Anyone getting a lot less back in taxes?

[prncess674]

No actually we adjusted our withholdings so they Took more out not less.

Once again, did anything else change on your return and did you check your tax bill from 2008 to 2009? The tables haven't changed so something else changed year over year. (deductions, one time credit taken 2008, etc.)

 

[deerhart]

After doing a little reading, the above is evidently NOT how the AMT works. And next year, when the AMT threshold will apparently be lowered (2010 tax year) - I don't even want to THINK about what we're going to owe in taxes. It's just icky.

No AMT does not work like a normal tax jump.

With AMT, you have more of a SET tax amount that you should have paid and if you didn't your charged the difference. AMT effectively eliminates your credits.

For example, if you hit AMT and it says your supposed to pay 7k in taxes and after your credits your only supposed to pay 4k, and you paid 5k throughout the year. Normally you would be entitled to a 1k refund, but because of AMT, you end up paying 2k,

Any time you have a large increase in AGI and your close to the edge of a tax bracket, your going to have problems. With a 15k jump, the vast majority of that is at the next level. Unless you have the deductions/credits to offset the huge increase, you will need to readjust w-2's.

 

[3boymthr]

Well, I'm still waiting for 1099's to come back but based on W-2 info only according to TT I'm getting more than $3,000 less back than last year and we paid out more than 4x as much in taxes and as noted earlier I INCREASED our witholdings. I did notice tho that I was not allowed the $1,000/child credit on TT - which has amounted to $3,000 for the last 7 years. While this is certainly an easier way to file I think I'm going to file paper taxes this year.

ETA - so I just went and calculated my taxes manually using a paper 1040 and this time I was getting $2347 back. A difference of almost $2,100. Something is up with TT

 

[DISdreamin']

Any time you have a large increase in AGI and your close to the edge of a tax bracket, your going to have problems. With a 15k jump, the vast majority of that is at the next level. Unless you have the deductions/credits to offset the huge increase, you will need to readjust w-2's.

Yup, that's what I think we've realized. I'm fixing the tax issue for 2010 by taking some additional time off this summer. That change should lower our AGI this year by some $10K or so, which should, along with slightly decreased hours this spring, lower us to where we were two years ago for income. This way, instead of giving the government more money, I'm going to take some time off with my kids. Why work this summer only to hand over the money to the IRS, right?

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

Reading this thread I was . So I asked DH to do them tonight, he was going to do them tomorrow anyway. We came out almost the exact same as last year. We are getting back $37 more.

 

[deerhart]

Yup, that's what I think we've realized. I'm fixing the tax issue for 2010 by taking some additional time off this summer. That change should lower our AGI this year by some $10K or so, which should, along with slightly decreased hours this spring, lower us to where we were two years ago for income. This way, instead of giving the government more money, I'm going to take some time off with my kids. Why work this summer only to hand over the money to the IRS, right?

Yup that propably will help for next year!

Since i make the most money,I claim 1 deduction with a working spouse. My dh claims himself, me, and both kids. My withholdings over most of our expected tax bill.

Also there is a difference between deductions and credits.

Deductions cannot give you a refund back, credits can. Further, credits reduce your tax bill dollar for dollar and deductions don't.

Our AGI was about 8k more this year then last year, my taxable income was 9k higher this year then last year, and my TOTAL tax this year is almost 2k less then the year before. This is because last year I only had $2,678 in credits and this year I have $5,808 in credits. The tax on my taxable income was about $1200 higher this year then last year. Hence after adding in my credits and the tax amount I paid and then my credits, we end up with 3k more this year then last.

Had DH not gone back to school, we would have had a refund about the same as last year (maybe a little less)

 

[prncess674]

Well, I'm still waiting for 1099's to come back but based on W-2 info only according to TT I'm getting more than $3,000 less back and we paid out more than 4x as much in taxes and as noted earlier I INCREASED our witholdings. I did notice tho that I was not allowed the $1,000/child credit on TT - which has amounted to $3,000 for the last 7 years. While this is certainly an easier way to file I think I'm going to file paper taxes this year.

Did something change/occur that would exclude you from the child credit?


According to the Internal Revenue Service, a qualifying child must meet the following criteria:

Relationship

The child could be directly related to you, such as son or daughter (includes adopted children) or be the child of a spouse, such as stepson or stepdaughter. If you are the legal guardian of a child, such as a child placed with you for adoption before the adoption is final or if the court (or an authorized placement service) has granted you legal custody of your brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister or foster child or a descendant of any such person. (Beginning with 2009 tax returns, the child must be a dependent and must be younger than the person filing the tax return and claiming the child tax credit.

Residency

The child must have lived at the same physical address as you for at least 6 months.

Age Limit

The child must be under the age of 17, as of December 31 of the tax year.

Support Limit

You must have provided one half or more of the financial support of the child for the reporting tax year.

Citizen/Resident Status

The child must be a citizen or resident of the United States or a U.S. national.

There may be some exceptions to the above qualifications due to divorce or separation of the parents. Internal Revenue Service publication 501 explains the exceptions.

Income Limits

Every person with a dependent child that qualifies for a tax credit is eligible to claim the dependent, however, depending on income limits, not all people will receive the entire $1000.00 credit.

Taxes owed to the federal government will be reduced for households with incomes below the following:

$110,000 for Married, Filing Jointly
$75,000 if filing as Single, Head of Household or Qualifying Widow(er)
$55,000 if Married, Filing Separately
The tax credit is reduced by $50.00 for every $1000 of income above the income limits.

