The best thing to do is to go back and double check all of your entries, paying special attention to your W-2's and other income items and taxes withheld. Also, walk through the answers in the personal info section. If something was not marked correctly, you could be losing a credit for a child, or filing with a different filing status.
Depending on how many children you are claiming, if you received the Advanced Child Tax Credit, you may see a noticeable difference because half of the child tax credit was already received instead of getting it all at once like you normally would.
If everything is accurate, you can get your 2020 return and compare it to your 2021 return to see where the difference is coming from. Lines 16-34 will tell you what your refund consists of, if it is different than last year on a certain line, then go back to that section in TurboTax and double check your answers.
If you look at your 1040, line 28 will be the amount you are getting for the child tax credit. If you did not receive any advance payments. The $6,400 would be something more than the child tax credit. If you are only claiming one child, then you your Child Tax Credit will be either $3,000 or $3,600.
Line 32 is your refundable credits which includes your Earned Income Credit, Child Tax Credit, Dependent Care Credit and a few other refundable credits from Schedule 3.
Line 33 of your 1040 are your total payments. This is NOT a refund amount, this is the sum of what you had withheld from your paychecks and all of your credits, some credits are refundable others are not.
Line 34 is the amount of your refund. This is how much you paid in, plus your credits minus your tax liability.
You can see your 1040 using forms mode in TurboTax Desktop or if you are using TurboTax online by clicking the following:
- Tax Tools
- Tools
- View Tax Summary
- Preview My 1040
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