Did something in your withholding situation change? Or did something change in your income but you didn't fill out a new VA4?

I’ve owed a minimal amount the last two years. I adjusted my withholding a bit, to get as close to zero as possible, and am getting $260 back. So maybe?

No, everything was steady. That's the confusing part.

Lol,.what's a refund?

Yeah, that's my normal answer for fed. Fixed that this year though

I always try to get no refund but pay as little as possible as well. Most years I get close, not feeling too confident this year.

Did you itemize your deductions this year? VA requires you to take the state standard deduction if you took the federal standard deduction, but the state standard deduction is very small. If you itemized this year, that might have increased your deductions by $10k+ over the standard deduction and led to a higher refund.

Nah, we always do the standard. That is interesting to know though!

The state standard deduction went up a lot this year.

The state standard deduction went up a lot this year, so that reduced your taxable income, but since the increase in the deduction didn’t go into effect until December (it was tied to actual state revenue vs. projections), your boss spent the entire year withholding at the old rate, assuming a smaller deduction amount.

There is no raise to the deduction planned this year regardless of state revenues, so withholdings should match your tax liability this year.

TL;DR, through no fault of anyone but the General Assembly, you paid too much in taxes over the year and got a big refund. Do not expect the same next year.

I missed that, thanks! The increase in the standard deduction alone would decrease OP's taxes by $371 if OP is filing as a married couple - that could explain a good portion of the increase.

This is a great explanation, thank you!

I got 150ish back from the state. 10ish back from th4 feds..

So a bit more than expected from the state, but not particularly higher than usual

Got less back from federal and lot more back from the state so it all evened out.

I usually owe state taxes and get a federal refund

Lol, no. I never get a refund. ):

That definitely seems to jive with the way we filed. I appreciate everyone's comments! Glad to know I didn't make some typo. Just always trying to avoid that audit

Thanks Glen!

Mine went from $200+ 2021 to $500+ this year.