Anyone getting a lot less back in taxes?

[kellia]

I just did our taxes with Turbo Tax and are getting about $2000 less than last year, and I don't see many changes in our income/deductions. Anyone else have this happen? Wondering if they made some big tax changes or else I'm hoping Turbo Tax is wrong!!!

 

[DISdreamin']

I just did our taxes with Turbo Tax and are getting about $2000 less than last year, and I don't see many changes in our income/deductions. Anyone else have this happen? Wondering if they made some big tax changes or else I'm hoping Turbo Tax is wrong!!!

TT told me I am going to owe about $7K-$8K this year, when last year we got a small refund! Same jobs, income about $15K higher. How can we owe half the increase in taxes?!?! We didn't change our witholding, and I didn't think the one they did automatically would change things THAT much!

So yes, getting less back - as in OWING TONS instead!!!

 

[kellia]

TT told me I am going to owe about $7K-$8K this year, when last year we got a small refund! Same jobs, income about $15K higher. How can we owe half the increase in taxes?!?! We didn't change our witholding, and I didn't think the one they did automatically would change things THAT much!

So yes, getting less back - as in OWING TONS instead!!!

I'm sorry, I guess I will be happy we are still getting a little bit back!

 

[mnrose]

TT told me I am going to owe about $7K-$8K this year, when last year we got a small refund! Same jobs, income about $15K higher. How can we owe half the increase in taxes?!?! We didn't change our witholding, and I didn't think the one they did automatically would change things THAT much!

So yes, getting less back - as in OWING TONS instead!!!

Well, 1/2 more strikes me as a lot. However, depending on which bracket your in, this could happen (or close to it). If the extra money put you in a higher overall bracket, it's going to seem like a big increase. I'm guessing that's what happened. Could it also be your deductions have decreased?

 

[rflorek]

Obama's stimulus plan changed the withholding tables, so that may have some impact

 

[wdwmom0f3]

We are getting a little less back this year due to losing one child tax credit because my oldest DD is now 17. I think that this really stinks because she is only a Jr. in highschool. Why don't they leave it alone while they are in HS or 18 or older? I know we can still claim her as a depentant, but we still miss out on the 1K tax credit. (if I understand that right)

 

[labdogs42]

Our taxes seem all messed up in Turbo Tax. We seem to be getting back way more than we should be. I'm half tempted to try another software or H&R Block to double check TT!

 

[minnie1928]

TaxCut allows you to run a 2 year comparison (this year vs. last year). Assuming you used TT last year, I'd recommend running the comparison report to make sure things look correct. That seems like a pretty dramatic swing.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Even if you (anyone) didn't use TaxCut last year, it can't hurt to double-check one site's results with another's.

 

[julirina]

I always use both TaxAct and TurboTax. We nearly always end up filing with TT because TA doesn't have a form we need, but I feel better putting the numbers in two totally different places to make sure the results are the same. No one charges you till you file, so it's just a little extra time and it really calms my nerves!

 

[MarthaJr.]

I always prepare my taxes on Turbo Tax and Tax Act and compare my results. If I'm in the ballpark on both----I know their right and then I choose the one with the higher refund

 

[wdwfan16]

TT told me I am going to owe about $7K-$8K this year, when last year we got a small refund! Same jobs, income about $15K higher. How can we owe half the increase in taxes?!?! We didn't change our witholding, and I didn't think the one they did automatically would change things THAT much!

So yes, getting less back - as in OWING TONS instead!!!

That $15K could have put you above the amount where the IRS starts to limit your deductions WRT a % of your income.

 

[JandT'smom]

Nothing changed here and we are getting about 40% less back and we did adjust our withholdings. Where are the tax cuts for the middle class we were told would be happening. We are just being taxed to the poor house. Hope someone is living good off my money.

 

[auralia]

there was a thing they did where they gave everyone an extra about 10 dollars per pay period but really they were giving you a bit of your tax refund in incrememnts a little early... it accounts to about 750$ i believe could that have affected any of you?

 

[Diabolicdesire]

Are you using the Freedom edition of Turbo Tax? The reason I ask is because I did my taxes in Turbo Tax Deluxe and was ready to send them. It showed me getting a federal return of 577 and 63 in state, which seemed right to me. I checked the IRS website and thought because my Adj gross was low enough I could use the Freedom Edition. I cleared out my return in TT Deluxe and started over using the Freedom Edition, it showed that not only was I not getting back 577.00, but that I owed like 400.00 !!!!

I was like there is no way! I cleared my taxes and did them again in the deluxe version and amazingly I was getting a 577.00 return again. I use the standard deduction and do not itemize so that would have nothing to do with it. I do claim interest from my savings account and dividends from stock but they total less than 500.00 so that should not have been an issue either I did my Fiances and had the same problem, Freedom edition showed he owed and the Basic showed a refund. He claims single, no dependents and has no investment income. I think there must be a problem with their software. I have used it for years and never had a prob before.

 

[Purseval]

Nothing changed here and we are getting about 40% less back and we did adjust our withholdings. Where are the tax cuts for the middle class we were told would be happening. We are just being taxed to the poor house. Hope someone is living good off my money.

Someone is: http://reason.com/archives/2010/01/12/class-war/

 

[NC State]

Nothing changed here and we are getting about 40% less back and we did adjust our withholdings. Where are the tax cuts for the middle class we were told would be happening. We are just being taxed to the poor house. Hope someone is living good off my money.

They are...while we are working to keep them up.

 

[disneybound31]

I had assumed our refund would be smaller this year compared to last due to the withholding changes-our income neither increased or decreased this year compared to last...within $200-but our refund is almost $800 higher. I think it is because I changed some investments last year when the stock market went south. I took money out of taxable market and put it into tax deferred muni-bonds. Plus, we bought a car thru cash for clunkers and were able to deduct the sales tax. We also did a mortgage refi from a 30 down to 15 year loan. This means we no longer get to deduct the interest thru itemized deductions- but were saving a HEAP over the long haul.

So, long story short, we are back to taking the standardized deduction, but it still comes out in our favor and we get more than $2300 back. I know- some recommend adjusting withholding, but we love the guaranteed savings...and WDW trip savings. We use each years refund to 1.bulk up emergency savings 2.get us closer to WDW and 3.pay our car insurance up for 6 months.

Sorry- I wrote a book. Probably TMI, but even without any raises or income increases I feel we made progress this year. We gave more, saved more and did more as a family.

 

[3boymthr]

I agree with PP the adjustment they made to the tax tables as part of the stimulus package may be a large part of it. I had extra taken out of both DH and my checks so we'd be paying into the tax system the same as we paid last year. the difference of what we were paying in versus the new tax table was $30/pay period (ever other week) for me and $25/pay period for DH (every week). That works out to $2,080 in taxes that we would have owed this year - that's some stinky stimulus package.

 

[NYCDiane]

Our taxes seem all messed up in Turbo Tax. We seem to be getting back way more than we should be. I'm half tempted to try another software or H&R Block to double check TT!

I would just try another software program for a comparison and stay away from H&R Block... They are horrible! We went to them several years in a row and always ended up owing. They missed simple things that could have saved us money and actually have gotten us a refund. One year, they claimed to have electronically filed. Turns out there was an error on the return, it was returned to them by the IRS and they never told us. We only found out because I called the IRS about the return and they told me it was rejected 2 days after it was filed.