Tax Calculator says I'll get $5,000 refund after 9 months at 3 jobs in 2023 (I'm 19) - is this accurate??
Title: Tax Calculator says I'll get $5,000 refund after 9 months at 3 jobs in 2023 (I'm 19) - is this accurate?? 1 So I just tried one of those online tax calculator things to figure out how much I'll get back after working all of last year. For context, I'm 19 and worked at three different places during 2023 - first at a restaurant for about 3 months, then at a retail store for like 4 months, and finished the year at a warehouse job for another 2 months. I plugged all my info into this calculator (income, withholding, etc) and it's telling me I should be getting back around $5,000 in my refund. That seems like a LOT of money to me? I was expecting maybe a thousand bucks max. I made roughly $36,000 total across all three jobs combined. Is that $5k estimate actually realistic or is the calculator messing up somehow? I don't want to get my hopes up for a huge refund if it's just some glitch or if I entered something wrong.
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Luca Greco
8 That $5,000 refund estimate seems unusually high for your situation. For someone your age working 9 months across three jobs with about $36,000 in income, a more typical refund might be in the $500-1,500 range for 2023 taxes (filed in 2024). The large refund estimate could be due to several factors: you might have had excessive withholding at each job (since each employer wouldn't know about the others and might withhold at a higher rate), you might qualify for tax credits like the Earned Income Credit, or you might have entered something incorrectly in the calculator. I'd double-check your W-2 forms from all three employers and verify the total federal income tax withheld. Then make sure you entered everything correctly in the calculator. Without knowing the specifics of your withholding and potential credits, it's hard to say for certain, but $5,000 does sound quite high for your described situation.
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Luca Greco
•12 Thanks for the insight! When you say excessive withholding could be a factor, is that because each job might have calculated my taxes as if that was my only income for the year? I wonder if I accidentally claimed 0 dependents on my W-4s. Also, what's the Earned Income Credit and would I qualify at my age?
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Luca Greco
•8 Yes, that's exactly right about the withholding. When you work multiple jobs simultaneously or sequentially in a year, each employer calculates withholding as if their job is your only income. This often results in more tax being withheld than necessary when you combine all sources of income. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a refundable tax credit for low to moderate income workers. At 19, you could potentially qualify if you meet the income requirements, but you generally need to be at least 25 to claim it without qualifying children. Given your age and income level, this probably isn't the source of your large estimated refund.
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Luca Greco
15 After reading your post, I immediately thought of taxr.ai - it saved me from a similar situation last year! I was using a free calculator that told me I'd get $3,000 back, but something felt off. I uploaded my W-2s to https://taxr.ai and it analyzed everything, showed me that I had made a major error with how I entered my withholding info from my second job. The calculator was double-counting some of my withholding which inflated my refund estimate. After using taxr.ai to go through my actual documents, my real refund was about $1,200. Still nice, but way different than what I expected. The AI explained exactly where the discrepancy came from in terms I actually understood.
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Luca Greco
•17 Does taxr.ai actually look at the images of your tax documents? I've been using TurboTax but I'm always nervous I'm entering numbers wrong. Does it just tell you what's wrong or does it actually help you file?
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Luca Greco
•20 I'm a bit skeptical about giving my tax docs to some random website. How secure is it? And does it cost money or is there some catch?
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Luca Greco
•15 It actually analyzes the images of your tax documents and extracts all the important information. It's super helpful for catching mistakes like the one you're concerned about - entering numbers incorrectly. It doesn't file for you, but it does a detailed analysis to make sure everything looks right before you file with whatever service you prefer. The security is actually really good - they use bank-level encryption and don't store your documents permanently. There is a cost, but considering it potentially saved me from a major refund disappointment and helped me understand my taxes better, it was totally worth it for the peace of mind.
