Question

How are people getting up to $7, 000 for their tax returns? I know having more children helps increase that amount, but I just don’t understand how people get back so much money. I have one child and my husband and I never get back more than $1, 000. This year it’s looking to be $400. Will someone please help me understand this?  

Answer 1

This has been a big topic of Frustration for me for sure! Our “return” this year was comical and we owe state taxes so our measly couple hundred bucks is gone. My Sister on the other end got back close to 8, 000 for her family of 4. Which is literally half of their annual income for 2019. it definitely stinks seeing those situations.  

Comments

@afghan they made 16, 000 in 2019? How does one live on that with a family of 4?  

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@argyrol yep. they don’t do well that’s for sure. Her husband can’t keep a job. They did rent a place for 650/ month but they were evicted. They lived with my family for a bit and now with our mother where they pay 400/ monthly for rent. Our grandparents gave them a car so no car payment. They get food stamps, wic, tanf.  

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@afghan wowwww. I would say must be nice but I’m sure it’s not a great way to live. Pretty stressful probably  

Answer 2

I have two kids and owe around 4-5k each year .  

Answer 3

The goal is to not receive a substantial tax return, though. Why give the government a free loan with your money when you could keep it in your pocket the whole time?  

Comments

@norway Why would your goal be not to receive a refund when you get credits and things you can deduct? You are leaving money on the table

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Because a refund is YOUR money that you overpaid throughout the tax season. It’s not a windfall. I’d rather have the extra funds each time we get paid instead of wait for the irs to refund it to me.  

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@norway this is really a personal decision each family/individual needs to make.  

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@watford most def agree. Perhaps should have begun with “personally, my goal:” etc. but I’ll leave as is for accountability  

Answer 4

I don’t know much but I’m guessing tac cuts are part of it? My husband and I made 1, 000 over the limit and we didn’t get a tax cut. Oh well.  

Answer 5

It depends on how much you let them take from your pay during the year and your income. We prefer to have our money through the year not at the end so our refund was a little under 1k, with two kids.  

Answer 6

Between my hubby and I, last year we made about 90, 000 & took home $5000 (with one kid). This year we made about 110, 000 and took home $2000. It sucks

Comments

@shadowgraph46 same here!  

Answer 7

We got $7500 ($100 was state). We have two kids and qualified for the child and earned income credits. A think $1800 was refunded taxes we paid in during the year. This is one income under 40k, married filing joint standard deduction. Before kids we never got more than $1500 back (even with us having the max taxes taken out at the time). After one kid we got back around $4k-$4500. This was our first year with two kids.  

Answer 8

Ours is almost entirely credits

Answer 9

Same boat!  

Answer 10

If your w4's are right you shouldn't get much back. I claim 2 and my husband claims 1. We just need to update. But it also depends on many other factors like earned income tax credit or the child tax credits etc.  

Answer 11

No idea. My husband and I have 2 kids and we owe $15 this year.  

Answer 12

It just depends if you WANT a big refund. I think the goal should be to break even. You want to KEEP your money throughout the year, and not let the government hold on to it for you. Yes a big return feels like free money, but it isn’t. It’s your money that you’ve earned that they’ve been holding. ‍♀️

Comments

@brayer see above. Not everyone wants their money spread out through the year. Some like the forced savings.  

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@kitchen32736 yeah that’s why I said it depends if you actually WANT a big return. Didn’t read through all the comments. Sorry.  

Answer 13

I’d rather not get a tax refund. The government is holding your money interest free for a year. #nothanks

Comments

@grayson Given interest rates right now, I’ll take the forced savings.  

Answer 14

We claim single and zero. We got back 10, 250 this year. Last year we got back a little over 8, 000 and the year before was close to 12, 000. My husband makes between 80, 000 to 90, 000 a year. We do not get a earned income credit. We claim two kids. We could invest the extra money or have more each paycheck, but we like the big return. We would also rather do it that way and know for sure that we won’t owe, then to claim otherwise. We know all the reasons why we could do it throughout the year but it’s not what we want. We have a CPA that files our taxes for us, and we have never had any issues.  

