<prompt> Human: I went to my accountant to file in my taxes over the weekend. The two big changes for the 2016 file are: new job in October 2015 that bumped my annual salary 50,000 more than my previous job, and I bought a house last year.I was convinced by many that I would get a decent refund just simply because I purchased a house. In the end, I owe about 3,000 in Federal and 1,500 for the state. My accountant told me its due to mainly a very low witholding and that I should adjust it via the W4, and my donations are also low 1,000 last year. If I didnt purchase a house, I wouldve owed more according to him.I realize I may have missed a lot of info, but do any of those sound reasonably accurate? Where would be a good start for me to educate myself how to properly adjust my W4? Im worried I may have lost out on some money because I didnt properly adjust my W4 sooner.  <response>: You dont get a refund just because you buy a house. People regularly overestimate how much a house saves in taxes esp a house bought midway through a year. For example simplified, lets say you paid 10K in interest and property taxes in 2016 and you itemize. You save approx. 1,000 in taxes. You can deduct 10K in house expense but you were already getting a 6K standard deduction each year for a different of 4K. You save about 25 of that difference. 