What's the tax catch I'm missing with this refund calculation?

This difference is likely related to how the software is calculating your Child Tax Credit phaseout. For 2025, the full credit is $2,000 per qualifying child, but it begins to phase out for Head of Household filers when your modified adjusted gross income exceeds $138,000. The software showing the lower refund might be incorrectly applying the phaseout to your income. At $65,000, you should definitely qualify for the full credit amount. Another possibility is that one software is considering your child for the Child Tax Credit while the other is calculating them as qualifying for the Credit for Other Dependents (which is only $500), depending on age and other factors. I'd recommend looking at the actual tax forms both programs generate - specifically Form 1040 and Schedule 8812 for the Child Tax Credit. Compare the numbers line by line to see exactly where the discrepancy is happening.

I had a similar issue last year with different refund amounts. After spending hours trying to figure it out, I found this AI tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that actually analyzes your tax documents and explains the differences between calculations. It was super helpful for me because it pointed out that one software wasn't accounting for a specific education credit I qualified for. Instead of just giving you a number, it explains why the calculations are different and which one is likely correct based on current tax law. Might save you some time compared to manually comparing forms line by line.

I wanted to follow up about that taxr.ai site mentioned above. I decided to try it after posting my skeptical comment, and it actually helped me understand why I was getting different amounts between TurboTax and FreeTaxUSA. Turns out one was correctly applying a student loan interest deduction and the other wasn't because I had entered slightly different income amounts. The analysis showed me exactly which lines were different and explained the tax rules that applied. Really straightforward and helped me fix my return before submitting. Didn't have to give them my SSN or anything like that, just uploaded the PDF previews from both software programs.

If you're still confused after comparing the forms, try calling the IRS directly. I know that sounds like torture (because it is lol), but I used this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me through to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent I spoke with was surprisingly helpful and walked me through exactly why my tax credits were calculating differently in different software. Turns out I had a similar child tax credit issue, and they confirmed which calculation was correct. Gave me peace of mind before filing.

I need to eat my words about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical comment, I decided to try it myself since I've been trying to reach the IRS about an issue with my stimulus payment for weeks. Not only did I get through to an agent in about 20 minutes, but they actually resolved my issue completely. The agent confirmed that my tax software was calculating my refund incorrectly because of how it was handling that stimulus payment from last year. Getting that fixed increased my refund by over $1,100. Worth every penny just for the time saved not listening to that awful hold music for hours. Definitely using this again next time I need to deal with the IRS.

One thing nobody's mentioned yet - check if both software programs are using the same tax year rules! This happened to me once where one program somehow wasn't fully updated with the latest tax law changes, and it caused a similar discrepancy. Also, sometimes the difference can be due to how each software rounds certain calculations or handles certain credits in different orders of operations. It's annoying but can cause hundreds in differences.

Random thought but have you tried entering your info in the IRS's free calculator on their website? It's not as thorough as full tax software but it can give you a general idea of what your refund should be. Might help you triangulate which software is closer to correct.