Why is My 2024 Tax Refund So Low? IRS Adjustments, credits and Offsets

Millions of tax filers are now getting their actual tax refunds in line with the estimated IRS schedule. Payments are also being made in a much more timely fashion than was the case over the last few years.

However when they filers see their actual refund is lower than expected, common questions that come up include, “Why is my refund so small?“, “Why did it change on my transcript?” and “How can I find out more details?

Tax Refund Lower than Expected?

Naturally they get stressed and depressed around their refund being much lower than expected and why this changed or happened. Below are some reasons why this could be happening to you this year and what you can do about it.

Refund Payments Smaller According to the IRS

Since there were no new federal stimulus (EIPs) or expanded tax credits paid in the last year, it was always highly likely that refund payments will be much lower than in the prior few years, despite expanding tax brackets.

In particular taxpayers with dependents who claimed the advance/expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC), Dependent Care Expenses Tax Credit (CDCTC) and got the child/dependent stimulus payments last year will see lower refunds in recent years. See more in the refundable credits section below.

Tax Refund Offset Reduction

Another common reason why refund payments are actually lower than expected or provided by their e-filing tax provider is that the federal government (via the IRS) has “offset” or deducted monies from your actual tax refund to cover debts you owe other federal agencies.

The Department of Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS) manages the Treasury Offset Program (TOP) and may legally reduce your refund (overpayment) and offset it to pay for the following items:

  • Past-due child support;
  • Federal agency non-tax debts;
  • State income tax obligations; or
  • Unemployment compensation debts owed to a state

Under the law, federal payments such as tax refunds, can be reduced or offset by approved agencies via the IRS before being paid to you. 

This is known as the Treasury Offset Program (TOP) and the rules around these non-IRS debts and treatment are covered in this article for the details on how offsets get applied to your tax refund (Tax Topic 203).

You will get a formal notice from the BFS explaining this offset to your federal refund and why it differs from what was estimated in your filed return.

The notice will also contain details on the agency that requested the offset (e.g child services or your state unemployment agency) with details to contact them for more information.

The IRS will give you an opportunity to dispute this collection, but you will have to prove you had no federal obligations. If you have questions or disputes regarding the offset of your refund for the above items you will need to contact the Treasury Offset Program (TOP) or the debtor agency that initiated the offset.

On your tax transcript the non-IRS debt offsets will be referenced against transaction codes like 898 (refund applied to non IRS debt) on your transcript.

The IRS won’t be able to help you with non-IRS offset payments. However, if you are able to successfully appeal the offset you will get issued the additional refund and see this a credit on your tax transcript (Tax code 766 – Tax Offset Reversal).

Also note, if you filed a joint return with a spouse and you believe you are not responsible for your spouse’s debt and subsequent offset, you’re entitled to request your portion of the refund back from the IRS via the injured spouse form.

Federal Taxes For State Stimulus Payments and Rebates

Lots of states made one-time stimulus like payments to residents during 2022 in the form of tax credits or rebates, based on prior year filings. 1099-G or 1099-MISC forms would have been sent to recipients for these payments.

The IRS has resolved the treatment of these payments and confirmed in most cases these payments are not taxable and so not required to be included in your federal tax return.

For some states, like Massachusetts and Alaska, where 2022 tax rebates were part of existing schemes to repay excess state funds to tax payers, the payment is federally taxable, particularly for those who itemize deductions.

In this scenarios if a taxpayer has filed his or her tax return but not declared the state stimulus payment they may see their refund adjustment or offset to account for the state tax rebate/credit.

Refundable Tax Credit Adjustments (Child Tax Credit)

In the last few tax years tax refund amounts have been positively impacted by the several rounds of advance and expanded refundable tax credits.

These refundable tax credits paid you in advance against your future tax refund and in some cases if you were over paid or your tax situation changed (income, dependents, filing status etc) then the IRS could have adjust refund to cover the difference. This would result in your tax refund being lower than expected.

However this year the following tax credits will reduce significantly and become non refundable in some cases.

The Child Tax Credit (CTC) has dropped to $2,000, with only $1,600 of the credit (Additional CTC component) claimable as a refundable amount if the full CTC cannot be applied against taxable income

Another popular credit, the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC), which allows you to offset qualified dependent care expenses, returns to a maximum of $2,100 in 2022 instead of $8,000 in 2021. Income phase thresholds also returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Based on various sources and pre-pandemic figures, it is expected that the average federal tax refund will be around $2500 in the coming year. The average state tax refund will also likely be smaller this tax season.

Get the latest money, tax and stimulus news directly in your inbox

Advance Refund Loans – Filing and Processing Fees

Many filers take advantage of advance refund payment or refund transfer programs where they pay a fee to get their refund in advance or have the cost of their tax filing covered by their future refund payment.

