tax refund so low this year?

[DancingBear]

We got extra money this year. Dh is making a little more than last year but because of the making work pay thing we got more. I didn't realize it hurt some people.

Just to be clear, it didn't hurt anybody, in that nobody paid any more in taxes because of Making Work Pay. It's just that some people, if they did not make an adjustment, are finding that their refunds are lower (or non-existent) because they did not have as much withheld from their paychecks over the course of the year.

 

[si-am]

I can't seem to have kids; it bothers me that the DINK status hurts us every year at tax time!

We are still waiting on a couple of things for my husband (he was laid off for a short time last year and we need his unemployment benefits thingie), but I am afraid we'll be hurt by the Making Work Pay, since the extra money went on both of our paychecks.

 

[HelenePA]

We were surprised by ours... definitely larger than last year. I didn't realize it helped so much to have a kid!

Plus, we put in a new energy efficient furnace/air conditioner. That was a pretty big chunk of change back to us. We also bought a new car so we got to deduct the sales tax...

Our state was less then $50. Typical, though.

This is the ONLY time of year it pays to have a kid!

I haven't filed state taxes yet.. last year i did it in the summer so we'd have some "play" money. I'm not sure when I'll file our state taxes this year.. we get back a few hundred nothing grand

 

[mefordis]

I can't seem to have kids; it bothers me that the DINK status hurts us every year at tax time!

We are still waiting on a couple of things for my husband (he was laid off for a short time last year and we need his unemployment benefits thingie), but I am afraid we'll be hurt by the Making Work Pay, since the extra money went on both of our paychecks.

With the amount of $$ you end up spending when you have a kid, trust me, you are not at a financial disadvantage with the DINK status. Enjoy your extra money while there is still just the two of you.

 

[si-am]

With the amount of $$ you end up spending when you have a kid, trust me, you are not at a financial disadvantage with the DINK status. Enjoy your extra money while there is still just the two of you.

True, but fertility treatments also add up. Not enough to claim on taxes, though, as far as I know.

 

[Skatermom23]

Just to be clear, it didn't hurt anybody, in that nobody paid any more in taxes because of Making Work Pay. It's just that some people, if they did not make an adjustment, are finding that their refunds are lower (or non-existent) because they did not have as much withheld from their paychecks over the course of the year.

I did adjust our withholdings to have an extra amount taken out early in the year. Usually, our refund is about $100 from federal. This year, we have slightly less income, have paid an extra amount in taxes all through the year and we are breaking even with federal taxes. Everything else is the same. You can't say it isn't hurting anyone.

 

[DancingBear]

I did adjust our withholdings to have an extra amount taken out early in the year. Usually, our refund is about $100 from federal. This year, we have slightly less income, have paid an extra amount in taxes all through the year and we are breaking even with federal taxes. Everything else is the same. You can't say it isn't hurting anyone.

There was NO FEDERAL TAX INCREASE. There's no way you were hurt by the Making Work Pay TAX CREDIT. If you owed more taxes this year there has to be some other reason.

 

[shrubber]

There was NO FEDERAL TAX INCREASE. There's no way you were hurt by the Making Work Pay TAX CREDIT. If you owed more taxes this year there has to be some other reason.

The Making Work Pay Credit, a tax credit that was a signature part of ..............’s economic stimulus package in February, could lead to more than 15.4 million people owing additional taxes, according to a new government report.



“While implementing a credit through reduced withholding is an effective way to provide economic stimulus evenly throughout the year, it is difficult to account for everyone’s circumstances,” said TIGTA Inspector General J. Russell George in a statement. “More than 10 percent of all taxpayers who file individual tax returns for 2009 could owe additional taxes because their withholdings were reduced by more than the Making Work Pay Credit. If corrective actions are not taken, this problem will continue to plague taxpayers in 2010.”


http://http://www.webcpa.com/news/Making-Work-Pay-Credit-May-Cause-Millions-Owe-More-Taxes-52471-1.html

 

[KramBerries]

I think that there is some confusion here. There are several relevant numbers involved with taxes. The most important is the total amount of taxes that you owe for a year. Another is the amount of taxes that were withheld from your paychecks during the year. The difference between the total amount of taxes you owed and what you had withheld is either what you owe at the end of the year or how big your return is.

The effect of the Make Work Pay program on the total amount of taxes a person owed ranges from nothing to 800 in lower taxes. It cannot increase the total amount of taxes you owed. Not one single person in the entire country paid more taxes this year because of the Make Work Pay program.

