My husband isn't sure but he thinks he claimed 0 on his w4 but we aren't getting back nearly as much this year I think he claimed 1 is there any way to tell by looking at his pay stub

The easiest thing is to have your husband ask the payroll department at his work how many allowances were on his W4 ,or he can simply submit a new W4 with 0 allowance. However, if you tell me the following I could figure out how many allowances the company is using in their withholding calculations:

1. His federal wages per pay period. This should be shown on his pay stub, and is equal to his wages minus pre-tax deductions such as 401(k) cointributions, medical/dental insurance, and health or dependent care savings accounts.

2. The pay period - is he paid monthly, semi-monthly, bi-weekly, or what?

3. How much federal withholding are they taking out per pay period.

One comment - it seems that you are getting a refund, but would like it to be bigger. Which is equaivalent to saying that you don't want to have access to a part of his pay until next year. Why do you want that?