In addition to the filing fee many filers are not aware that these companies charge an additional processing fee based on the size of overall filing fee, which will lower their actual refund payment. This is why its important to read the fee disclosures and fine print before using these services.

Even though this is noted, many tax filers don’t realize that the actual IRS refund payment first goes to the refund transfer or debit card company like Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (SBTPG), Emerald Prepaid (H&R Block) or Credit Karma (via TurboTax).

This allows them to recover all associated tax preparation and processing fees before the remaining refund amount is issued to the taxpayer.

Further, several folks have reported that these advance refund loan underwriters are holding refund payments longer (perhaps to earn more interest for themselves?). And they are then given the runaround by tax filing providers and the IRS when trying to figure out what’s happening with their issued refund payment (TC 846).

Unfortunately, filers will just need to wait for their refund loan provider to finish their fee processing, before seeing their refund payment. And, the processing fee is not refundable!

New Tax Reforms and Higher Standard Deduction

Another reason for lower refunds over the last few years is that new tax laws and reforms that took effect a few years ago cut several popular deductions (e.g. personal exemption state and local taxes capping at $10,000) for a number of Americans.

This also applies to deductions for charity, which won’t be as robust or widely claimed given that tax payers will need to itemize in their tax filing for any qualified charitable contributions.

These changes, increasing tax brackets and higher standard deductions mean people will get higher paychecks during the year, but their refund payment will likely be lower at tax time.

Smaller Refund Scenarios Due to Paycheck Withholdings

Other reasons for smaller federal refunds can be attributed to various causes related to your income, tax rate and number of withholdings claimed via your W4. Here is a sampling of scenarios based on actual reader comments that could be causing your refund to be much lower than you expected.

Scenario 1 (multiple jobs): Mary is a single person and in the past has always gotten a large refund back. However this year, Turbo Tax showed she was due a $400 tax refund. But Mary made way more last year than ever having worked for two different companies. Mary made $15,000 at one job (tax withholding was ~$1200). At her other job she made $14,800 and had a similar withholding amount. So should she have got a larger refund since she made more money?

Answer: The reason Mary is getting a much smaller refund is that her tax withholding was much lower than it should have been since it was likely calculated for each job based on her salary being the annual amount.  That is one employer thinks she earned $15,000 and withheld taxes based on that annualized income. The other place thinks she earned $14,800 and withheld taxes based on that income.

But Mary really earned $29,800 for the year and should have had more taxes withheld based on your total income. To fix this going forward she needs to adjust her W4 for the current tax year is she wants to get a larger refund the following year.

Scenario 2 (too few withholdings): I tried several tax software providers and they all come back with a federal refund of only a $95. This is the lowest I have ever got and I made the most money ever this year. I am single, own no property or anything, made around 14,000 last year ($590 federal withholdings). I claimed 2 deductions (withholding) on my paycheck as I have no dependents.

Answer: The answer for your lower refund is your deductions claimed via your W-4. Based on $14,000, your taxable income is around $4,850. Tax on that amount is $495 and with having $590 taking out, you’d get a $95 refund. You must have your deductions higher than 2 if you want more tax taken out so that you can get a higher refund next year.

Scenario 3 (making more money than last year, smaller refund):  Last year my wages were around $30,000 (withheld taxes of $2,240) and state income tax was $1,500. When I entered this info into TurboTax get a free refund estimate before filing, both of them showed my federal refund at $47.  However two years ago I made much less (around $22,000) and my return was almost $2000. What is going on? I am a single filer with no dependents and didn’t claim or get any other credits.

Answer:  The most likely reason for the smaller refund, despite the higher salary is that you are now in a higher tax bracket.  And you likely didn’t adjust your withholdings for the applicable tax year. To understand this you need to realize that your tax refund is determined by your total income, marginal tax rate and the amount of federal/state taxes that are withheld.

So since your taxable income was higher you fell into a higher tax bracket that resulted in higher taxes. But you would have got more money on a weekly basis (due to your higher salary) as well – which is better than getting a larger refund in my opinion.

At the end of the day getting a smaller refund with a higher income is not actually a bad thing in most cases. It basically means you didn’t give an interest free loan to the IRS (which is what a refund represents).

In reality you don’t want a large refund as you should get the money in your pay check when you earn it. Not a year later.

Unemployment Benefits Income Tax Exemption (Now Expired)

Due to the pandemic millions of Americans ended up relying on enhanced unemployment benefits. But many didn’t realize that unemployment benefit income is actually taxable.

