I worked as an intern for about 12 months during 2013 under a J1 visa, and I'm dealing with a company called taxback.com to get my tax refund. I recently got an email from them telling that they received my state refund for 2013 with the value of $237 which after deduction becomes $121.

That didn't sound right so I contacted a friend who used to be my coworker, he actually was part of the same internship program. I tried to investigate how much was his refund, and he answered $550 just for the state tax refund, let alone the federal refund! ... what's even more confusing is that my friend worked only for 7 months during 2013. We both have the exact same salary, the only difference is that I worked longer (12 months in my case).

I contacted taxback.com to ask for an explanation, they answered the more you get as annual income the less you get back from your taxes... that's the general rule they said.

Anybody can confirm or deny their explanation/pretext? I can provide my W-2 if needed

Your help would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.