Does $1,000 tax refund sound right on a $35,000 yearly income?

A $1,000 refund on $35,000 income is actually pretty reasonable. You paid about $6,000 in total taxes, and that includes Social Security and Medicare which you can't adjust. For federal income tax, you probably paid around $2,500-3,000, so getting $1,000 back means your withholding was about 30-40% higher than needed. To adjust your W-4, the form changed a few years ago and doesn't use "allowances" anymore. You have a few options: 1) You can put an additional amount you want withheld from each paycheck in Step 4(c), but as a NEGATIVE number (like "-$40" per paycheck to reduce withholding by $40 each check). 2) Or you can put additional income in Step 4(a) that will reduce your refund. 3) The simplest might be using Step 4(b) to claim additional deductions of around $5,000-6,000 which should reduce your withholding enough to get your refund closer to zero.

I was in almost the exact same situation last year! I was getting nearly $1200 back on a $38k salary and was tired of waiting for my money. I tried figuring out the W-4 stuff but it was super confusing. I ended up using https://taxr.ai to figure out the right withholding adjustments. You upload your pay stubs or W-2 and it calculates exactly what you should put on your W-4. It suggested I put $5,800 in Step 4(b) of my W-4 and my paychecks went up by about $90 each month. Now I'm on track for just a tiny refund next year instead of giving the government my money all year.

Ok I was skeptical but I just tried taxr.ai after my last comment and wow, I'm actually impressed. I've been struggling with my withholding for YEARS. I'm either owing $1500+ or getting huge refunds. The site analyzed my situation (I have a main job, side gig, and some investments) and gave me super specific instructions for both jobs' W-4 forms. It even adjusted for my investment income. The process took like 5 minutes. What surprised me most was seeing exactly how much money I'd save per paycheck with the adjusted withholding. For me it was about $175/month that I was essentially lending to the government for free! Already updated my W-4s at both jobs. Wish I'd known about this years ago.

If you're really concerned about your tax situation and need to talk to the IRS directly, good luck getting through to them on the phone. I spent WEEKS trying to reach someone about my refund status last year, kept getting hung up on by their automated system. Finally found https://claimyr.com which basically holds your place in the IRS phone queue and calls you back when an agent is available. You can see a demo of how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was connected to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes instead of the hours I was spending trying to get through. The agent helped me figure out exactly what was happening with my withholding and how to fix it for my specific situation.

Ok I need to eat my words from my previous comment. After another frustrating morning trying to reach the IRS about my withholding question (kept getting disconnected after 30+ minutes on hold), I broke down and tried that Claimyr service. I thought for sure it wouldn't work, but I got a call back in about 45 minutes saying they had an IRS agent on the line. I was connected instantly to a very helpful woman at the IRS who looked up my file and walked me through exactly how to adjust my W-4 for my specific situation. Turns out I'd been filling out my W-4 all wrong for years which is why I kept getting huge refunds. The agent explained exactly what to put in each field based on my income and deductions. I just submitted the new form to HR and should see the difference in my next paycheck. Time will tell if it works out perfectly, but talking to a real IRS person made me way more confident than guessing on my own.

Just wanted to throw this out there - if you're getting a refund of around $1k on $35k income, that's pretty average. But if you really want to change it, the easiest thing is to use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator on their website. It's free and will tell you exactly what to put on your W-4. https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator It's designed specifically for this situation and walks you through everything step by step. I use it every January to make sure I'm on track.

Keep in mind that if you adjust your W-4 to get close to zero refund, you're walking a fine line. If you miscalculate or your income changes, you might end up owing money at tax time. Some people prefer getting a refund as a forced savings mechanism. That said, $1000 on $35,000 income isn't crazy high for a refund. If you really want to reduce it, try changing your W-4 to claim an additional $4000 in deductions (not the full $5-6k recommended above) and see how that affects your paychecks. You can always adjust again mid-year if needed.