So like regular income, jobless workers needed to adjust their withholdings and if they didn’t withhold enough from their unemployment pay checks they could see a lower than expected federal refund when filing their tax return or as the IRS makes adjustments based on 1099G forms that state unemployment agencies submit.

While the ARPA stimulus bill included a $10,200 unemployment income tax exclusion credit, it was only valid for the 2020 tax year.

It was not extended into future years which means pre-pandemic taxation rules were back in place. So when claiming unemployment, check your state’s unemployment website for your tax obligations.

Subscribe via email or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube to get the latest news and updates

114 thoughts on “Why is My 2024 Tax Refund So Low? IRS Adjustments, credits and Offsets”

  1. I make just under 48k per year. I paid over 4k in federal taxes. I get a lousy $400 back? Why do single people get shafted.

    Reply
    • Well – getting a small refund is a good thing as means you withheld the right amount. Getting a large refund instead isn’t great. It’s just your money being returned to you

      Reply
  2. Biden didn’t role back Trump’s tax credits. It would require a majority vote in the House and Senate, this wasn’t even brought to the floor for a vote!

    Reply
  3. So Politicians can get millions of dollars in PPP loan money they took forgiven 100 percent free money! But the ridiculously small amount they gave working families to survive a pandemic they caused! The so called stimulus checks are now costing us higher taxes so they can get the money back! But the millions in PPP paid to millionaires all is forgiven and those are our tax dollars as well! How is this just ok with everyone! Sorry but it’s more than time to make some serious changes to our so called political system! The insider trading, Bribes never mind the tax dollars that seem to be just disappearing at an alarming rate that no one can account for how is this even possible! We have given 100 billion dollars to Ukraine while families in our own country are left to struggle year after year. How are we not beyond feed up with the corrupt state we call government!

    Reply
    • We are 56 and 62 both working and together make under 45k we are eligible for food stamps! Never paid taxes at end of year except 2029 and 2021. How can we be on Foodstsmps AND have to pay more taxes at end of year??!!!

      Reply
  4. This is all Trump’s doing.
    The tax break was only temporary for us . But permanent for the rich. Now that window ended and this is the reality of his tax changes while the rich are getting richer .

    Reply
    • No that is the Biden tax credit. Trump has been out of office for two tax years. Stop blaming everything on Trump. He left in January of 2020, the last years he is responsible for is 2019. That was three years ago. It is the Biden tax credit.

      Reply
      • Trump’s tax laws dont simply go out of effect once he’s out of office. Or is that something you don’t understand? Before he instated his laws I was getting back huge returns, after, I owe thousands. That’s YOUR guy’s tax laws in action. screw the poor and middle class and benefit the rich.

        Reply
        • Biden stopped everything Trump put into effect the day he took office. Do you not remember all the media taking pictures of him signing away everything Trump did (which is why you got more money back in taxes when Trump was in office!) It makes me crazy that you Biden supporters don’t get it! Open your eyes and stop playing the Trump card!

  5. I’ve been doing my own taxes for 12 years and this year my refund is extremely low. I thought I was entering something wrong, but after reading these comments I don’t feel alone. I made more per hour in 2021 than I ever have in the past, but I only saw half of what I earned due to federal and state taxes. I double-checked my tax withholdings to make sure I only claimed myself. I thought I would get a lot back. Turns out, this country is just backwards… This is ridiculous!

    Reply
    • The country is not “backwards.” The phrase, Nothing is ever Free, has never been so true as of right now. All those “Stimulus” or ” Free Money” everyone was getting and spending it on junk, welp, that was your tax credit. It stated in the article, “credit against your future tax return,” so if you received $1400 early in the year, welp you probably received all if not more of your actual tax credit. So technically if you were originally going to get back $1200 but received $1400 earlier in the year, well you own $200 back to the government. Remember nothing is ever free, the government will NEVER give you free money.

      Reply
      • While I agree that “Nothing is ever free” Why are hard working people paying for the unemployed to sit at home and make babies? My income is higher this year because no one wants to work and therefore I have to work more hours and much harder… Not only that but inflation is driving the prices of food and fuel off the roof. I work hard labor for an hour to earn enough change for a loaf of bread and and a gallon of gas to get me into the next day so I can slave away again and again for a company that makes a mil in a single weekend. We are rewarding people for being lazy. I could do it too; file for unemployment… but I just wasn’t raised that way. I’m not a pig like you. Wallow in your sh*t till you drown. When the government stops supporting you you’ll drawn in a bath of your own sh*t and piss and the working class will try and support you, but dead weight like yourself is like carrying a pig on your back.

        Reply
        • Then why do they say that the land of the free?? Like u said nothings free.. Maybe we the people need take over like they did British people. F*** your taxes then double taxing so you live an retire like kings..

