Anyone getting a lot less back in taxes?

[MELISAZACK]

I know that the LTD is taxable and we paid taxes on it all year as the payments were issued.. that isn't my issue..
I got a back payment for 2008 and 2009 for SSD out of that money ALL of it gets repaid BACK to the LTD company.. and we got a letter stating that since we have to pay back the LTD company I can not be taxed 2X for the payment. Once all year by LTD and then on the lump sum payment from SSD.

but I think turbo tax is getting me on both amounts becaue NO where on the system is it asking me if I repaid a plan or not and how much. So I think it is charging me for 12K LTD payment (which had taxes paid on) plus the 33K that SSD gave us with no taxes paid on but wasn't our money it went back to the company..

does that make scense now.??

 

[msmayor]

I know that the LTD is taxable and we paid taxes on it all year as the payments were issued.. that isn't my issue..
I got a back payment for 2008 and 2009 for SSD out of that money ALL of it gets repaid BACK to the LTD company.. and we got a letter stating that since we have to pay back the LTD company I can not be taxed 2X for the payment. Once all year by LTD and then on the lump sum payment from SSD.

but I think turbo tax is getting me on both amounts becaue NO where on the system is it asking me if I repaid a plan or not and how much. So I think it is charging me for 12K LTD payment (which had taxes paid on) plus the 33K that SSD gave us with no taxes paid on but wasn't our money it went back to the company..

does that make scense now.??

I am not familiar at all with LTD requirements...but this is a perfect example of Turbo Tax (or any computerized tax program) not always covering every single tax situation. Its possible this is a rare situation and therefore, TT didn't find it necessary to spend programming time to address it.

This is where the taxpayer needs to do the research...get information on how the lump payment should be treated, and manually override the information so your tax return is done correctly.

Do NOT assume that because TT doesn't ask about it there must not be anything to do. Assume only that TT didn't ask because it doesn't address YOUR specificic situation, and get informed tax help to find out what to do.

Good luck.

 

[flipflopmom]

THis freaked me out, so I used the TT estimator. We have a few more deductions that what it allowed me to put on due to itemizing through our CPA. Is the estimator close to accurate?

 

[wdwfan16]

I know that the LTD is taxable and we paid taxes on it all year as the payments were issued.. that isn't my issue..
I got a back payment for 2008 and 2009 for SSD out of that money ALL of it gets repaid BACK to the LTD company.. and we got a letter stating that since we have to pay back the LTD company I can not be taxed 2X for the payment. Once all year by LTD and then on the lump sum payment from SSD.

but I think turbo tax is getting me on both amounts becaue NO where on the system is it asking me if I repaid a plan or not and how much. So I think it is charging me for 12K LTD payment (which had taxes paid on) plus the 33K that SSD gave us with no taxes paid on but wasn't our money it went back to the company..

does that make scense now.??

It sure sounds like TT is doing it wrong. You may need to do your taxes yourself or get professional help.

 

[taximomfor4]

You should turn in your parenting plan to the IRS showing either that you have primary (or full whatever your state calls it) custody and that NOWHERE in the document does it say Dad gets the deduction OR that somewhere in the document it shows you get the deduction.

Once you have provided that to the IRS, they should flag your and his social so that you are able to take the credit until they are provided a NEW parenting plan. Now you may have to paperfile each year, but you shouldnt' have any more trouble.

I have lots of clients who end up having to do this and after the first year they have no problems. I have also had other attorneys and their clients suddenly become a lot more amenable to settling when I mention that their clients have provided me with tax returns that show they claimed the child against the court order and I ask when to expect the amended return to the IRS (in some cases these are several years old and if they do an amended return they are going to have TONS in penalties and late fees) because I would hate to present this current tax returns into evidence in front of a judge and run the chance that the judge turns someone in for tax fraud (or order the return to be handed over to my client ) ....

All I did is do a paper return, and claimed dd like I have the right to. Since dd was claimed twice (ex had already done so), it forced a "review"...we both (ex and I ) had to submit court papers that show our right to claim. I sent the form that shows full residential custody, and he had nothing to show. Eventually, my return came WITH deduction included. His was adjusted and he owed.

 

[msmayor]

THis freaked me out, so I used the TT estimator. We have a few more deductions that what it allowed me to put on due to itemizing through our CPA. Is the estimator close to accurate?

Any estimator is only as good as the information entered. If you entered everything correctly and didn't miss any entry, then its probably OK.

But if you are treating an item incorrectly, entered it in the wrong spot, etc....your estimate may not be good.

 

[RDM83]

I thought we would get a slightly bigger refund this year because we made half the money we did the yr. before, but we got the same amount back.
So technically we did receive less

 

[tzolkin]

I thought we would get a slightly bigger refund this year because we made half the money we did the yr. before, but we got the same amount back.
So technically we did receive less

If you made less money, you paid less taxes.

Most of your tax return is returning to you the money you paid. If you paid less taxes to the govt, you will get less returned to you.

 

[Mkgaapril]

I didn't read the entire site so I am not sure if this was covered. Turbo tax had a glitch with dependents that are 17-23 with a student status. it kicked them off, which also made you lose any money paid for college education. If you already filed you are going to have to do amendment. It happened when you answered one of the living status questions of the student. You have to go in and physically change it back...go to dependents, click on the childs name and see how they have it listed. when it is changed the funds are put back in deductions.

 

[purplegirl247]

Can someone clear something up for me on the Making Work Pay thing? If my husband and I got the extra money per paycheck last year, is that money that we would have gotten back as a refund this year, just spread out and earlier? And if we did get the extra money per paycheck, and still got back like $100, would we theoretically have gotten $900 back otherwise?

