Why did i only get a $20 tax refund?

When doing my taxes, it stated that my refund would be for $20. Thats right, twenty dollars. I earned roughly $10,000 and paid about 1,000 of that in tax. I went through and re-entered all my information about 3 times and it kept coming out to $20. When I unclicked the box in which I stated that my parents claimed me as a dependent, the amount shot up by the hundreds. I understand that I am a dependent, but surely I am titled to more than a $20 refund. I feel INSULTED! That is not even worth the time of me sitting down and filing and wasting my stamp money to send it in! Can someone explain this disaster? I am feeling rather anarchical at the moment.

Basically a small refund or amount owed shows that you had the proper amount of tax withheld from your pay. In order to get a bigger refund you would have had more withheld, which would have resulted in smaller paychecks.

So people who get a big refund are just fooling themselves. They are loaning money to Uncle Sam interest free that they could have gotten with each paycheck much earlier.

And I made about 7 times as much money as you and paid about 25 times more income tax.

The fact is, your parents paid for most of your expenses - you don't need the refund. When you start paying all of your own expenses out of your own earnings, you will get a bigger refund. Get over it.

The tax withholding worked the way it was supposed to--very little owed or refunded. If your refund had been larger, it would have meant that you had made an interest free loan to the government all year of YOUR OWN MONEY.

The reason is that you cannot claim the "standard deduction" because your parents get to take that deduction on THEIR taxes b/c you're a dependent.
Since your parents tax rate is probably quite a bit higher, your standard deduction from their gross income saves them a lot more taxes than you spend. So, all in all, it's much more economical for them.

In addition, when you say you paid "about 1,000 of that in tax," is that just federal withholding, or is that ALL of your taxes (federal withholding, state withholding, MEDICARE, SOCIAL SECURITY, etc.?) Remember that not all of your taxes goes to the feds... you may have gotten something back from the state... in addition, the social security and medicare taxes are NOT refundable, regardless of how much you make.
And look at it this way -- you only paid 10% of your income in taxes--that's pretty good. Now, of course, if you couldn't have been claimed as a dependent, I'm sure you'd have gotten all of your income taxes back.

So talk to your parents about it -- maybe they'll split their refund with you.

I'm not sure you understand just what a refund is. Through the year you might have money withheld from your paycheck for federal income tax. At the end of the year, you prepare a form called a tax return to calculate how much tax you owe total for the year, and compare that to what was withheld. If you had more withheld than your total tax, you get the extra back as a refund. If you didn't have enough withheld, you have to pay the rest rather than getting a refund.

A refund isn't some sort of bonus the government gives you for working. It's like if you went to WalMart and bought $16 worth of items, but gave the cashier a $20 bill. You'd get a "refund" of $4, but it's not them giving you something, it's just getting your own money back.

If you are a dependent and your income was $10K, then your tax for the year was around $478. If you paid in around $498, your overpayment (which would be your refund) would be $20. Ask your boss to take out an extra $50 a week, and next year you'd get a lot more back since you'd have paid in way too much.

Welcome to the grown-up world.

Why should you be insulted? It's the same as buying something at Wally World and giving the cashier a $20 for $10 worth of stuff. You get $10 change. If you gave them a $50, you'd get $40.

It's just getting your change back on your taxes -- in other words, you only loaned the government $20 last year.

If you want a nice fat refund next year, have your employer withhold an extra $100 each week from your pay. That way you'll get a nice $5,000 refund. Of course you've be lending the government half of your pay to get that big refund. Not such a good idea, is it? Didn't think so!