tax refund so low this year?

[PaDisney02]

Hi, I just did my taxes and my income is the same as other years but my refund is extremely lower then any other year......why? I wonder if I did something wrong? I didnt complete it yet so can still go back and change it (I used a site online to file). Has anyone else had this problem? I'm shocked how low it is....I'm talking thousands lower then years previous??? Thanks

 

[LukenDC]

I was also surprised by the meager size of my refund.

 

[Mrs.Milo]

Are taxes higher this year?

I haven't done my taxes yet.

 

[mom2austin]

Blame it on the Making Work Pay credit. You know, that $10 to $20 extra you saw in your check each week starting April 1st of 2009.
That was an advance of any "refund" you might have received on your income taxes because the tax tables were not adjusted, just your withholding.

If both you and your spouse worked at W2 jobs, you both received this "extra" money each week and if you didn't have to pay in, be grateful. I know many, many dual-income families having to pay this year because of that "credit".

 

[jme829]

Hm...ours is actually bigger this year and its usually pretty good to begin with. Our state is also quite a bit more that in usually is..not that we will complain!

We did itemize this year though, as we bought a house in 2008 that cost quite a bit more than the last house we owned, so we finally had more in mortgage interest than the standard deduction. That helped alot!


Did you lose any deductions this year? Kids out of age range to claim, less deductions...??

^^we did get the make work pay credit also ($800----400 for each of us) and we're still getting back quite a bit more than we usually get, so that didn't hurt us at all.

 

[mom2austin]

Hm...ours is actually bigger this year and its usually pretty good to begin with. Our state is also quite a bit more that in usually is..not that we will complain!

We did itemize this year though, as we bought a house in 2008 that cost quite a bit more than the last house we owned, so we finally had more in mortgage interest than the standard deduction. That helped alot!


Did you lose any deductions this year? Kids out of age range to claim, less deductions...??

^^we did get the make work pay credit also ($800----400 for each of us) and we're still getting back quite a bit more than we usually get, so that didn't hurt us at all.

jme - it also sounds like you got a pretty big house credit that others aren't getting because you bought the house. For someone who doesn't itemize, and has the same exact return as last year, nearly same income, with dual W2 incomes (not self-employed), they will be very lucky not to owe this year. Many of us were screaming when this was passed, but no one listened.

 

[PaDisney02]

Nothing changed for me this year...I always do married filing seperate. I have 2 small kids, i claim both kids. Last year my refund was over 7k this year it is 2k.....what a bummer! I just dont understand why?


What is the earned income credit? It said I am not eligible for the earned income credit.....anyone know what thats all about?

 

[jme829]

jme - it also sounds like you got a pretty big house credit that others aren't getting because you bought the house. For someone who doesn't itemize, and has the same exact return as last year, nearly same income, with dual W2 incomes (not self-employed), they will be very lucky not to owe this year. Many of us were screaming when this was passed, but no one listened.

Oh no..we didn't get the home buyer tax credit. I just meant that this is the first time we itemized because our mortgage interest alone was more than the standard deduction. (our old house was quite a bit less than our current house, so the interest was a lot less and the standard deduction worked out better for us.)

If we would have went with the standard deduction this year, our refund would have been about the same as it was last year (around $4000, its quite a bit higher this year...we just sent it in yesterday)...so no it had NOTHING to do with the new home buyer credits because we didn't qualify for any of that..

Our actual income was basically the same as 2008 as neither of us got raises last year. Oh and dual income, married filing joint, if we wouldn't have itemized then our refund would have been pretty much exactly like it was last year.

 

[momof1princess]

this is making me afraid to file. i'm an IC and DH made about 4-5K less than last year due to being laid off 2 months, so maybe the making work pay credit won't affect us much.

 

[LilyWDW]

Nothing changed for me this year...I always do married filing seperate. I have 2 small kids, i claim both kids. Last year my refund was over 7k this year it is 2k.....what a bummer! I just dont understand why?


What is the earned income credit? It said I am not eligible for the earned income credit.....anyone know what thats all about?

The EIC is for those who don't make a specific amount of money during the year. The limits are based off of how you are filing and if you have any dependents. I file single and I have 0 dependents and made less then the amount listed (which I think was like less then $10,000 for the year). The EIC gets me about $300 in a return.

Also, since I did not work enough to make my whole Making Work Pay credit in my paychecks, I am getting about $400 from that as well.

Glad I got a decent refund because I started back at school this spring getting my MBA and I can use the extra money to get me through the year.

 

[crz4mm2]

I hope I GET a refund...

 

[SCHBR'smom]

I'm waiting on one little thing to file our taxes, but based on what I've done so far, we are also getting back thousands less than last year. The only difference is that DH made a little less. A bit disappointing. OP, I have no idea why, but you're not alone.

 

[VickiVM]

An extra $20/week against your refund would only be $1040 difference.

 

[surfergirl602]

ours is actually a big bigger this year because I didn't work last year. We had just DH's income, which means we qualified for the child credit and the EIC. We didn't when I worked.

 

[Lintasare]

Another one hoping for some kind of refund this year. I need a new laptop something fierce. Can't DIS and watch TV anymore. It stinks.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

My refund is 300 for state and 340 for fed. and im happy with that, thats a months rent and a bill (or two)

 

[toddlers_mom]

Mine was less, but I had some major life changes so it was to be expected. However, I filed my taxes tonight and I am still getting a nice chunk back which will be paying for Disney!

 

[mom2austin]

An extra $20/week against your refund would only be $1040 difference.

For some people, who make sure they don't overpay the IRS, that's a huge chunk of change. Also, if you're married, that's $2080 that you were paid "upfront" and if you don't get $2080 back on your taxes usually, guess what? You now owe that $2080 back. So, really, for some of us (including those who are self-employed, like me), we now owe even more than we would have if we weren't given this advance. In our case it's only the $1040, but that's still a chunk of change we don't have.

 

[Mysteria]

Blame it on the Making Work Pay credit. You know, that $10 to $20 extra you saw in your check each week starting April 1st of 2009.
That was an advance of any "refund" you might have received on your income taxes because the tax tables were not adjusted, just your withholding.

If both you and your spouse worked at W2 jobs, you both received this "extra" money each week and if you didn't have to pay in, be grateful. I know many, many dual-income families having to pay this year because of that "credit".

Thank you for that reminder. We expected more this year and got just a tad more than last. Working out the numbers that would be explain it perfectly.

 

[HelenePA]

I'm waiting on one little thing to file our taxes, but based on what I've done so far, we are also getting back thousands less than last year. The only difference is that DH made a little less. A bit disappointing. OP, I have no idea why, but you're not alone.

We are getting 1500 less back this year I know why. No savers credit (made too much) and that making work pay thing...