$5100

[VickiVM]

You need to be aware of what your deductions are going to be at year's end and adjust your withholding appropriately.

You don't get it - we're saying WE'RE OK WITH LETTING THE EXTRA GET PAID INTO OUR TAXES AGAINST OUR TOTAL TAX LIABILITY.

I get it that you're not ok with it, and we're ok with that, too

 

[mefordis]

Honestly, it sounds like a pain in the you know what to figure all of that out. I don't have the time. Plus I like the huge refund at the beginning of the year

Also, I had a boss who would stay up late at night and spend hours trying to get his witholding to be exactly right so he'd only get back something like $1. I just don't have that kind of time, or interest in doing that with what little spare time I have.

YES they are. You paid in and you are getting it back. IT IS YOUR MONEY. You need to be aware of what your deductions are going to be at year's end and adjust your withholding appropriately.

Like I posted previously. I take 10 deductions on my W4 when I only have 4 deductions on my 1040. I do this so that I won't be getting back a huge refund.

I just can't believe how many people are happy to let Uncle Sam have that $40-$50 a week, hold it interest free and then give it back.

 

[zachnsamsmommy]

I just hope the people getting money back are not so ignorant that they get a RAL from some place like H&R Block.

Ahhh....I have thought about that as well. At least a lot of major news media have covered what a ripoff those 'refund anticipation loans' are. I'd much rather wait 12-14 days for my refund, then lose like a 10% or more chunk just to have it the same day.

But...back to the original topic. We are getting about $2000 back, and hopefully going to fence our yard in to keep the crazy teenagers out .

 

[VickiVM]

That said, I *thought* that you could only claim deductions that you honestly had. Meaning, I didn't think my DH could claim more than 3. One for him, me and Lucas. So exactly how, in our situation, were we supposed to make any changes (beyond my 0 while I was on maternity leave- which resulted in my paying an extra $60 or so for the entire 12 weeks)

It is true, you can claim more and have less taken out. Heck, before my husband started his new job, I started last year claiming 99! Then when he got on with this food broker as an independent sales rep, I imagined he would be making lots of income that wouldn't be taxed and I started freaking out that we would end up owing. So I changed my withholding to claim just my family of 5.

Look, there's no way we could predict that he wouldn't do well his first year. He started an all commissioned sales job with the country in a pretty serious recession. Meanwhile, he's still traveling and putting lots of mile on his car which accounted for majority of our refund.

Things are looking better now and I don't anticipate we'll ever receive a refund this large again. And heck, I would rather get less refund and have my husband do better with his sales throughout the year!

 

[VickiVM]

We are getting about $2000 back, and hopefully going to fence our yard in to keep the crazy teenagers out .

Are these your own teenagers you're trying to keep out????

 

[golfgal]

YES they are. You paid in and you are getting it back. IT IS YOUR MONEY. You need to be aware of what your deductions are going to be at year's end and adjust your withholding appropriately.

Like I posted previously. I take 10 deductions on my W4 when I only have 4 deductions on my 1040. I do this so that I won't be getting back a huge refund.

I just can't believe how many people are happy to let Uncle Sam have that $40-$50 a week, hold it interest free and then give it back.

Why do you care so much what other people do? We get a big refund back because with my job it is almost next to impossible to know what I will make, what my deductions will be, etc until late in the year. We allow for what "could be" because we don't want to have to pay in MORE at tax time. Why does it matter to you anyway????

Heck, this year it looks like we might get close to $10,000 back--which is really cool--but there isn't any way we can adjust withholdings to account for that because of how my business works. We could just as easily OWE the $10,000 and we choose not to have to worry about that. This is about double what we normally get back so this year with all the extra stuff on taxes messed us up more than normal. Oh well.

I know a lot of people that plan to get huge refunds so they can use that to put into IRA's. They feel they won't save the extra $50/week so they do their contributions this way--it's better then not doing it at all.

 

[zachnsamsmommy]

Are these your own teenagers you're trying to keep out????

Um...no, they are the neighbor's kids. But it will keep my crazy, unruly 8 yr old and 2 yr old in. .

 

[Silent1CB]

Last year we changed DH's withholdings to reduce the refund we get back. The refund was getting larger and larger each year and that's not good.

Little did we know we would be buying a vehicle and getting the sales tax deduction. Or replacing a large window in the house and getting the $1500 credit for that. OR converting an IRA to a Roth IRA and paying some taxes there.

You can't plan for everything.

