tax refund so low this year?

[SnootyBear]

Nothing changed for me this year...I always do married filing seperate. I have 2 small kids, i claim both kids. Last year my refund was over 7k this year it is 2k.....what a bummer! I just dont understand why?


What is the earned income credit? It said I am not eligible for the earned income credit.....anyone know what thats all about?

Even if your income is within the EIC range, you do not qualify for it if you file "Married filing separate". Does it benefit your family to file that way?

 

[jlima]

An extra $20/week against your refund would only be $1040 difference.

But, for someone expecting $1,500 and getting $500, it can be

 

[AndyLL]

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".

Not true.

The tables were adjusted along with your withholding.

But...

The tax cut was 'per couple'.

So if you both are working and the withholding was adjusted for both working parties then not enough was withheld.

This has been well publized since the tax break was official.

 

[ohiomom28]

Hi, I just did my taxes and my income is the same as other years but my refund is extremely lower then any other year......why? I wonder if I did something wrong? I didnt complete it yet so can still go back and change it (I used a site online to file). Has anyone else had this problem? I'm shocked how low it is....I'm talking thousands lower then years previous??? Thanks

Me too...it was about $600 less than last year.

 

[Keli]

I filled out a new w2 form at work as soon as I heard that making work pay had gone through and told them to withhold my taxes at the higher, unmarried rate with 0 dependants and take out an extra $20 per payperiod.
We usually break even with uncle Sam, more or less, and I didn't want a huge tax bill to deal with this year.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

Refund? I wish. DH even lowered his exemptions to 1 for his civilian employer and 0 for the army reserves and we still owe. About $200. He will put it in my IRA I imagine. I think we got back about $200 last year.

 

[wdwfan16]

Hi, I just did my taxes and my income is the same as other years but my refund is extremely lower then any other year......why? I wonder if I did something wrong? I didnt complete it yet so can still go back and change it (I used a site online to file). Has anyone else had this problem? I'm shocked how low it is....I'm talking thousands lower then years previous??? Thanks

You did nothing wrong. Back last spring the government altered the tax withholding tables so the paychecks were bigger to try to stimulate the economy. IIRC it was $15 for a single and $25 for a couple. If both of you worked then they did it to both checks. This caused less taxes to be taken out and thus a smaller refund.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

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".

Not true.

The tables were adjusted along with your withholding.

But...

The tax cut was 'per couple'.

So if you both are working and the withholding was adjusted for both working parties then not enough was withheld.

This has been well publized since the tax break was official.

They sure did. I adjustedine about 2 months later.

Everyone liked the extra money but I knew when tax season came they would be upset the refunds weren't as high.

 

[mom2austin]

Not true.

The tables were adjusted along with your withholding.

But...

The tax cut was 'per couple'.

So if you both are working and the withholding was adjusted for both working parties then not enough was withheld.

This has been well publicized since the tax break was official.

They weren't adjusted, actually. That's the big problem here. The tax tables are the same as they were last year, yet thousands of people had less withheld due to "Making Work Pay" and now they are paying.

It isn't just here that people are talking about less refunds, or owing when they've never owed before, it's all over the internet.

So again, a single person who works their withholdings out to break even because they don't want to give Uncle Sam any more money than he deserves will file their taxes and more than likely owe around $600. A married couple filing jointly expecting to break even would owe somewhere between $1500 and $2000. It's quite the shock if you weren't prepared for it.

 

[ICF]

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".

At most it would impact your refund by $800 if you were married and doing a joint return. If you normally received more than that, this program (in and of itself) would not have caused you to owe anything.

 

[glitterkittyy]

I have our W2s and have estimated the 1099 I'm expecting and it looks like we're getting what we normally do ($200 short of last year's). We're a two income family, and I knew we had to make adjustments earlier in the year.

 

[padams]

All of you that expect refunds know that you are giving the government an interest free loan during the year, right? It's your money, not the government's money. You could have earned interest on that money if you had it rather than the government. We always set our withholdings so that we owe a small amount.