        • Funny how you guys don’t bat an eye when the Governemnt shells out billions to bail out corporations, but when they do something to help the public you get all up in arms about it. I think you guys need to get your priorities straight.

    • I got less than 10% of what refund I normally get back. No changes. Actually made 30% less money. Partner has same issue getting significantly less back… always do taxes the same way. Must be combination of stimulus payments and the student loan interest I didn’t pay (actually brought down my loan’s principle by 3-4k just through normal monthly payments)….BUT- doesn’t really explain my partner’s low taxes. No student loans with him.

      Reply
      • My refund this year is the lowest I have EVER recieved 3500 dollars lower too be exact, even with CTC & EIC didn’t even get back what I paid in!!! THIS THE SH*T WE ALL HAVE TO LOOK FORWARD TOO. THE AMERICAN GOVERMENT WANTS TOO KEEP ITS CITIZENS IN POVERTY!!!

        Reply
        • Why would you overpay taxes just to receive a large refund ??
          The Govt earns interest on that 3500.00 .
          Change WT – & just pay what is due based on your W-4. Why people are programmed to think large refunds are a bonus – is puzzling !!

  6. That is the biggest Full of crap answer that I ever heard. Trumps problem and now our fault for voting for him.
    The IRS is trying to reclaim the stimulus.
    We are getting a much lower amount because the feds are trying to reclaim stimulus money.

    Reply
  7. Single
    1 dependent
    Income for the year 40k
    Federal return is 120.00

    I usually get over 3k refund
    Defintely didn’t see this 3k throughout the year either. I feel like I’ve been tricked.

    Reply
    • OMG! I feel the same way. Do you know why such a drastic decline in the refund, I am still trying to figure that out?

      Reply
    • Gosh!!!! At least you make that? I thought $40,000 would get less than I? Its the same I made only $23000 and I just lost my job. Turbtax is saying that I only get $95!!!!!!! When I lost my job, I closed out my retirement. I wasn’t there long? It was for $1600. and they are saying I have to pay tax? I already paid tax on it??? I a,m so poor!!! I do not understand how I worked part time during the holiday in 2019. Then part time at $10 per hour early 2020 and I got more back last year???

      Reply
  8. I am so confused. My income didn’t change in any significant way (a tiny pay raise at my part time job maybe a couple hundred dollars difference for the whole year). I even elected to have extra state withheld because I ended up owing last year (my part time job wasn’t taking out for state, but my full time job was, so I had them take out extra to cover the part time job income). I usually would get somewhere between 900-1200 back from federal but this year I am only getting like $200 and still owe state even though I have had double the extra taken out all year to go toward state. I didn’t get a pay raise or anything at my full time job. So I don’t understand why my refund is a third or less of what it usually is. Basically after I use my federal refund to pay off state, I don’t get one… I am single, and have no dependents and don’t claim any credits. I do work two jobs, but they don’t add up to much and I still make less than $30,000/year. Someone please explain how this works!

    Reply
  9. I’ve worked for 3 years only making minimum wages part time, because I receive ssdi. So my in come could not exceed 1200. Per month & I always made sure I was under. Each year I’ve been able to make a little more per ss guidelines. Past 2 years I’ve gotten over 400 back in federal. This year AARP again did my taxes but I’m only getting 50.00 back . They have already sent them out. How can I recheck or calculate?

    Reply
  10. Ripped off again… this standard deduction is good for who? The Government. I an single mother , 18 year old college student living at home and made substantially less than last year and my projected refund is over 900 dollars less. I depend on that refund.

    Reply
  11. All my info is as above–no changes, lower refund. However, there was more in each monthly paycheck. Prob is, I don’t know exactly how much more — (also had yearly raises for both of us–don’t know if that affected tax bracket)…seems like it was around 50-100 a month more, which would make the refund 600 less (if 50) to 1200 less, about what it prob was.

    It reads like the people complaining below don’t know if their situation is like ours — have you all tried comparing the increase in your monthly take-home? Because, as I pointed out above, I can pretty well figure it was between 600 and 1200 less on my refund and sure enough — that much more came on the checks, when you multiply the higher amt each payday check by 12 months.

    No one mentioned comparing the figures to see if the loss on the refund equaled the raise on their paychecks — and a few put in some juvenile, personal remarks about the president ( name-calling ). Hate to point this out, but that is what poker players call a “tell” — when you name-call and don’t seem to know that the standard deduction was DOUBLED (I’m not even mentioning child care — no kids), it’s like you’re telling the world that your real problem is with your candidate losing the election in 2016.