With all that, the refund is still bigger than I would have liked since would prefer the money in his paycheck instead. But glad to have that cushion to not owe, and getting some money back is always nice too.

 

[NikitaZee]

What works for you may not work for others.......some people may have variable expenses and may need that $100 extra a week at times and not just want to send it to a savings/retirement fund. Some people like that they get 1 big check to do something special with once a year.

Besides, the ' interest' they are losing -- if kept in a liquid savings / money market account is less than $100 (assuming $5000 put in it over the year @ a 2% rate of return) and for most people if left to 'save' that money themselves would probably end of spending most of that money instead of saving it and nothing to show for it rather than be able to do something 'fun' with when they get that big refund.

This is us. We understand the concept perfectly - interest free loan to Uncle Sam and all that - but we'd much, much, much rather have the big check once a year than fritter it away on things we 'needed' at the time. That's what helps finance our Disney trips! I understand others see it differently (Suze Orman among them), but it works out great for us.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Ahhh....I have thought about that as well. At least a lot of major news media have covered what a ripoff those 'refund anticipation loans' are. I'd much rather wait 12-14 days for my refund, then lose like a 10% or more chunk just to have it the same day.

We did that one year at Jackson Hewitt, because we didn't have the money to pay them up front, so they took our payment out of that and loss more money for the RAL...GARBAGE! Until my taxes get difficult, I will just stick to TT.

 

[testifyoncruises]

Ahhh....I have thought about that as well. At least a lot of major news media have covered what a ripoff those 'refund anticipation loans' are. I'd much rather wait 12-14 days for my refund, then lose like a 10% or more chunk just to have it the same day.

HR Block last year had a branded MasterCard credit card for the RAL but had so many fees that it was like 1600% for using your own money.

I do have to laugh at all of the folks using TurboTax. They will make great Treasury Secretaries one day.

 

[Bluestars]

HR Block last year had a branded MasterCard credit card for the RAL but had so many fees that it was like 1600% for using your own money.

I do have to laugh at all of the folks using TurboTax. They will make great Treasury Secretaries one day.

That's funny. I have to laugh at all of the people who pay cash for everything and make it so their credit is horrible. The intelligent thing to do would be to use a credit card and pay it off once a month, thus building credit.

I heart Turbo Tax.

 

[jekajekalynn]

That's funny. I have to laugh at all of the people who pay cash for everything and make it so their credit is horrible. The intelligent thing to do would be to use a credit card and pay it off once a month, thus building credit.

I heart Turbo Tax.

zing

 

[mefordis]

We use our credit card for everything and pay it off at the end of the month. We earn at least 4 free airline tickets per year, totaling about $1000.

That's funny. I have to laugh at all of the people who pay cash for everything and make it so their credit is horrible. The intelligent thing to do would be to use a credit card and pay it off once a month, thus building credit.

I heart Turbo Tax.

 

[LoraJ]

I'd rather get back money than owe. It doesn't bother me, so why should other people care?

 

[Tiggerlover91]

I'd rather get back money than owe. It doesn't bother me, so why should other people care?

amen

 

[mefordis]

I'd rather get back money than owe. It doesn't bother me, so why should other people care?

Maybe they are jealous because they cannot account for that extra $50 a week they received in their checks by reducing their withholdings, and here they are reading about 5k and 10k refunds and people going to Disney with them.

 

[LOVEDISNEYLAND]

We haven't filed yet because we're still waiting to get w-2 from my husband's last job which he got laid off from. Thankfully he was able to find another job quickly. We're hoping the W-2 will come in the mail Monday or Tuesday at the latest. Does anyone know what to do if we don't recieve the W-2? my husband has tried calling and texting but has heard nothing. any ideas? Oh, another thing is that I would way much rather get money back at the end of the year then owe, but that's just me.

 

[testifyoncruises]

We use our credit card for everything and pay it off at the end of the month. We earn at least 4 free airline tickets per year, totaling about $1000.

You know you are paying more for those airline tickets than they are worth. People spend 18% more when they use a credit card on average. I would rather pay cash for everything and have much more buying power. I can promise you my credit score does not affect me in the least.

 

[mefordis]

You know you are paying more for those airline tickets than they are worth. People spend 18% more when they use a credit card on average. I would rather pay cash for everything and have much more buying power. I can promise you my credit score does not affect me in the least.

It's not really about the credit score for us. It's about getting miles for free tickets. Since we pay our bill in full every month, I assure you we do not spend 18% more than if we used cash. We spend the same. We simply transfer the money we spent on the credit card from our checking account to the credit card every month. It's very seamless.