I have a tax question! PLEASE HELP!

[candicenicole19]

Okay I have 2 tax questions! Please help if you can.

1. DH started a new part time job in Jan. 06. We thought taxes were comming out (Small company, hand written checks) but they were not. Now we have to file a different type of tax return, correct and are we going to have to pay a penality for not filing quarterly?

2. DH pays over a weeks pay in child support to his EX How is it possible that we are still taxed on our income amount and they do not minus the child support paid since it did not ever make its way into our home? I can not understand this. I can understand if you got to claim his son but we do not even get to do that! So is there anything we can do about this? If not who is with me to try to make it a new tax law! Without that money it puts us in a MUCH lower tax bracket (Poliverty! basicly) and i do not think it is fair at all!

Thanks for the help and God bless!

 

[RNMOM]

Whew, I don't know the answer for sure but I think you might be right, you might have a penalty to pay for not filing quarterly for that extra job. You need to have a good tax person this year because there may be all kinds of things that you can do to fix that since he has a regular job also. Or, am I wrong to think that part time job was in addition to a regular full time job?

As for the child support. Man, that stinks if that is the case. Does he have joint custody at all? I would think they would have to split it or at least allow him to deduct the amount paid. Again, find a good accountant or someone you get referrals from other people to do your taxes.

Wow, I was just on the IRS.gov site and trying to read it through. It is so confusing. Good luck and I hope it works out well for you.

 

[jfulcer]

Ok, I can help with one, but not the other. Yes, if taxes were not being taken out, it was your responsibility to file quarterly. Yes, you will be penalized but unless your DH is making a large amount of money, it's not that large of a penalty.

The bigger hit for you is since his employer is not paying any taxes, your DH will most likely be considered self-employed and will be subject to an additional self employment tax of 15.3%. (IRS site). What is his 'status' considered at the company? Is he what is called a 1099 employee (sort of an independent contractor)? If so, he most likely is going to be required to pay the tax. You really need to check with them to see if they've been paying into Social Security/Medicare. If not, he has to pay it himself.

Since I'm not an accountant, I'd recommend you go talk with one about this all (especially the second question). If he is going to be considered 'self employed', even going and having an accountant prepare your taxes is considered a business expense and you get to deduct it from your taxes.

 

[barkley]

child support is'nt a tax write off for the feds-and even if it's the type thats done like a wage attachment it's done 'after tax'-so if a person had high pretax deductions (some pension contributions, some dependant care assistance programs) that after taxes zero'd out their pay-the child support is'nt issued. the only way financial support of a child can be used for fed tax purposes is if the child meets the definition of your 'dependant' in which case you get to list them and take advantage of the different credits and exemptions their 'dependant' status allow for.

 

[Mrs.Toad]

1. You don't have to file a different type of tax return. You still file the same one. The only difference is that there won't be any withholding from that job on that line of the return. You may have to pay a penalty, especially if he didn't have another job. Some percentages may have changed since I last did personal taxes for a living, but the general rule is that throughout the year, you have to pay in the lesser of: 1. 90% of your current year's tax liability, or 2. 100% of last year's tax liability (2005). So as an example, if you and dh both had full time jobs, which combined to withhold, say $10,000, and your tax liability for the year (on all three jobs) was $11,000, you'd be fine, because you paid in over 90%. Or, if last year your total liability was only $9,900, then you're also fine, because you paid in more than that.

2. You can't deduct child support payments, because you can't deduct payments to feed, house and clothe your child even when he lives in the same house. It stinks that he can't claim the personal exemption for his son, most people could do that if they're living together. Is it in the divorce decree that the ex gets the deduction? Again, unless the laws have changed, my understanding is that whichever parent pays more than half of the costs to support the child is the one that claims him as a dependant, unless the divorce decree says differently. Even if you are paying, say $1,000 a month towards his support, if his ex is paying $1,001, she'd get the deduction.

A good accountant will help muddle through this stuff. Good luck!

 

[tar heel]

You will not necessarily be penalized for not paying taxes. If 90% of what you owe this year or 100% of what you owed last year was payroll deducted at his other job, you do not owe a penalty. I'm assuming you mean that not even social security was deducted from his check for the part-time job -- right? If that is the case, he will have to file a Schedule C and pay social security tax as well as income tax.

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

I claimed 0 on the W4 for my PT job. I haven't had a cent deducted for federal taxes in 2006 (started late Jan-Feb), BUT I have a FT job that does deduct more enough fed tax. (I think I have an extra $5 coming out of each pay as a cushion from one year when we had to pay in April.)

Knowing that we usually receive a refund I decided to do it this way to maximize my take home pay from the PT job. All it's done is reduced the amount of refund, which is fine by me. I haven't decided if I want to make the adjustment to claim 1 for 2007. As long as the refund is a few hundred dollars (yes, I know a small interest-free loan to the government) I'm happy.

 

[1Prince2Princesses]

1. You don't have to file a different type of tax return. You still file the same one. The only difference is that there won't be any withholding from that job on that line of the return.

2. Again, unless the laws have changed, my understanding is that whichever parent pays more than half of the costs to support the child is the one that claims him as a dependant, unless the divorce decree says differently. Even if you are paying, say $1,000 a month towards his support, if his ex is paying $1,001, she'd get the deduction.

A good accountant will help muddle through this stuff. Good luck!

1. - This is true. There is no penalty, but you may owe the tax due on your income. If you are truly in a very low income bracket, your deductions will probably cover it and you will probably not owe tax.

2. - It is true that you must pay more than half. BUT the child also must live with you for at least half the year. If you have a typical visitation agreement, (weekends), then you must adhere to the guidelines of the divorce. If it is not outlined in the divorce, then you can either come to an agreement between you about who gets the deduction, or she gets it. Good luck with that.

I used to do taxes for H&R Block a few years ago. I know a lot of the laws have changed, but I know the basics (and still do family and friends' taxes), and I believe the above is all true. I would look into having a preparer do your taxes for you this year, though!

 

[salmoneous]

Don't forget the fine job Steve Spurrier did at South Carolina this year. Great year for Gators all around!

 

[Mrs.Toad]

1. - This is true. There is no penalty, but you may owe the tax due on your income.

Oops. Yes, of course.

Just to clarify, in my example, "you're fine" was from the penalty standpoint only. You'd still owe the $1,000 in tax.