Comments

We both claim zero, don't get EIC, have two kids and when we made close to that got like 1, 000. We do claim married and not single though.  

Answer 15

Partially low income, partially how much is being held and then of course how many children I imagine.  

Answer 16

My niece watched part of the year has two kids and is getting $7900 back is just burns my butt I don’t understand how our government decides to get people more than they paid in it just annoys me so much

Comments

So does Amazon. You ever heard of corporate welfare?  

Answer 17

My husband brings home 81k (I’m a SAHM) and we claim 2. We owed state (there was a reset in their work system and they didn’t take out local and state taxes and didn’t catch it on all employees so we owed)last year so we weren’t super worried about getting it all back this year, but more so wanted to make sure we had enough to cover and would adjust from there. We have 3 kids and got back 7600 this year.  

Answer 18

On my w4 I claim 0 n I have two kids I always have them take the max out so I have more at the end of the yr

Answer 19

I'm getting $7500 paid $0 during year. Only worked less than 1/2 the year that all is coming back on child tax credit and earned income credit

Answer 20

All I know is we have to pay 3800

Answer 21

I miscalculated my withholding for 2019 and got a lot back. Went back to work and adjusted my federal withholdings to make sure the government doesn’t have my money. I’d rather have my money and pay them at the end.  

Answer 22

I like bringing home the money.  

Answer 23

Lower income means extra tax credits. I just read in another group about a lady who paid $60 in taxes and got over $6000 back. My friend with 3 kids gets up to $15k.  

Comments

^^They make like $20k a year for a family of 5. So ‍♀️

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Yup that's us. Family of 5, income of 35k, refund of 10k

Answer 24

How can you ‘claim’ single if you’re married? Is that even allowed? Our accountant filed us as married. I got more $ return as single than as married.  

Comments

@tessie you can claim single throughout the year on your paychecks. you can actually claim whatever you want on your checks. It’s when you actually file your taxes, you must file your actual status and dependents

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@niphablepsia5 is this filling out work paperwork for tax? Is it different for USA as I’m in Canada

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@tessie here in the US, when you start a new job, your employer has you fill out a w4 which indicates your tax situation (single, married, dependents etc).  

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You can "claim" it during the year. Its 100% legal because you are letting them take more $ out. When you actually file you file whatever your actual situation is.  

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@niphablepsia5 hmmm wonder how in Canada

Answer 25

I’m married to a farmer. We normally pay in but in South Dakota and all the flooding farming was so bad and we have 2 kids and I work. We are getting 9700 back and I honestly was so shocked. Not used to getting anything

Answer 26

They lie lol

Answer 27

I use to claim 0 but now I want my interest on my money. State gets enough from me.  

Answer 28

Idk. Taxes make no sense to me.  that’s why I have a professional do them and I trust that they know what they are supposed to do lol

Answer 29

We got over 10, 000$ back because we have the maximum taken out of our checks each week. We don’t need that money and prefer to get a large refund each year. It’s what works for our family.  

Comments

@watford same!  

Answer 30

Everyone’s financial positions are different. Period. If I made 40k per year and claimed 3 and someone else made $150k and claimed 0, the 150k will probably get more back because they pay more in taxes. Things and credits to consider: Children, married vs single, owning a home vs renting, energy efficient credits for upgrades to home, etc etc. This year was a bigger year for my husband and I. Two main reasons: we sold and purchased a home (got to write off the points we purchased, fees, etc) and we had solar installed on our home, which is a huge tax credit. Next year won’t be as good for us. We also pay almost $30k a year for state and fed taxes. It all depends on your situation!  

Answer 31

Just remember: you are allowing Uncle Sam to hold your money interest free all year. Either way, I’d rather get my $ on my checks rather than wait on a refund

Comments

@masao I see people say this and I've looked into it for Canada, I can't seem to find a way to reduce the amount we pay so we always get huge returns. Usually greater than $5, 000. But I'm with you, I'd rather get the money up front.  

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@lyallpur wow! I wish I could get 5 k back!  