    Again, your personal standard deduction– the amount you keep that is NOT taxed — was doubled this year – If you’re married, each person’s deduction was doubled. That means twice as much was not taxed — was not withheld each month — was yours to keep, so it naturally showed on your paycheck, not your return. No one mentioned that, like “I can’t figure out why it could be lower when the standard deduction was doubled,” so I have a feeling lots don’t know it. They just know they “hate” someone they have never met, who, by the way, is donating his salary to a different branch of the government every month.

    But if you’re not name-calling and have checked your figures, sit down and try to figure how the amt not taxed under this new plan is twice as much (yours to keep, not withheld and given back in a refund) –could possibly “make” you end up with less. Do the math — it’s not possible to be paying more in taxes if all you take is the standard deduction, because any other deductions don’t affect you that could possibly have been taking away, don’t affect you because take the standard instead of itemizing — and not that it’s twice as much, most middle-class people don’t itemize.

    Reply
    • Yeah sorry. The extra $20-30 I saw on my checks doesn’t add up to the $1600 I owe the Fed this year or the $1300 I owed last year. I claim 1 exemption on on my W4 (at the advise of an IRS employee that told me if I claim 1 I will never owe Federal taxes at the end of the year but also will never overpay) and have for at least the last decade and always got a small to mediuim refund, but somehow after the new tax laws came into affect I owe money instead of getting a refund. Explain to me how that works Einstein?

      Reply
      • To add to this, this year my wife made $6000 more than me and paid $500 more in Federal taxes than I did, but somehow I owe $1600 to the Fed and she was due a refund of ~$850. Which offset my debt so we end up owing ~$825 to the Fed when all is said and done. How does that work? You seem to have all the answers, so let’s hear it?

        Reply
        • You can thank the Dems for this look at the gas prices now! The people will figure this out but afraid by that time it’s to laterose

    • Lmaoooo I hope you’re not referring to the orange Cheeto that has been scamming his way out of paying his fair share of taxes for decades. Keep drinking the Koolaid.

      Reply
    • In regard to name-calling, I don’t like it either. You say you “hate” it. How did
      you feel about the amount and nastiness of the name-calling the former president indulged in daily?

      Reply
  12. When I filed last year for 2018, I only worked 4 months out of the year claiming one dependent and m y refund was $5400. This year, 2019, I worked a total of 9 months, claiming one dependent, and my estimated refund would be about $3800. Why would my refund be higher for last year if I made less money than this year?

    Reply
    • When your income falls below a certain threshold, you get all of your taxes paid out back, and you get a set amount for your dependent as well. So you ultimately end up getting more back than you paid in if you’re income isn’t sufficient to support your dependents.

      Reply
  13. OMG, same here! I thought I was doing something wrong when doing my taxes.
    I just don’t understand, then you have these lazy people with a gaggles of kids that get 13-15 thousand back every year because they are below the poverty line and have kids they can’t afford. Some of them get returns more than what they made the previous year.

    Reply
    • I am a mom of seven and by far not lazy. I work two jobs and yes due to our high number of people in the home the poverty line is always nearby. That felt offensive to me.. just saying. As for getting a giant refund yeah its nice but in no way makes up for the all year expenses one faces just to raise our kids to be decent and not judge people

      Reply
        • I 2nd that!!! If you can’t afford ’em, DON’T HAVE THEM!! They need to bring back orphanages. If you can’t afford to keep your kids on your OWN dollar WITHOUT other people’s money….aka the government, then they should be taken from you.

        • Well then don’t make laws of what I can do with my body…You sound real da-da-to-da stupid..

        • You guys outlaw abortion and birth control and then say “dont have babies if you cant afford them”. That’s got to be the most mornic statelent I’ve ever read on the internet.

      • So your tax return doesn’t make up the difference for all the expenses to raise YOUR kids? Do you realize what you just said? You gotta be fkn kidding me!! It’s not OUR (taxpayers) job to foot the bill to raise YOUR kids!! Your what’s wrong with this country! Another one that expects the government to take care of you and your 7 kids. Fkn bs!

        Reply
    • Exactly i made 22,000 in 2021 and im getting 45$ back. All i have is my w,2, nothing else, i let the gov take as much as possible out of my paychecks. I know so many people that dont work at all and are getting thousands back because they have kids, there getting more back then what it cost to raise the kids. It feels like there taking money from people with out kids that work everyday of there life and giving it to people who dont work just because they dont know how to use birth control. Its really sad. I was expecting to buy a new car and i cant now with 45$. Im driving a 23 year old car and completely pay my own way thru life. It makes me want to cry. I feel like if i had kids, everything would be easier. The gov only helps people with kids.

