Tax Year 2022

Small Refunds for Many

The IRS warned people to expect smaller tax refunds in 2023. Why? Two big reasons:

1. There were no economic impact payments in 2022 reducing the padding that people were excited to receive.
2. Expanded tax credits and deductions—like the child tax credit and charitable contributions deduction—reverted to their pre-COVID-19 amounts.

 A tax refund is just the government paying back money that was already yours in the first place (unless you scored some sweet refundable tax credits). What you really want to do is adjust your tax withholdings so you owe nothing and get nothing from the IRS every year. This way, those hard-earned dollars stay in your paycheck and come home with you every payday.