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@masao ya, but that would be an additional $400/month that we could really use each month rather than having to wait until tax season.  

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Oh I know! My refund has never been that high!  

Answer 32

We get 10k back. 5-6 is earned income tax credit, 1-2 is a school credit for my husband, he graduated so that will be gone next year, 1-2 per kid x3 kids for child tax credit. Not sure of the exact breakdown let me see if I can pull it up.  

Comments

Here's the breakdown if you're interested. Less earned income than I thought. Our income will increase next year to reduce our refund but this is this years.  

Answer 33

You just pay more threw out the year.  

Answer 34

Our donations made a big difference for us but apperently our twins did nothing. I do not understand Canadian tax code at all But paying high taxes for the first 7 months, then being essentially unemployed for 3 months helped me a lot. We are $0. 50 short of 7, 000. All of it is going into savings so we can buy a more appropriate vehicle.  

Comments

@lyallpur I don’t get it either - we have four kids, it doesn’t do anything for us. But we made a donation and that gave us $7000 back?!  

Answer 35

We have a child and we pay. So. Lol

Comments

@heritor72247 then you make a ton of money or you withold on your w4.  

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@sylas10 no. He was self employed

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@heritor72247 ohhh that'll do it. He doesn't pay out of each check weekly b

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@sylas10 no we tried to save but last year was such a struggle for us we couldn’t. Luckily we were able to at the beginning of this year.  and he got a new job where he’s a W2 employee so we shouldn’t owe anymore!  

Answer 36

I have 2 kids 1 in day care and I am considered head of household because I am a single parent

Answer 37

Low income and tax credits. Most earned income, child tax and daycare credits. Earned income credit generated the largest refund besides deducting business expenses, but for a family of 3 it phases out at 46k. I didnt qualify for it this year.  

Answer 38

I take a huge hit in taxes every other week. I am not low income but I do have five kids. I claim four and get back roughly every year 12. I never file exempt and I claim one through out the year. So I don’t know

Comments

@sleek3716 $1, 200?  

Answer 39

10 from fed and 2 state. I also own my home as well if that helps

Answer 40

I have four. And we claim zero all year long on our w4 we also qualify for child tax credits and earned income.  

Answer 41

I work sales so my commission check is where I see about 1300 in taxes taken. I have one commission check a month

Answer 42

I also live in California so not sure where everyone else is

Answer 43

It depends on how many dependents you claim on your W-4. If you claim zero dependents they take out the most money. Too much. So they owe money back to you. It also depends on your tax bracket. Having a tax return is not a good thing. It means you loaned the government money that should have been paid to you in your paychecks. These people had more taken out of every paycheck than you to get that money back at the end of the year. If you are low income you also qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit which is a couple thousand per kid. But, as someone who qualified a year ago and doesnt qualify now, trust when I say a couple thousand once a year does not make up for the money lost by having a low income.  

Comments

@michaella thats us. Usually we got the child tax and extra income. Nope I think having four kids saved us from paying. Lol.  

Answer 44

How can I not owe a ton with my husband being self employed 1099? I need a good CPA to help!?  

Comments

@turdine if he is self employed you will always have to pay taxes because he hasn’t pay throughout the year. What you guys should do is set money aside each week/month to pay for his taxes come tax season.  

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@turdine set up quarterly payments with your tax guy, that will help.  

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@turdine you can pay estimates every quarter to both irs/state just pay attention to the due dates. You can ask your tax person or go directly to each site.  

Answer 45

I have 1 son and claimed 1 and got back 4100 plus I got tax credits too

Answer 46

I’m a nurse and my husband is a nurse and we got that much back because we get a lot withheld during the year on purpose as a way of “saving”. It’s not always because you’re low income and get the EIC. We claimed 2 children

Comments

@scheelite But you get a deduction for kids too

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@perambulate I know? Throughout the year we claim 0 dependents and then claim them when we file taxes

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Same. It's forced savings for us. Changing it in the next year or so.  

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I feel like most of the people on these groups have zero idea how taxes work and could even be filing wrong  

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@sylas10 that could be very true for some. Especially now with the new W4, it has changed the way you claim deductions. As for us, husband retired from military 3/4 of the way through the year so our taxes are a bit trickier this year.  