      Reply
  14. Wages are not going up, it’s a scam. I’ve been working over 5 years as a contractor for a top-100 company, it was supposed to be a contract-to-hire position, management changed several times, my salary didn’t even get inflation correction. And I’m practically managing others. It’s only good for huge employers. My wife’s income increased last year because she is in a better job after applying for a position requiring extra college courses to get licensed, meaning we’re paying for more college loans. Although we’ve paid more federal taxes due to the extra income, we are getting $1600 less in our return. We didn’t change tax brackets and mostly all is the same from the previous year, so it can only mean our “great” government is doing what it can to get our money and never return it. Judging by all the other comments, I’m obviously accompanied by a lot of voters with their minds set on stopping the nonsense and bringing this country to an intelligent state again. I can imagine how good less money in the pocket will be for the economy, but then it’s never been so good. Right?

    Reply
  15. THE TAXES LAWS MUST CHANGE BACK FOR ANY HARDWORKING PERSON TO SEE ANY REAL REFUNDS IN THE FUTURE IF YOU AGREE HIT THE BALLOT BOX IN NOVEMBER AND VOTE

    Reply
  16. My refund is down 50-60% from what it would have been. I had major legal fees from a divorce that was not my choice. That deduction is gone. Congress may have been trying to punish personal injury lawyers, but this change hits everyone who has been forced to pay a lawyer.

    For 2 years, I have supported my nephew and his mother in my house – and my brother, too, for several months of that time – paying all the bills, with erratic, inadequate contributions from my brother. The tax code WAS designed to support my effort. I had over $15,000 in state income and property taxes – which pay for my nephew to go to school – and over $5000 of that deduction is gone.

    The miscellaneous deduction over 2% of AGI is gone, so job expense deductions are gone, unless you can claim partial self employment and move them there. I am surprised that Trump signed this, because it seems that through the TCJA, Congress was trying to make him look like he reneged on his campaign promises.

    Reply
  17. I don’t understand why we went from around $9000 back to $900. We did not change any deductions from last year. We claimed 0 both years. There was no significant wage change from either my wife or myself. So it looks as though we just gave the government $8000 free and clear. That work out to a 90% decrease far higher than the 5-10% that the IRS is stating

    Reply
  18. I agree totally with you all. We made considerably less this year. All mairriage and new home owner exemptions, gone. All credits, gone. Donations, gone. If you didn’t put 24,000 into your house or subsequent assets…you get nothing. What is truly the saddest is that this is a situation where people who voted for a person who promise better has lied and padded the pockets of everyone (including himself) handsomely. Last year we did work on our home. And both went to school. While working full time. Our return last year helped about half of what we spent just on the house. We have been doing more and still furthering ourselves and working. All breaks are gone. We now have a child on the way and owe now. Not to mention that the city deemed our home 40,000 dollars more than the last years estimate due to the area so we get to pay taxes on a house that has had INTERIOR aesthetics done to the tune of a 40,000 difference in one year?? My payments just went way up due to this and all I’ve been told is I can contest it. Really?

    Store owner just decides your wage is too high and just docks you a third of your wage.” If you want to contest it, here is where you go. Good luck. Btw you’re fired for asking questions. “

    Reply
    • Property tax assessments can be disputed during what I am going to say is the open dispute month. In ohio it is March of every year. It is a small window so do it now. Go up to the county auditor or treasurer office and tell them you want to contest your property taxes.ask for the form. Read the papers then I would recommend hiring an attorney for ABOUT$250 To do it for you.

      Reply
  19. Getting $6,000 less from our refund compare to last year. 0 claim on w-4, mortgage, daycare 3 kids. In comparison from last year yes we paid $2k on taxes last year. If you take that $2k out of the $6k we are are still $4k less on our refund compare to last year tax

    Reply
  20. My 19 year old daughter attends Eastern Michigan university part time and lives in Cincinnati Ohio and she has a part time job in Ohio and Michigan,12,000 in scholarships and this year when she filed her taxes she’s only getting back a little over 500 but last year she’s received about 1400 and i don’t understand why .

    Reply
  21. I made the same amount as last year and same withholdings and single, own same home— everything the same and yet I got $5500 last year and I am being told I owe $1300. I have always claimed 5/ single. For some reason my employer took out way less federal taxes on my W2? Why??? Even my accountant is asking me did you claim exempt? No! Nothing has changed…..

    Reply
    • The changes in the tax laws that President Trump signed was implemented last year. This in turn changed the tax tables the employers can use therefore lowering the deduction amounts so you would have more money in each paycheck instead of in a one time refund at tax time like we were all do used to. Sometimes a plus ends up as a minus down the road

      Reply
      • My husband and I have made the exact same for 3+ years, same deductions, exemptions, everything. We typically get 6000 back, and now we are getting about 800. I just did a comparison for all my paychecks for the past two years, and my tax with-holdings and the total amounts are virtually the same (within 10 dollars). This is unbelievable.