 

[deerhart]

her child turned 18 in December, therefore he's no longer entitled to the credit for that child.

 

[ColinCodyMom]

It seems that a lot of people are blaming TT for the lesser refunds this year! Should I be concerned that I used TT for the first time this year? I see that many use them and I thought they were legit. I'm hoping I didn't make a mistake.

 

[prncess674]

It seems that a lot of people are blaming TT for the lesser refunds this year! Should I be concerned that I used TT for the first time this year? I see that many use them and I thought they were legit. I'm hoping I didn't make a mistake.

Turbo Tax is a well regarded company and tries to "dumb down" the tax return process by asking a million questions on a computer screen. It is not a fly by night company. If this is your first time using TT print out your return and do a side by side comparison to your previous return to verify that everything looks in line. If there are big swings in any section then you should review why that section is different. You may have been filing incorrectly in the past or you may have answered a question incorrectly in TT.

 

[Minnie]

Whewwww this thread had me worried so I did a quick calculation and will actually get a little more back this year

For those with problems - try running it through 2 different programs. I can recommend Taxact as an easy to use in addition to TT

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

It seems that a lot of people are blaming TT for the lesser refunds this year! Should I be concerned that I used TT for the first time this year? I see that many use them and I thought they were legit. I'm hoping I didn't make a mistake.

We have used TT for years including this year and our difference this year from last was $37 (on our favor.)

 

[deerhart]

I used tt the last few years and I have used tax act. We used tax act this year because the efiling and such was free.

 

[comicguy]

We have used TT for the last 7 years and have not had an issue. If you followed the instructions and questions that were asked then I don't think you have anything to worry about. In fact I hought I was going to have a reduction in my refund this year and instead because of buying a new car and putting in some new windows I actually ended up with about 40 more than last year.

 

[ICF]

A lot of people didn't realize that the $10 extra in our pay from the Obama stimulus had to be repaid at the end of the year. But just wait till next year - if he doesn't keep the Bush tax cuts in effect - you will be owing a lot more!

it did not have to be repaid

 

[Lisa_M]

I figured out why I don't qualify for the dependent childcare credit. Basically it's because we used a flex spending plan for $4k of the $6k we paid for daycare. IRS says if the plan covers $3k or more, you don't qualify for the credit.

I also compared last years to this years our AGI is $10k more this year our Total Tax is $1770 more this year (on tax act). So it seems we didn't withhold enough even though DH changed his W4 to married with 1 deduction. Interestingly on Tax act we owe $1840 and on Turbo Tax we owe like $2300.

Taxes are SOOO confusing. I should have become an accountant so I would know what I'm doing. I may visit one this year, especially because I have different #'s between the 2 programs. I don't want to underpay or overpay what I should. I think in the past I did it wrong and overpaid.

 

[WickedElphaba]

We went from getting about 1200$ back to owing around 120$ for federal and went from getting around 600$ to owing 180 to State.

My work does not take out federal (never has) so when I started with them a few years ago we obviously saw a big decrease in refund but still got a refund. I didnt worry about the "free" obama money since I dont pay Federal I didnt think it would change things for us. DH does pay federal so we figured the "free" money we were given would be covered by the 1200$ we normally get and just reduce the refund to a couple hundred bucks....Guess not

Not that the 300$ is major like some are seeing but still cheeses my off that we owe...looking for a spot on the State return to say to take my 180$ and fix a flipping pot hole that I have to drive AROUND every day to work!

And i swear when I am standing in line to buy groceries and the lovely couple with 8 kids in front of me pays the first part of their order w/ need based $ and then buys a 3000$ tv with the rapid refund check(losing 200$ to get it rapid refund but who cares its "free money") I will simply say your welcome

 

[taximomfor4]

It seems that a lot of people are blaming TT for the lesser refunds this year! Should I be concerned that I used TT for the first time this year? I see that many use them and I thought they were legit. I'm hoping I didn't make a mistake.

I filed with TT, but after posting earlier on this thread that I'm worried about the big increase in our tax return, I spent hours doing the taxes again with another program. It came out almost exactly the same as with TT (I estimated slightly toward the end, I just wanted to get done, lol).

So I am no longer worried about TT!

 

[toddlers_mom]

It seems that a lot of people are blaming TT for the lesser refunds this year! Should I be concerned that I used TT for the first time this year? I see that many use them and I thought they were legit. I'm hoping I didn't make a mistake.

I used H&R Block first and then double checked by using TT. I got the same amount on both even though TT asked me different questions. No worries here.

 

[toddlers_mom]

We went from getting about 1200$ back to owing around 120$ for federal and went from getting around 600$ to owing 180 to State.

My work does not take out federal (never has) so when I started with them a few years ago we obviously saw a big decrease in refund but still got a refund. I didnt worry about the "free" obama money since I dont pay Federal I didnt think it would change things for us. DH does pay federal so we figured the "free" money we were given would be covered by the 1200$ we normally get and just reduce the refund to a couple hundred bucks....Guess not

Not that the 300$ is major like some are seeing but still cheeses my off that we owe...looking for a spot on the State return to say to take my 180$ and fix a flipping pot hole that I have to drive AROUND every day to work!

And i swear when I am standing in line to buy groceries and the lovely couple with 8 kids in front of me pays the first part of their order w/ need based $ and then buys a 3000$ tv with the rapid refund check(losing 200$ to get it rapid refund but who cares its "free money") I will simply say your welcome

Hey let me know where you find that spot, so I can look for it on my state return! Much better use for my $81 I owe!