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@quigley I go to a CPA because we have several rentals. ❤️

Answer 47

We claim 0 all year long on our w4. But always make too much for the earned income credit. We get back around 4-5 thousand. Because on taxes I claim more. So essentially they take it out of my check and give it back at tax season. If your claiming more on your w4, your getting it in increments throughout the year.  

Answer 48

I’m lost too! We claim 0 with one child and owe this year. It’s nuts!  

Comments

@contestation you sure you did it right?  

Answer 49

Wow. me and my husband make too much to get the child credits but we still got back $8400. But we almost paid in almost A LOT throughout the year.  

Comments

@obedience25 hell if you're making 400, 000 a year then who cares about the refund lol. The only way you're not eligible for the child tax credit is if you make 400k per year combined lol

Answer 50

We have 4 kids and we got back 4818, but due to a debt we got back 1292. However usually lower your yearly income, the more taxes you get. The yearly income puts you in tax brackets. Like we use to get 10000-8000, but that’s because in 2018 he just started his job. with in a year he has went full tome, got a couple raises. So we went from 30000 a year to almost 60000 a year. Now sense he’s moving companies here in 2020, he is getting another raise. Which will put us higher, and maybe hopefully with the 5th kid we won’t have to pay taxes. Cross our fingers. But usually it’s your year income that puts you in a bracket. I’m speaking from being the person who went from 10000 to 4000, but like my husband says, ” feels better to make it threw the year, then trying to push bills until taxes. ” Cause we have been there too. Not fun.  

Answer 51

My husband works FT, goes to school PT, has student loans from his BA, I work PT, we have 3 kids, and we claimed the EIC and we got back $3200. That’s the lowest we’ve ever gotten back (about 45% less than last year) and I don’t claim anyone on my W4

Comments

Our yearly taxable income was $52k

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That makes zero sense. We made 73k and don't get eic and have 4 kids and got back 10k. Either you're doing something wrong. or you're withholding on your w4.  

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@sylas10 I don’t know ‍♀️ we plugged everything into HR block and Turbo and both gave us the exact same numbers. This was my first year back to work and the second I put in my W2, our refund dropped by a couple thousand. I claimed 0 on my w4 and only worked part time from Aug-Dec

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@anaphase575 does he claim 0? There's no way.  

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@sylas10 no, I believe he claims 4. I can’t remember off the top of my head

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@anaphase575 okay so that's why then.  You get more back throughout the year. If you want the big refund instead claim 0 across the board.  

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@sylas10 He hasn’t changed his w4 in 5 years and we’ve gotten back $7k+ in the past. Idk. It sucks but whatever.  

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@anaphase575 the w4s have changed with tax reform. Maybe he should review it. Also adding your income may have gotten rid of the earned income credit for you two.  

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@anaphase575 it has to do with the extra jobs and/or the jobs you didn’t hold all year. When you start at an employer mid-year and they put you into their payroll system the taxes withheld are different, no matter what you claim. That’s why the IRS new w-4 this year specifically asks do you have more than one job this year and if you’re married is your spouse working. I’m not a tax professional but I’ve seen this happen to a lot of people in the last two years and that’s what the culprit always ended up being.  

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@stipple hmm maybe that’s what it is! Thanks for the heads up

Answer 52

Our goal is to have our withholding set so we get back as close to $0 as possible without owing anything in taxes. Withholding more to get a refund is giving the government free use of money that could be earning interest or being used to pay off debts to avoid paying interest all year long with a bigger paycheck.  

Comments

Thats what out tax accountant told us as well.  

Answer 53

Well if that's true you must claim a few on your w4 which in turn makes you get back more throughout the year instead of once a year.  

Answer 54

Getting money back isn't always a good thing it means the government took to much from you all year.  

Comments

@nananne8 Willard Wesson most of us already know that. We prefer it be that way.  

Answer 55

Do you pay for child care? That’s where the bulk of my return comes from

Comments

@raki85 yes, it said the return was $600 but I haven’t seen that number yet.  