And finally (sorry!), for the people who are able to claim the Making Work Pay now, is it because somehow they didn't get the extra money per paycheck last year? It wasn't a choice for us; it just showed up in our paycheck, so I'm a little confused as to why some people got it over the course of several months and some people are just getting it now through their refunds.

I'm really more curious than anything else: is the Making Work Pay something extra the government bestowed on us or is it something we were entitled to anyway?

TIA!

 

[disneybound31]

Can someone clear something up for me on the Making Work Pay thing? If my husband and I got the extra money per paycheck last year, is that money that we would have gotten back as a refund this year, just spread out and earlier? And if we did get the extra money per paycheck, and still got back like $100, would we theoretically have gotten $900 back otherwise?

And finally (sorry!), for the people who are able to claim the Making Work Pay now, is it because somehow they didn't get the extra money per paycheck last year? It wasn't a choice for us; it just showed up in our paycheck, so I'm a little confused as to why some people got it over the course of several months and some people are just getting it now through their refunds.

I'm really more curious than anything else: is the Making Work Pay something extra the government bestowed on us or is it something we were entitled to anyway?

TIA!

all good ?s

 

[klj27]

I just finished our taxes on taxslayer and the pay to work tax credit is the only thing that confuses me. Based on the questions I answered it filled out schedule M and gave us a $800 credit. I am self employed so I understand why I would get the $400, but why does my husband?

 

[kellia]

I just finished our taxes on taxslayer and the pay to work tax credit is the only thing that confuses me. Based on the questions I answered it filled out schedule M and gave us a $800 credit. I am self employed so I understand why I would get the $400, but why does my husband?

You either get $400 single or $800 married. It was a tax credit, it doesn't matter who paid you or how much they already took out of your taxes through payroll, you still get it taken off the total tax you owe for the year. They were supposed to not take as much out in payroll taxes so everyone got the "credit" early instead of waiting until they filed for the year. So, if you already got extra in your check, it won't be added to your refund. But, those who got too much early (too little in taxes withheld) now will have to pay back some. Hope that makes sense, I hate taxes!!

 

[klj27]

You either get $400 single or $800 married. It was a tax credit, it doesn't matter who paid you or how much they already took out of your taxes through payroll, you still get it taken off the total tax you owe for the year.

Well, that's awesome, but I am still confused. Is this not related to the extra money that was supposed to be showing up in people's paychecks this past year?

 

[hopemax]

My explanation in another thread seemed to help, so I will explain here.

Let's say prior to the stimulus package, your income would have resulted in a tax burden of $6000. Then came the "Make Work Pay" credit of $800 (assuming married, filing jointly) in the stimulus. Which would reduce your tax burden to $5200. The government wanted us to have the money sooner, not wait until we filed our taxes, so the withholding was changed so that people got ~$13 per paycheck.

Now, here we are doing our taxes. Remember, in the old days when everyone filed with paper, and you would turn to the back and look up in a table to find out what you owed? Well, if you look at the tax tables for this example, it would still say you owed $6000, not the new and correct $5200, because the tax tables weren't changed. So to fix it, they have everyone take a credit of $800. Then you subtract what you've already paid, other tax credits, etc to determine what is still owed/needs refunding.

For most of us, the $800 isn't additional money in addition to what we already got, it's just an accounting correction. Although, for those that didn't have their withholding changed, like the self-employed example, it is real money.

 

[tzolkin]

I'm sorry. I'm usually not this slow, but I'm still not totally clear on the Making Work Pay thing.


I did our taxes online and it wound up giving us the extra $800.

It didn't ask me any questions about it, it just automatically added it.


I'm just still am not sure if we're supposed to get this or not, so I don't want to submit my forms.

I have absolutely no idea if DH got extra money in his paycheck over the course of the year. (He gets paid by the hour and works different hours/overtime each week, so some pay periods he might get paid several hundred dollars more/less. I would not notice an extra few dollars less in taxes.)

We are getting back basically all the taxes he paid + $800. (Our total tax is $6.)


ETA: okay. I read hopemax's post and I think I get it. So it's not really an $800 credit, it's just an $800 correction to the tax you owe.

But we're still getting back more than what we paid to begin with.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

ETA: okay. I read hopemax's post and I think I get it. So it's not really an $800 credit, it's just an $800 correction to the tax you owe.

Right! I was totally confused about this as well and did a ton of research on it since when I did my taxes, it said I was eligible for the $800. But now I realize it was just an accounting correction...not a true "credit" I was afraid I was double-dipping and was going to have my taxes rejected! And with having to file a paper return for the first time ever because of the home buyers credit...they'll be enough of a holdup on my return. I don't want a mathmatical error causing more of a delay.

 

[tzolkin]

Right! I was totally confused about this as well and did a ton of research on it since when I did my taxes, it said I was eligible for the $800. But now I realize it was just an accounting correction...not a true "credit" I was afraid I was double-dipping and was going to have my taxes rejected! And with having to file a paper return for the first time ever because of the home buyers credit...they'll be enough of a holdup on my return. I don't want a mathmatical error causing more of a delay.

My only confusion is that we're getting back $800 more than we paid in taxes.

 

[gracie1]

I've never used turbo tax because it always comes out way less. i have an accountant that works on my taxes, and even got a $400 workers credit this year! I came out with more than normal. I would check on h&r block and other websites just to see if your getting the same amounts.

 

[mikehn]

We havent been getting refunds for many years. This year we owe more than ever. I told my wife not to accept any more promotions.