        Reply
      • Please show me where you are getting that information! Biden is in control and hired all those IRS employees to make sure everyone is paying. Stop blaming Trump for the crap your president is doing!

        Reply
        • Nope! Trump made the laws that are screwing us today and will continue to do so years down the road. But I know facts are hard to grasp to your ilk.

        • Trump is the one who made these changes to the tax laws not Biden. Doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out.

  22. I am on Social Security (I am over 80 years old) and have a very small pension and miniscule interest income (less than $100 total). I am just getting ready to file my taxes and see that my tax refund is going to be over $100 less than last year. It does, certainly, seem that this tax cut is not helping those of us on low fixed incomes along with hardworking folks with families whose incomes are NOT in the hundreds of thousand dollars per year. What lies they fed the people on the bottom rungs of the financial ladder – this is more than shameful, .

    Reply
  23. I’m on security and my husband pension.Everything is the same from last year and I received 3500,this year it’s only 569,why !!!!

    Reply
  24. What a joke. What happened to last year when Trump said we were getting tax breaks. I go from a refund to owing. Sounds like propaganda to me. What a friggin joke

    Reply
  25. In 2018, i paid double the amount of taxes from the year prior. I went from having 1 child, to 2 children. And i recieved the same refund back while staying in the same tax bracket.

    Reply
  26. Both my husband and I claim single 0. Jobs are the same, income went up a couple thousand but did not put us in a higher tax bracket. Have a college student and received a $6,000 tax refund last year. OWE $2,000 this year WTF!!!!!!

    Reply
  27. I keep hearing that child tax credits should increase my refund, but my return was substantially lower than it has been in years. My income is about the same and the 2 children I claim are the same, but my return was cut nearly in half

    Reply
    • I have 5 children, 4 of which are in school and I pay crazy amounts per year for their educational expenses etc. I didn’t qualify for anything and I actually made less this year versus last year. Interesting how that works.

      Reply
  28. 2017 received $2800. Just did a draft for 2018 only $1100 as a single and if I try head of household only a return of $800. I also have an additional $50 per pay taken out. So if I didn’t do that I guess I would receive nothong. Thanks Dumpf. Make America Pissed Off Again.

    Reply
  29. I support Trump and am a very conservative Republican. But I did nothing different this year and have worked for the same company for 11 years. I only got a slight raise in 2018 over 2017. I’m a homeowner but don’t have any stock or any extra income. Yet my federal return is only $97 this year compared to an average of $800.00 in recent years. I truly don’t understand the new tax situation. In years past I always itemized because I give donations to charity and church and could deduct things like my mortgage interest and car tags. This year I couldn’t itemize because my deductions will never exceed the new $12,000 personal deduction. Like most middle class people, I look forward to getting a tax refund. I use the money to do home repairs and improvements, so this is very disappointing. I’ve now updated my W4 and am taking out an extra $10 each paycheck so I don’t end up owing next year.

    Reply
  30. 2018. Married filing jointly with a mortgage, no kids, single earner… nothing has changed from prior year other than making slightly more (annual raise/increase).
    Last year’s standard deduction was 12,7000… this year its 24,000.
    My tax return this year is $500 less than last year.

    Which isn’t horrible, I see others have it way worse.

    I was trying my best to compare last year’s form to this years and the one major thing I noticed is last year they calculated some exemption for myself and my wife? I don’t fully understand it. It basically calculate some value against 2 people (myself and my wife), resulting in some $8K exemptions.

    This year’s form has no such entries at all.

    Reply
  31. Got 787 last year. Getting 79 this year. Pathetic. So who is getting my extra money? I rely on that money every year.

    Reply
  32. I was telling all my Trump friends to wait until they filed their 2018 taxes before they could tell me how great the Trump tax cut was. They all seemed to notice that their take home pay was larger and none of them got a pay raise from their employer. Pay me now or pay me later.

    Reply
  33. Compared to my previous years of consistent employment, this year stuck out because I was eager for the return, as nothing had changed financially, yet something HAD changed….and we’re not told correctly, because my refund was 2% of my previous tax refunds. 2%
    Not 50%, or 20%, or even 10%.

    2%

    Just crazy

    Reply
  34. Is any part of Trump’s new Tax “Reform” bill causing refunds being so much lower than previous years? Has it gone into effect for this tax cycle?

    Reply
  35. Single, head of household, 1 child dependent. My refund is FIVE. HUNDRED. DOLLARS. I have NEVER received this little in my life. Always been around 2-3,000. My lovely payroll woman at work has claimed it’s due to me filling out 6 exemptions on my W4, however I’ve had those on there since I begun this job in 2016 (Never didn’t fill them out because I’ve always filled them out so I’d get more on my paycheck and STILL received a reasonable refund) and my 2016 taxes were fine, over $2,500 as expected. WHAT is going on?

