Not sure if anyone else has done their taxes yet, but I got a not-so-nice surprise when I did mine.

Background - I'm actually someone who does not want a big refund. I view that as the government having my money and not paying me any interest. Therefore, I try to have it set up so that I either break even or owe a little at this time of the year.

Last year, I had it perfect. I owed about $700 to the Feds and got back $600 from the state.

I didn't change any withholdings and my income and deductions were essentially the same as last year.

However - to my surprise - this year I owe $4000 to the Feds and am getting back about the same as I did last year from the state.

I remember seeing some info early in the year that the withholdings from checks had changed somewhat (I think it was part of the stimulus package), but I remember it saying that it would affect it by $1000 or so and I didn't feel that was an issue.

Now this isn't a tragedy for me because my wife and I live well below our means, but I could see this being a real problem for someone who doesn't manage their finances the same way.

Has anyone else seen something like this happen?