Tax Return

thehourman

I was filling out my tax refund using Turbo Tax basic. My situation is, I have three W-2's. When I entered my first W-2, I got $250+ federal. When I added the 2nd W-2, it went up to $500+ federal. However, when I entered my 3rd W-2 (for current job), my federal went down to $300+. I don't get why my tax refund went down from $500+ to $300+.

I am not an accountant, but it seems like I am doing something wrong here.

nosoup4u

Few factors really,

It depends how much the total of the three add up too

Secondly how much each is for, a certain amount of each isn't taxable.

Forsaken_GA

Well, the biggest factor is going to be whether you changed tax brackets. The more money you make, the more you owe in taxes (assuming that money comes from ordinary income)

The second biggest issue is whether enough was being withheld from each check. Unless you take a direct hand in your W4, most companies are going to withhold at around what they think your tax rate is going to be. So if you have 3 W-2's where your witholding was done on a 20% basis, when your total income added up to put you into a 25% tax bracket, you weren't having enough withheld.

I experienced the reverse, since I worked for a company that got bough last year. My first W2 was for 9 months of the year. My withholding was at levels appropriate for my salary, but the income listed on that W2 only covered 75% of my pay. So on the basis of that W2, my withholding was much higher than it should have been, so it was showing a big fat refund.

As soon as I put in the W2 for the other 3 months of income, my return dropped by a thousand bucks.

thehourman

The total is about $35K+ for all three.
I deleted one of my W-2 (previous employer) and the federal went up to $1300; and when I entered it back, it went back to $300.
I also noticed that it does not have a "State Employer's state ID number" box 15. My other two, however, have something in box 15.

thehourman

About my previous job, I worked there for 6 months then I got a new job. I have been working on my new job for 4 months now. I wrote on my tax forms when I started working on my old job as single. I did the same thing with my current one. Just like I mentioned on my post #4, when I deleted my previous job's W-2, the money went up to $1300+ federal, but when I added it back, my federal went back to $300+.

Do you guys thing that having the box 15 blank is affecting the amount of tax refund?
Also, my W-2 for my previous job box 12a has "C 6.47" and the other two W-2's boxes 12 are blank.

Forsaken_GA

thehourman wrote: »

Do you guys thing that having the box 15 blank is affecting the amount of tax refund?

Not your federal. If you live in a state that has it's own income tax, then it might, but the state stuff is independent of federal taxation.

Forsaken_GA

thehourman wrote: »

The total is about $35K+ for all three.
I deleted one of my W-2 (previous employer) and the federal went up to $1300; and when I entered it back, it went back to $300.
I also noticed that it does not have a "State Employer's state ID number" box 15. My other two, however, have something in box 15.

You're likely changing tax brackets then. Assuming you're filing single, then the 15% tax bracket ends at $34,500. Anything above that, and you're in the 25% tax bracket.

Depends though, is 35k gross? The standard deduction should lower your liability back below $34.5k.

The other exercise is to go through your W-2's and figure out what rate you were withheld at. For each W2, look at the amount of taxable incoming it's reporting, then look at the amount of federal withheld, and figure out what percentage of your total taxable income that amount withheld is. Anything above 15% you should get back, anything below 15%, you owe the difference.

thehourman

After I doing some research in Turboxtax community, I found this https://ttlc.intuit.com/post/show_mini/a49gi2cpWr3QYbacfArvR4?help=true&show_answer_button=false&show_ask_button=false&show_comment_button=false&tags=
He said that file the W-2s separately and not combine them. What I am doing is combining all three.

Forsaken_GA

thehourman wrote: »

After I doing some research in Turboxtax community, I found this https://ttlc.intuit.com/post/show_mini/a49gi2cpWr3QYbacfArvR4?help=true&show_answer_button=false&show_ask_button=false&show_comment_button=false&tags=
He said that file the W-2s separately and not combine them. What I am doing is combining all three.

No, what he means is that you enter each W2 individually, not file them individually. This is as opposed to trying to add up everything and only make one entry in the W2 section on turbotax.

Akaricloud

You changed from the 15% to 25% tax bracket by entering the last W2. There's nothing you can do about this; just be happy that you're getting money back instead of owing it.

thehourman

Ok thanks. I'm gonna submit my taxes.

thanks again