Tax refund calculator
The IRS issues most refunds within 21 days of an e-filed return, and six weeks or more for one sent on paper. Two things override that: a return claiming the Earned Income or Additional Child Tax Credit is held by law until mid-February whatever the date on it, and a return pulled for identity verification leaves the published window entirely.
What comes back is what you paid in minus what you owed, and for anyone with children the credits decide it: $2,200 a child, and an earned income credit reaching $8,231. Both are shown as separate lines below, because the refundable part arrives whether or not you paid any tax at all.
credit amounts read from Rev. Proc. 2025-32, the revenue procedure setting the 2026 inflation adjustments · How we check
Estimated refund
$1,330
$9,000 paid in against $7,670 owed.
| Adjusted gross income | $75,000 |
| Standard deduction | −$16,100 |
| Taxable income | $58,900 |
| Income tax | $7,670 |
| Total tax | $7,670 |
| Federal tax withheld | $9,000 |
| Total paid | $9,000 |
Marginal rate 22% — what the next dollar of wages would cost, before any credit phase-out.
The credits that decide it
A deduction reduces the income that gets taxed; a credit reduces the tax itself, dollar for dollar, and a refundable credit keeps paying after the tax reaches zero. That last distinction is the whole difference between a small refund and a large one.
| Credit | Worth | Refundable? |
|---|---|---|
| Child tax credit | $2,200 a child under 17 | Up to $1,700 each |
| Credit for other dependants | $500 each | No |
| Earned income credit, no children | up to $664 | Entirely |
| Earned income credit, 1 child | up to $4,427 | Entirely |
| Earned income credit, 2 children | up to $7,316 | Entirely |
| Earned income credit, three or more children | up to $8,231 | Entirely |
The earned income credit rises with what you earn, holds flat, then falls away — so both too little income and too much reduce it. With one child it peaks at $13,020 of earnings and is gone by $51,593 single. More than $12,200 of investment income disqualifies it outright, whatever you earn.
Two worked examples
$75,000, single, no children, $9,000 withheld
Taxable income of $58,900 after the standard deduction, tax of $7,670, so the refund is $1,330 — the amount over-withheld, and nothing more. No credit applies.
$42,000, head of household, two children, $1,800 withheld
The tax is $1,788 before credits, and the child credit erases it. What is left comes back as cash: $2,612 of refundable child credit and $3,502 of earned income credit, for a refund of $7,914 against $1,800 withheld. The refund is 4.4 times what was taken out of the paychecks, which is how a credit differs from a deduction.
What this leaves out
- State tax. This is the federal refund only. Your state return is separate and settles separately — see the per-state paycheck pages for what your state withholds.
- Education, care and energy credits. The American Opportunity credit, the child and dependent care credit, the saver’s credit and the residential energy credits each have their own eligibility tests, and a calculator that guessed at them would be worse than one that says it did not try.
- Capital gains rates. Long-term gains and qualified dividends are taxed at 0%, 15% or 20% rather than at your ordinary rate. Entering them as other income here overstates the tax on them.
- The alternative minimum tax, which for 2026 exempts the first $90,100 of AMT income for a single filer and affects very few wage earners.
Questions people actually ask
- How is a tax refund calculated?
- It is a subtraction, not a formula about income. Everything paid in during the year — withholding from each paycheck, any quarterly payments, and any refundable credits — is compared against the tax actually owed on the year as a whole. Pay in more than you owed and the difference comes back. The size of the refund says nothing about how much tax you paid; it says how badly the withholding matched.
- Why is my refund smaller this year?
- Almost always because withholding changed rather than tax. A raise, a bonus taxed at the flat 22% supplemental rate, a second job, a spouse starting work, or a W-4 filed after the 2020 redesign — each moves the amount withheld without moving what is owed. A refund is the gap between the two, so it moves twice as fast as either.
- How much is the child tax credit for 2026?
- $2,200 per child under 17, and $500 for a dependant who does not qualify — a child of 17 or over, a parent, a qualifying relative. Up to $1,700 a child can come back as cash when the credit is larger than your tax, but only 15% of earned income above $2,500, which is why a very low wage does not collect all of it. The credit shrinks by $50 for every $1,000 of income over $200,000, or $400,000 filing jointly.
- Can I get a refund larger than what was withheld?
- Yes, and for a working parent on a modest wage that is the normal outcome. The earned income credit reaches $8,231 with three children and the refundable child credit adds up to $1,700 each. Both are paid whether or not any tax was owed. In the example below, $1,800 of withholding turns into $7,914 back.
- When will I get it?
- The IRS issues most refunds within 21 days of accepting an electronically filed return with direct deposit. A return claiming the earned income credit or the refundable child credit is held by law until mid-February however early it was filed, and that hold applies to the whole refund, not just the credit portion. Paper returns take considerably longer.
- Is a big refund a good thing?
- It is an interest-free loan to the government, repaid to you in one instalment. Whether that is bad depends on whether you would otherwise have spent the money — the argument that it is always a mistake assumes a discipline that plenty of people would rather not rely on. What is worth knowing is that it is a choice, changed on a W-4 in an afternoon.
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The date is when the figures on this page were last checked against their source, not the day you opened it. Add your own access date if your style needs one.
Sources
- Rev. Proc. 2025-32 — inflation-adjusted amounts for tax year 2026 (earned income credit, child tax credit, education loan interest)
- IRS — Child Tax Credit
- IRS — Earned Income Tax Credit
An estimate, not a return. The figures above are the 2026 amounts and change every January.