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@raki85 out of the $14k we paid in childcare the government would only let us use 20% of it towards our taxes = $2800 was all we could claim!  

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@yung8 same. Ours was about $6K, but spent $15K in childcare. Makes me want to vomit! @prevention, have you had someone else review them to make sure you’re getting all of your allowable deductions? We used turbo tax and paid the little bit extra to have someone review to make sure. Our tax return was $6K.  

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I always do our taxes. Really hate to lose anymore money having someone else do them. I understand why you ask though.  

Answer 56

Hey. We didn’t have to pay this year!  

Answer 57

Tax credits are based on your income level. If you want a larger return then have zero withheld through the year, which I don’t recommend. If you want to adjust your withholding a then go to the irs page and they have calculators there. Be careful However if your state laws requires taxes to be paid, every state is different. My withholding is different for the state bc WV kills you!  

Comments

@clientage Tax credits are based on way more than your income level FYI. Even if you put 0 you can still owe thousands. Please look into that before giving this advice to anyone.  

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@perambulate I understand that as I’m an accountant. I should have said the credits for children are based on income

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@clientage Credits can be based on more than children too. And with the new tax code credits and what’s deductible are changing every year. I had things I could deduct last year that have been eliminated this year

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@perambulate you are correct, and I will not argue with you over this. I’m talking generalities here. There are lots of tax credits if you would like to get the codes out but I guarantee you that you, myself or anyone in this group do not qualify or even knew they existed. I didn’t make that comment to be unhelpful, but 9 out of 10 times people claim the majority of their credit based on children. Have a nice day.  

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@clientage WV definitely screws you!  

Answer 58

@prevention be careful of advice on taxes from people in this group. They are not professionals and are going to tell you from their own tax perspective. If you can claim anymore than $1k I would take your particular tax situation to a professional you know and trust and see what else you can deduct. But asking people in this group is just going to be a waste of time. Tax situations are very individual to the person or couple filing for what you will get back or owe. Shame on the people in this group just assuming it’s a tax free loan to the IRS without knowing your tax situation.  

Comments

@perambulate I do not believe anyone is trying to harm her or giver her bad advice. This is a group for support and tips. Once the tips are received you then do your own research and see how it can or cannot be applied to your life. She ask how people were getting such large returns, so wanting to see a tad into their lives so she could see if she maybe could adjust. It’s to gather information, ideas and love and support.  

Answer 59

Are you utilizing all of your possible deductions?  

Answer 60

I claim one, it’s just me now. My son is married. I need the money now where before I’d claim zero so I had a bigger return to do fun things with my son like a cabin for a week in camp, a trip to California or Georgia. or to get that couch I needed. I got divorced when he was 2 and so that worked for me then.  

Answer 61

I claim single 0 and got $6k deducted of fed taxes. This year we were able to claim mortgage interest and property taxes. This helped us lot to reduce our taxable income. All of my withholding including my husband’s are coming back to us. Being close to the $8k

Answer 62

It all depends on what you pay in, how much you make, # of kids, married v single, and etc. So a single mom with 4 kids and making 35000/yr will get back a substantial refund (probably around 6000- 8000), whereas a married couple with 4 kids making 60000 will more than likely get less bc they made too much to receive the EIC, probably. around 3-6000. But again there are so many variable at play that could easily change those numbers. I claim "0"s and my husband claims 3 on our w4 forms instead of claiming 5s to better our chances for a refund since we pay more into taxes throughout the year, I also pay extra in out of each check, we use our refund as a savings acct in a way.  

Answer 63

We normally have to pay close to 10k on top of what they take out of our checks! I can’t remember the last time I got a tax refund.  

Answer 64

I pay in $1400 a month and we still have to pay more. It’s depressing.  

Answer 65

I have 3 children and last year we didn’t even make $40k between the two of us. With EITC, CTC and a few other tax breaks. we get back a hefty amount. More than the $7k mentioned above.  

