Is My Tax Return Broken?

I think I might have messed up my W-4 forms. I had 3 jobs last year: one all year, one I left in April, and one I started in June. I earned $17k in total and my federal return is just $8, and my state return is $128. Very little tax was taken out. After looking over my W-4, I saw a section about having multiple jobs. How can I make it so more taxes get taken out now that I only have two jobs?

You probably don’t want to do that.

Let’s say you’re expecting a $1,200 refund next year when you file. If you had that $1,200 now, you’d probably just deposit it into your bank. But if you got $100 a month from that refund, and it went into a savings account earning 4% interest, by the time you file your taxes next year, you’d have at least $1,225. That’s $25 more than you’d get if you waited for the full refund at the end.

@Tobin
That actually makes a lot of sense. So yeah, it seems like it’s better to just leave things as they are

Haven said:
@Tobin
That actually makes a lot of sense. So yeah, it seems like it’s better to just leave things as they are

Exactly. We’ve all been taught to look forward to a big refund check, but it’s actually just the government borrowing your money with no interest.

And that’s $1,200 x 334,900,000 people (2023).

Why would you want to give your money to the government interest-free? That’s what you’re doing when you expect a tax refund. Honestly, the way your taxes worked out is great—you kept the money in your pocket all year. If you withhold more, you’re just giving it to the government interest-free.

@Zem
Yeah, that makes sense now :thinking:

So, you want to get a bigger tax refund by having less money in your paycheck? You could fill out a new W-4 for each job, claim single, and make each job withhold an extra $100 each pay period.

Pierce said:
So, you want to get a bigger tax refund by having less money in your paycheck? You could fill out a new W-4 for each job, claim single, and make each job withhold an extra $100 each pay period.

Or… have a kid…

You can mark this as solved.

You’d get smaller paychecks but a bigger refund in February.

Or you could always have a kid.

Val said:
You can mark this as solved.

You’d get smaller paychecks but a bigger refund in February.

Or you could always have a kid.

I’m not sure how to mark it as solved

Val said:
You can mark this as solved.

You’d get smaller paychecks but a bigger refund in February.

Or you could always have a kid.

Forget it, I figured it out

Val said:
You can mark this as solved.

You’d get smaller paychecks but a bigger refund in February.

Or you could always have a kid.

But yeah, I understand now. I just didn’t know how to fill out the W-4 for having two jobs. I didn’t realize I needed to fill it out differently until I saw how small my refund was. I’m just a bit confused about where to put certain information.

@Haven
You don’t have to change anything. You just got your money earlier instead of in one lump sum.

This reminds me of the time my brother was upset when he didn’t get enough change after buying something as a kid. I get that you were hoping for a bigger refund, but honestly, this result is ideal for you.