    Reply
    • You claim 6 exemptions on your paycheck and seriously don’t know how/why this caused your refund to be less?

      You should be thankful you got so much before this year.

      SMH……some people

      Reply
  36. I always purposely have the most I can taken out of my pay so when I get my refund I can afford a down payment or the like.(I don’t have a place) 2 years ago I was at a company and made about $28000 no deductions. When I did my taxes I only got 1300 combined because I worked a ton of untaxed OT. I have a new job and did the same exact thing and made the same money but all the OT was taxed. Got 700 this time…
    I read that it was because I should have paid around 6500 in taxes and I actually paid around 7200…why should I had paid over 22% in taxes.( I got 600 last year and made 8000.) Confusion.

    Reply
  37. Claim 0 on W4, take an extra $20.00 out….previous years received approximately $2,000 refund. In 2018, refund is $205.00.

    Filing married.

    Something is not right.

    Working very hard and taking out the most possible amount of money and then only get a small amount?

    Hmmmm.

    Hoping we get a surprise check in the mail from our government to offset.

    Hey, we can dream.

    Reply
  38. Hello…Yes I am very upset that my refund is less then half from last year. What is going on? You can’t claim your 17 year old who is in school anymore??? What is this? Please explain as we work hard for our money and need a good refund to fill in the cracks.

    Reply
  39. I’m seeing $2200 dollar reduction eventhough I earned the same amount as prior year.. None of my deductions or amount of dependents changed.. something is different..

    Reply
    • This is my exact situation and I can’t find an explanation anywhere. I thought we would not see any changes in 2017 and the change would come in 2018. Now I am scared to see what 2018 will bring!! Maybe no refund or having to pay?!

      Reply
  40. I just filed my tax’s and I’m only on Social Security and I do get my pension and all I have for a refund is my state and this year is so low,last year I got $224 back on my state refund and this year is only $15 dollars. Talk about nothing ,that is a waste of paper to file it. I hate Trump for this, him and is so called republicans they now are more richer and the low low income citizens just got poorer. I thought this new tax bracket was to help us but it was just to get him more richer and our deficit is higher than any president we had. I just hate Trump.

    Reply
    • You do realize democrats are for HIGHER taxes and SOCIALIZED medicine. Why should I have to pay for your crap if you can’t afford it?

      Instead of hating people on topics you clearly know nothing about – how about taking a course in simple economics? …..while you’re at, take one in common sense too.

      I’ll pay for these, no worries.

      Reply
  41. Having the same issue. Income same as last year as well as deductions. Federal, and resident state refund remains the same, but my nonresident return to a neighboring state is $600 less than last year

    Reply
  42. Trump enjoys showering with the taxpayers money and after it touches his orange body it is burned and disposed ofso no Republicans go dictatorship go f*** yourself 20018 20000 billion 19 Trump forever ever ever

    Reply
  43. Head of household 2 dependents and only made 15625 dollar whole year with 734 fed withholding why is my income tax this year under 3000 and last year it was 8338 dollars and nothing changed?

    Reply
  44. Wondering why my refund is more than 2000 dollars less this year despite my income being almost exactly as it was last year. $26,500 income, 2 dependents, filing HoH. got 8100 combined last year, this year its saying i will get only 5900 combined. same W-4 as previous year. Can you explain why?

    Reply
    • I have gotten around $3,600 in the past. This year it’s saying I’m getting $1,000. I also made $6,000 less this year (22k) after my company merged with another. Not sure why the president claims that wages are going up not mine at least. it just sucks when you count on this money and pretty much is stolen from u.

      Reply
    • Advanced Child tax Credit payments my friend. They didn’t double it, they just raised it by 50%-75%. It was 2,000, now it’s $3,000, or $3,600 for kids under 6…. They gave you 50% of the total after that increase, so the remaining percentage would only be 75-80% of what you received last year. If you have 4 kids, for instance, that’s between 2,000-3,000 less than you would’ve gotten back at tax time last year unless you happen to have 4 kids under 6. It sucks, but that’s the crude math explanation. It all adds up and I still feel tricked.

      Reply
      • And making 22k, you missed the 24k tax threshold to increase the EIC, and the next threshold to increase it again at around 27k I think. There’s a messed up sweet spot in middle class income for those with dependents that’s between 35-40,000. High enough that you get all the refundable credits, low enough that your tax liability is still low enough to not have to pay. And coincidentally still too low to make a living, so you always need to make more and ultimately forego that big refund. It’s really sad. I hate it.

        Reply

Leave a Comment