The more business miles i claim the lower my refund gets,why

[Vanessa]

Basically, a lot of the credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit operate on a bell curve.  So there is a certain point where your refund and refundable credits hit the peak of the bell and any changes will have your refund go back down either side of the bell curve.  

For example...Say you are Married Filing Jointly with 1 kid. If your earned income that the credit will be based on is $20, then your Credit would be $9.  This will increase up until you hit the maximum amount (Peak of the bell) of $3,400 (income range of $10,000-$23,950) and then the credit decreases as your income increases above that until it is phased out completely to $0.  

So, for this scenario, say your income is $12,000 giving you the EITC of $3,400 to start but you enter business miles which decreases your Earned income to $8,000 and your EITC to $2,729.  The more you enter the lower your Earned Income goes lowering your Earned Income Credit.  

If you look at your credits as you add and remove your mileage you will see that it will likely change some or all of them up or down.  

[Erandall81608]

I did not keep track of the mileage I used for work, so At best its a rough estimate. Is this required for me to claim my mileage if this is the case?

[VolvoGirl]

If you are a W2 employee you can no longer deduct job expenses or mileage so it probably doesn't matter anymore.  See Deductions that have been suspended for 2018 - 2025
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/tax-reform/help/which-federal-tax-deductions-have-been-suspended-b...

[Erandall81608]

So I am both w2 and self employed, I am a hourly massage therapist as well and well as self employed 😫 its made taxes fun