Why did my refund go down compared to last year's?

There are many events that may reduce your refund, including:

Starting an additional job (especially self-employment)
Getting a significant raise, but your W-4 staying the same
Selling stock, crypto, or other investments
A change in filing or marital status
Receiving unemployment benefits, but not having taxes withheld
Taking an early withdrawal from your retirement account
Having your child age out of the Credit for Other Dependents or the Child Tax Credit
Started receiving Social Security benefits or Roth IRA distributions
Paying off your mortgage, so you can no longer deduct mortgage interest
Paying off your student loan, so you can no longer deduct the interest
Finishing school, so no longer eligible for certain education credits
Earning little or no income and not qualifying for the Earned Income Credit

Note: If your TurboTax navigation looks different from what’s described here, learn more.

You can access your personalized refund information in TurboTax:

Open or continue your return.
Choose Federal review.
Under the Explain Why section of the Federal Review screen, select Why am I getting a refund of $? to see more details on your refund and how it was calculated.

If your refund seems extremely off, double-check the amounts you entered. A typo of just one dollar can have a big impact on your refund.