<prompt> Human: Okay so I just filed our 2014 taxes through turbotax and was a little shocked at what the result was: were supposed to be getting a bigger refund than what we had withheld. Much bigger. Heres our family:Me: student for part of the year, primary income.Husband: full time student, part time income, unemployed for about three and a half months. Son: toddler, no child care expenses due to awesome grandparents. Overall numbers: combined income of 13k, federal withholdings of about 1700, estimated refund of 5100, live in a state with no additional taxes. Is this actually a thing that can happen if youre a family of three living on 13kyear or did I make a mistake somewhere along the way? I was definitely thrown off when our effective tax rate was in the area of -30. I have never had to file taxes before and hubby has always had his parents do them or help him with them.  <response>: I could be right - you have no taxable income, so 1,700 comes back to you. The EITC Baconality mentioned is up to 3,300 for you, and there may be the Child Care Tax credit as well. So a little over 5,000 is possible. 