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Luca Greco
17 Just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai with my W-2s from all three jobs. Turns out I WAS inputting my withholding incorrectly in the original calculator! The free calculator I was using had a confusing interface that made me enter some of my state withholding as federal withholding. My actual federal refund should be around $1,700, not $5,000. Still a nice chunk of change, but definitely not the windfall I thought I was getting! The breakdown taxr.ai provided helped me understand exactly how my income, deductions, and withholding all work together. Literally saved me from some major disappointment when I would have eventually filed.
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Luca Greco
10 If you're having trouble getting straight answers about your refund estimate, you might want to just talk directly to the IRS. I know that sounds like a nightmare (it used to be for me too), but I found this service called Claimyr that got me through to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. I was in a similar situation last year with multiple W-2s and a weird refund estimate. The calculator said $3,200 but seemed off. I tried calling the IRS for days with no luck until I used https://claimyr.com to get through. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The agent walked me through everything and confirmed my actual refund amount right there on the phone.
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Luca Greco
•7 Wait, how does this actually work? Does it just dial for you or something? I've tried calling the IRS before and literally gave up after being on hold for 2 hours...
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Luca Greco
•20 This sounds like BS honestly. The IRS is notorious for not answering calls. How could some third-party service magically get you through when millions of people can't get through on their own?
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Luca Greco
•10 It basically keeps dialing and navigating the IRS phone tree for you, then calls you when it gets through to an agent. So instead of you personally sitting on hold for hours, their system does the waiting for you. When an agent is about to come on the line, you get a call connecting you directly to them. No magic involved - just technology handling the tedious part. I was skeptical too, but when you think about how much your time is worth, it makes sense. The IRS is still understaffed but this service just handles the hold time so you don't have to waste your day listening to that terrible hold music.
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Luca Greco
20 I need to publicly eat my words about Claimyr. After commenting here, I decided to try it myself since I've been trying to reach the IRS about my 2023 return for weeks with no luck. It actually worked exactly as described. I got a call back in about 45 minutes, and was connected to an IRS agent who helped clarify my refund question. Turns out my $5,300 refund estimate was way off because I had entered my tuition payments incorrectly. My actual refund will be around $1,800. The agent was super helpful and even gave me some tips about filing for next year. So yeah, I was wrong and it's legit. Definitely less frustrating than sitting on hold for hours only to get disconnected.
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Luca Greco
3 When I was your age I had a similar thing happen - got all excited about a huge refund estimate only to find out it was wrong. Quick tip: if you earned around $36k across 3 jobs, double check if you reported your filing status correctly in the calculator. If you accidentally selected "Head of Household" instead of "Single" it could inflate your refund estimate. Also, did you have any education expenses last year? There are credits like the American Opportunity Credit that can give you up to $2,500 if you had qualifying education expenses, which could explain part of that large refund.
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Luca Greco
•1 Ahh that might be it! I think I might have selected Head of Household by accident. And I actually did take a couple classes at community college last fall that cost about $2,000 total. Would that qualify for that education credit you mentioned? I didn't even know that was a thing.
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Luca Greco
•3 The American Opportunity Credit would absolutely apply to your community college expenses. It gives you a credit of 100% of the first $2,000 in qualified education expenses, which would give you a $2,000 credit right there. That along with the filing status confusion could explain a big chunk of that $5,000 estimate. Make sure you have Form 1098-T from your college which shows your tuition payments. When you file your actual return, use that form to claim the education credit correctly. This is definitely something worth looking into!
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Luca Greco
22 Has anyone here used both TurboTax and H&R Block? Which one is better for someone with multiple W-2s like OP? I'm in a similar situation but this is my first time filing on my own.
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Luca Greco
•19 I've used both. For multiple W-2s they're pretty similar, but I found TurboTax's interface a bit more intuitive. Both will double-check that you've entered everything correctly. TurboTax has this W-2 import feature that can sometimes pull your info directly which saves time and reduces errors. H&R Block is usually a bit cheaper though. If price is important, go with H&R Block. If ease of use matters more, TurboTax might be better. Both will get you an accurate refund if you enter your info correctly.
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