income for 2018 in the Tax History, the Review is $11,728 higher.

It would appear that when the 2018 TurboTax did the calculation for taxable  income it used a total income which was  $11,728 too low. With this info I can see that info I can see an error in the Review's display of 2018.

I don't think the problem is W4 related because I don't have any wages. 

[DMarkM1]

I recommend looking at a print out of your actual 2018 return to compare to 2019 in the forms view and see the differences.