For many people, the Make Work Pay program did reduce the amount of money many people had withheld from their taxes. In some cases, they had more money withheld than the amount their taxes were reduced. That resulted in many people having smaller refunds or owing more money at the end of the year. Their taxes didn't go up. Their withholding went down by more than their taxes.

 

[okeydokey]

The Making Work Pay Credit, a tax credit that was a signature part of ..............’s economic stimulus package in February, could lead to more than 15.4 million people owing additional taxes, according to a new government report.



“While implementing a credit through reduced withholding is an effective way to provide economic stimulus evenly throughout the year, it is difficult to account for everyone’s circumstances,” said TIGTA Inspector General J. Russell George in a statement. “More than 10 percent of all taxpayers who file individual tax returns for 2009 could owe additional taxes because their withholdings were reduced by more than the Making Work Pay Credit. If corrective actions are not taken, this problem will continue to plague taxpayers in 2010.”


http://http://www.webcpa.com/news/Making-Work-Pay-Credit-May-Cause-Millions-Owe-More-Taxes-52471-1.html

They may owe additional taxes now, but they did not pay additional taxes in 2009.

 

[Skatermom23]

The Making Work Pay Credit, a tax credit that was a signature part of ..............’s economic stimulus package in February, could lead to more than 15.4 million people owing additional taxes, according to a new government report.



“While implementing a credit through reduced withholding is an effective way to provide economic stimulus evenly throughout the year, it is difficult to account for everyone’s circumstances,” said TIGTA Inspector General J. Russell George in a statement. “More than 10 percent of all taxpayers who file individual tax returns for 2009 could owe additional taxes because their withholdings were reduced by more than the Making Work Pay Credit. If corrective actions are not taken, this problem will continue to plague taxpayers in 2010.”


http://http://www.webcpa.com/news/Making-Work-Pay-Credit-May-Cause-Millions-Owe-More-Taxes-52471-1.html

Thank you. I guess I am one of the lucky ones who got hit with this wonderful plan.

 

[Planogirl]

Ugh. We still don't have our W-2's and I'm not looking forward to filing now. We increased DH's withholding last year but it's hard to know if that's enough to offset the 'extra' money throughout the year. This explains why my already sad net income dropped this year though.

 

[mom2boys]

Blame it on the Making Work Pay credit. You know, that $10 to $20 extra you saw in your check each week starting April 1st of 2009.
That was an advance of any "refund" you might have received on your income taxes because the tax tables were not adjusted, just your withholding.

If both you and your spouse worked at W2 jobs, you both received this "extra" money each week and if you didn't have to pay in, be grateful. I know many, many dual-income families having to pay this year because of that "credit".

She's right. Instead of giving you a lump sum "rebate" this year, you got $10-$15 per week. That was so you wouldn't be temped to save it or pay down your debt with the big hunk of $$ all at once.

 

[kamikazecat]

Thank you guys for answering my questions.

 

[OhMari]

We were surprised by ours... definitely larger than last year. I didn't realize it helped so much to have a kid!

Plus, we put in a new energy efficient furnace/air conditioner. That was a pretty big chunk of change back to us. We also bought a new car so we got to deduct the sales tax...

Our state was less then $50. Typical, though.

Having children to deduct is the biggest tax deduction, because you get to deduct from the amount of taxes owed. I'm thinking it is around $4,000 a child if not more. So if you owe $10,000 in Federal Income Tax, actually paid in $12,000, you would receive back $6,000 instead of $2,000, because that $4,000 comes off how much tax you owe to the Feds. I sure wish that tax deduction was around when my 4 kids were small in the 80's/90's.

 

[Goofy'slady]

We'll I stumbled on this thread last night after my husband went to his 2nd job which just happens to be doing taxes for a large national tax company. We received all of our tax information in regards to W2's for the both of us, house tax information, donation receipts and of course our biggest deductions are our KIDS.

After reading all through this thread last night I began praying that we got a refund and didn't owe the government. He didn't have to a chance to do them at work last night (he had 2 clients) but he kept reassuring me that we were gonna be fine but I wasn't convinced. He did have the chance to do it tonight while me and the girls were at bible study. I must admit our refund was on my mind all through bible study and I couldn't wait to get home to hear how we did. We did better than we did last year to the tune of 1,500.00 extra. Needless to say our April vacation will be paid in full by the end of the week and we have extra cash to do a few things around the house and all.

Good luck to all.

T.