Is my $5K tax refund correct? Need advice on large refund amount

Your refund actually makes sense based on the information you provided. The large refund is primarily due to three factors working together: First, you're now filing as Married Filing Jointly which often provides a better tax situation than filing as Single. Even though your husband arrived late in the year, you still get the full benefit of the filing status for the entire tax year. Second, you had significant withholding ($8,700) compared to your actual tax liability ($5,350), which already creates a refund of $3,350 before any credits. Third, you qualified for the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) worth $2,500 for your educational expenses. The AOTC is partially refundable, meaning you can receive up to $1,000 even if you have no tax liability. Based on your tuition payments of $6,200, you definitely qualify for the maximum credit. So when you combine these factors, a $5,850 refund makes perfect sense mathematically.

Just wanted to share that I was in almost the exact same situation last year and was worried about my big refund too. I found this amazing tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that really helped me double check everything. It's like having a second pair of eyes look over your return before you submit it. I uploaded my previous W-2s and current year documents, and it analyzed everything to confirm I was getting the right refund amount. It even caught that I was eligible for an education credit I didn't know about! The peace of mind was totally worth it instead of stressing about whether I'd done something wrong.

Following up about taxr.ai - I decided to try it after finishing my return in FreeTaxUSA when I was worried about my refund. It was actually really helpful! I uploaded my return and it confirmed I was getting the right amount back (about $4k). What surprised me was it showed me WHY my refund was so high compared to last year - turned out getting married and changing my withholding made the biggest difference. It also explained how my education credits were calculated, which I wasn't totally sure about. Definitely worth it for peace of mind before filing.

If you're worried about your refund being incorrect, you should try calling the IRS directly to confirm before filing. I learned the hard way last year that waiting on hold forever is just part of tax season... BUT then I found Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and it completely changed my experience. Check out their demo here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c Basically, they have this system where they wait on hold with the IRS for you and then call you when an agent is available. Used it twice this year - once to verify my education credits and once to check if my withholding looked correct. Both times they had me speaking with an actual IRS agent within 20 minutes when I would have been on hold for hours otherwise.

I need to eat my words from my earlier comment. After waiting on hold with the IRS for 2.5 hours yesterday only to have the call drop, I decided to try Claimyr out of frustration. It actually worked perfectly. I got a call back in about 40 minutes and was connected right to an IRS agent who helped verify my refund calculation. For anyone curious - the agent told me large increases in refunds are very common when someone changes from Single to Married Filing Jointly AND qualifies for education credits in the same year. She said as long as all your income documents match what employers reported, there's no reason to worry about the refund amount being "too high" if the math checks out.

Your tax situation is pretty common and makes perfect sense! I'm an accounting student (not a tax pro yet) but we just covered this exact scenario in my tax class. The standard deduction for Married Filing Jointly for 2023 is $27,700 but there's an additional deduction of $1,500 per spouse that can apply in certain situations which would get you to the $29,200 total deduction you mentioned. Also, based on the income and filing status you shared, your refund amount is totally normal. Education credits plus the married filing status can really boost your refund especially when you've been withholding as if you were single all year.

One thing to keep in mind - make sure you actually qualify for the American Opportunity Credit. It's only available for the first 4 years of post-secondary education and you need to be enrolled at least half-time in a degree program. Some people think any education expenses qualify, but that's not the case.