I earned around $38,000 last year but my federal tax refund is showing over $10,000?? Is this right?

This definitely seems unusually high for your income level. A refund that's over 25% of your annual income would be extremely rare without special circumstances. The most common reasons for unexpectedly large refunds are: 1) You may have entered your withholding incorrectly - check your W-2 forms and make sure the federal income tax withheld amounts were entered correctly 2) You might qualify for refundable tax credits you weren't aware of, like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) - though at $38k as a single person, you'd be near the upper limit 3) You could have accidentally entered the same income twice as withholding 4) There might be a software calculation error I'd recommend reviewing your entire return carefully, especially your W-2 withholding amounts. Compare the "Federal income tax withheld" box on your W-2s with what you entered. Often people mix up the Social Security or Medicare tax amounts with federal withholding.

I had something similar happen to me last year - was expecting around $2k back but my tax software showed over $7k. Turns out I had accidentally entered my total income in the federal withholding box! I was super confused until I tried another way to verify my return. I used taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) to double-check my tax forms before submitting. You just upload pictures of your tax documents and it analyzes them to make sure everything matches what you entered in your tax software. Saved me from a potential audit nightmare because it flagged the withholding error right away. Their AI actually explains what's wrong in normal human language too, not tax jargon.

Just wanted to update that I used taxr.ai to check my return like you suggested and WOW - it found the exact problem! I had accidentally entered $10,240 as my federal withholding when it was actually $1,024. The numbers looked so similar I didn't catch it during my reviews. The tool was super easy to use - I just took pics of my W-2s and 1099s with my phone, uploaded them, and it highlighted exactly where the discrepancy was. It even calculated what my correct refund should be (around $1,800). Definitely saved me from a potential audit and a huge disappointment when the IRS caught the error.

Had almost the exact same issue last year, but then couldn't get anyone at the IRS to help me figure out what was wrong. Kept calling that 800 number for WEEKS with no luck. Eventually found out about Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) from a coworker. It's this service that gets you through to an actual human at the IRS without the endless waiting. You can see how it works in their demo video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was skeptical but desperate so I tried it. They called the IRS, navigated the phone tree, waited on hold (for over an hour!), and then called me when they had an actual IRS agent on the line. The agent helped me identify the withholding error on my return and explained how to fix it.

Well I stand completely corrected. After seeing that ridiculous $10k refund calculation on my return, I got worried enough to try Claimyr. Got connected to an IRS agent in about 45 minutes (without me having to actually wait on the phone). The agent confirmed I had entered my withholding incorrectly - I put my year-to-date earnings in the federal withholding box! She walked me through exactly how to fix it and what my actual refund should be. I was super skeptical this service would work but it absolutely delivered. Saved me hours of frustration and potentially waiting months for the IRS to catch the error and delay my correct refund.

One thing nobody's mentioned - check if you accidentally claimed any credits you're not eligible for. I once got a surprisingly high refund because my tax software somehow checked the box for the American Opportunity Credit even though I wasn't in school that year. Small software glitches can make a huge difference!

Has anyone actually confirmed if tax software can make calculation errors? Like actual math errors? I always thought it was user input errors but now I'm paranoid about my own return.