Filing Taxes

[NTDreams]

THIS BLOWS All we are getting is $281 back. We got married in July. Apparently we make too much money! UGH this is ridiculous.

 

[Quiksilvr]

THIS BLOWS All we are getting is $600 back. We got married in July. Apparently we make too much money! UGH this is ridiculous.

Huh?

If you're talking about your federal income taxes, it looks like you're doing a good job. It has nothing to do with how much money you make. People have this idea that big tax refunds are good. That's only true so far as it goes. You get a refund because you paid too much in to the government during the year. The government gives you the money back because your tax bill is less than the IRS estimated it would be based upon your W-4. The "refund" is actually an interest-free loan that you gave the federal government. They've had your $600 all year to do what they want with, and are now giving it back to you with no interest.

A small refund is a good thing because it shows that you've gotten the use of your money over the last year rather than the government.

I have a very high income and my tax burden is pretty big based upon my W-4. Technically, I'm supposed to ask for extra withholding because of my household income, but I don't, because I know something the W-4 doesn't... I have a ginormous mortgage on which I'm paying... well... the equivalent of a young teacher's salary in interest ever year. That knocks down the tax burden significantly, so I get away with claiming exemptions for myself and my wife and not doing extra withholding. I don't want to give the government an interest free loan; I'd rather have my money.

Even considering how I try to engineer my tax withholding against the actual liability, I am still getting a big refund. I was too conservative in my tax planning.

If you're talking about the stimulus... I can't really respond to that since I don't qualify for anything the government is going to do so I have been doing my best to pretend it's not happening.

 

[trip]

Just for fun, you should figure what you and your husband would have paid if you both were still single. Most likely you would have had to pay.

 

[Nie0214]

Just for fun, you should figure what you and your husband would have paid if you both were still single. Most likely you would have had to pay.

^

Like another poster said, you had the money available for use all year instead of giving you back your money without any interest.

 

[brerrabbit]

I find these complaints interesting. As I explained in another thread and as Quiksilvr explained what you pay during the year is just an estimate and you don't true up till you file your taxes. Like I explained in the other thread and Quiksilvr points out changing you W-4 will change what you take home every paycheck and what you will or won't owe come April 15. The other thread wants to go on and on about $13 a paycheck tax cut which in the end is totally irrelivent because you can manipulate the numbers.

The realilty is if you want to know where the pain is look at what the IRS took and kept when its all said and done. I almost fainted in 1997 when I did my taxes and I wound up paying $62,000 in taxes. Believe me the $1,200 refund I got was meaningless when compared to the $62,000 I paid in over the year.

 

[NTDreams]

I find these complaints interesting. As I explained in another thread and as Quiksilvr explained what you pay during the year is just an estimate and you don't true up till you file your taxes. Like I explained in the other thread and Quiksilvr points out changing you W-4 will change what you take home every paycheck and what you will or won't owe come April 15. The other thread wants to go on and on about $13 a paycheck tax cut which in the end is totally irrelivent because you can manipulate the numbers.

The realilty is if you want to know where the pain is look at what the IRS took and kept when its all said and done. I almost fainted in 1997 when I did my taxes and I wound up paying $62,000 in taxes. Believe me the $1,200 refund I got was meaningless when compared to the $62,000 I paid in over the year.

I know that getting money back is usually not good. Trust me I followed the good ol' Suzie Orman to a T when I sign my forms. I don't want to lend the government any money. I did owe last year... I think $600? I just thought that when you got married you got a credit. Maybe I confused it with child tax credit.

 

[NTDreams]

Huh?

If you're talking about your federal income taxes, it looks like you're doing a good job. It has nothing to do with how much money you make. People have this idea that big tax refunds are good. That's only true so far as it goes. You get a refund because you paid too much in to the government during the year. The government gives you the money back because your tax bill is less than the IRS estimated it would be based upon your W-4. The "refund" is actually an interest-free loan that you gave the federal government. They've had your $600 all year to do what they want with, and are now giving it back to you with no interest.

A small refund is a good thing because it shows that you've gotten the use of your money over the last year rather than the government.

I have a very high income and my tax burden is pretty big based upon my W-4. Technically, I'm supposed to ask for extra withholding because of my household income, but I don't, because I know something the W-4 doesn't... I have a ginormous mortgage on which I'm paying... well... the equivalent of a young teacher's salary in interest ever year. That knocks down the tax burden significantly, so I get away with claiming exemptions for myself and my wife and not doing extra withholding. I don't want to give the government an interest free loan; I'd rather have my money.

Even considering how I try to engineer my tax withholding against the actual liability, I am still getting a big refund. I was too conservative in my tax planning.

If you're talking about the stimulus... I can't really respond to that since I don't qualify for anything the government is going to do so I have been doing my best to pretend it's not happening.

HAHAH LOVE IT! I don;t know if we will get much in the idea of stimulus.