Answer 66

I’m getting 9, 800 which seems like fun until we realized we paid over 25k into taxes

Answer 67

We live off of my income alone, and I have the max taken out. My husbands mother passed and he paid taxes on the retirement disbursement he received from that. This raised our return by $6k.  

Answer 68

Just be thankful you don’t have to pay. I have to pay around 10k every year  

Answer 69

We get over that because my husband claims single 0 and gets way more taken out than needed. Then I claim only 1 so get more on paycheck but still pay in some taxes. We also have 3 kids and combined our gross is only 45k which is well below the limit. So we get CTC, EIC, and the extra federal he paid in over. He gets paid 14$ and hour 40 hours a week nd I get 8. 50$ an hour 20 hours a week since I work PT to save on childcare working nights when he is off.  

Answer 70

We paid in over a thousand.  

Answer 71

We are getting a hefty amount back this year. 4 kids, married and claiming 3 or 4 on taxes. I’m just counting my blessings and so thankful we can pay off all our debt (minus mortgage).  

Answer 72

Are u legally married? Cause that most likely why

Comments

@goring2627 yes.  

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@prevention see me and my fiance been together 12 years but I wont get married cause I heard it messes up what u get idk if its true but ill wait lol. N I got 6grand he got 1 grand

Answer 73

As I started to make a decent income (definitely not enough for a single mom) the less I got back in taxes

Answer 74

You're doing good! Your goal should be to get back $0. A tax return is pretty much the government's way of paying you back for over charging your taxes. It's all your money it's either you get it in your paychecks or you get it in an lump sum doing tax season.  

Answer 75

Thank you, everyone, for your responses.  

Answer 76

We got back more when we made less money because of all of the tax credits and paying daycare expenses. now that the kids have grown and our careers have flourished we are happy to break even. I have more taken out of my check than some people make weekly, so I feel blessed. Tax breaks for children and the other income credits I’ve heard people talking about getting $10000 back! Lord how that would help these days

Answer 77

We have 3 children and very high property tax but this year we are getting back less than last year and we had to pay the accountant more. 3k is what we get back and we have to pay $700 to the accountant. My husband owns his own business so our taxes are complicated.  

Answer 78

Because if you receive a refund. it's just that: the government is refunding you your money. In other words, you just gave the government an interest-free loan for the last year because you over-paid your taxes. And you over-paid your taxes because your withholding is not set up properly. Ideally, you'll want to set up your withholding so that you keep nearly every dollar you're entitled to and pay the tax man only what he's entitled to take and not a penny more. This isn't really easy to do in practice, but if you're only getting a refund of $100 then you're pretty close. If your refund is thousands of dollars then you just spent the last year giving away money that you didn't have to give away.  

Comments

@amadou York Summers those of us who get a large refund prefer things that way. Sure, it’s an interest free loan, but I can’t save 10k a year on my own. So I’ll take things the way they are. just as others in this group

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@markova, why couldn’t you save 10K on your own? You need to take charge of your money and not let the government have it. At least if you saved it you would get $ in interest instead of a big fat zero from Government.  

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@quigley you’re not getting the point. We WANT it to be this way. We wouldn’t get any $ back on interest because we wouldn’t be able to save it at all.  

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@quigley thanks mom for the advice, but this is how we like things. It works for us.  

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Shannon, do you have debt to pay down? That’s money that could go to that or for vacation if debt free. But if there is someone in the family who can’t control their spending then I guess it is safer with the government ‍♀️

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@markova, how did you know I was a mom?!?  I used to like the refund too at the end of the year but I now enjoy having all my money for my use not the government misspending it.  

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@quigley the amount of debt I have will never be even close to paid down with a refund. So thanks for your fake concern. Really it just comes down to the fact that if someone likes it and it works for their family, you don’t need to slam them for what they want to do.  

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Shannon, what makes you think my concern is fake? I want slamming you I just asked a question. Sorry for triggering you and by the way you are reacting I guess I touched a nerve. Also why are you in a budgeting FB group if you didn’t want advice. Maybe I have been where you are now and now I am debt free and would like more people to be too.  

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@quigley lady I didn’t ask for your advice. I gave you a point of view different from your own, but go off sis.