 

[ICF]

All of you that expect refunds know that you are giving the government an interest free loan during the year, right? It's your money, not the government's money. You could have earned interest on that money if you had it rather than the government. We always set our withholdings so that we owe a small amount.

and all of you that break even every year, know that some people like to get the big check and use it to do home improvments, vacations, or something else with it, right?

Yes, you could adjust your withholdings so you get an extra $25-50 / wk but that money would most likely get lost in the shuffle vs getting a refund check of $1300-$2600.

For most people, that money would not get saved and earn interest it would get spent of wherever that persons money usually goes. With 1 big check of say $2500 they feel they can do something special with it. Besides, the interest that they are losing on that $2500 is only about $50 assuming they can get an annual return of 2% via a liquid type of savings account.

Now...if the people are getting a refund and carrying CC debt and the like then yes, I would agree that they should adjust in order to pay off their debt sooner vs getting a refund the following year.

 

[Minnesota!]

and all of you that break even every year, know that some people like to get the big check and use it to do home improvments, vacations, or something else with it, right?

Yes, you could adjust your withholdings so you get an extra $25-50 / wk but that money would most likely get lost in the shuffle vs getting a refund check of $1300-$2600.

For most people, that money would not get saved and earn interest it would get spent of wherever that persons money usually goes. With 1 big check of say $2500 they feel they can do something special with it. Besides, the interest that they are losing on that $2500 is only about $50 assuming they can get an annual return of 2% via a liquid type of savings account.

Now...if the people are getting a refund and carrying CC debt and the like then yes, I would agree that they should adjust in order to pay off their debt sooner vs getting a refund the following year.

Ditto. I really like getting that check in Feb. We are debt free now (WOOOOOO HOOOOOOO), so my whole refund can be used for something I want, rather then a bill. We are redoing our kitchen and bathroom. Cannot wait!

And, last year we had to pay in $600 or so. This year we are getting a little over $2000 back. So yeah...I am super happy!

 

[sbell111]

jme - it also sounds like you got a pretty big house credit that others aren't getting because you bought the house. For someone who doesn't itemize, and has the same exact return as last year, nearly same income, with dual W2 incomes (not self-employed), they will be very lucky not to owe this year. Many of us were screaming when this was passed, but no one listened.

I don't understand your position.

You were aware of this change last year and got upset over it, but took no action to minimize it's effect. All you had to do is increase your withholding slightly and it would be as if 'Making Work Pay' was never passed. Instead, you are shocked that your refund is less.

The only person you have to blame is yourself.

 

[wvjules]

All of you that expect refunds know that you are giving the government an interest free loan during the year, right? It's your money, not the government's money. You could have earned interest on that money if you had it rather than the government. We always set our withholdings so that we owe a small amount.

I would love to do that but I got 3 raises last year. If my pay stayed the same I think my withholding would have put me at close to even. This year I have adjusted my W-4 yet again in the hopes that I won't get a large refund. Somehow I manage to get back $1500 this year. Shocked me! I thought for sure I would be close to even. Oh well, I guess thats money I get to save for Europe. Yay!

 

[LisaNJ25]

We got about $700 more than last year and I know something was less with my one son since he turned 17 last year (crazy if you ask me since he still has another year of hight school)

My state refund is unusually high averages $120-$140 and this yeahs its $700

 

[loveysbydesign]

Yikes...I am afraid to get ours done now! We use ours to pay for our WDW vaction!

 

[kwelch10377]

I got the biggest refund that I have ever gotten this year. Mine taxes are very basic, other then my W-2s the only other thing I have is school loan interest. I thought it was going to be lower bc I made more last year than previous years, but I guess that worked out to my advantage.

 

[DMickey28]

I am also praying for SOME sort of refund this year. Last year was the first year we actually got anything back at all in years ... all of $200. This year should be better because DH did not make as much and his new company screwed up his taxes for about two months in the fall so we should get the difference back in that too. BUT we took out some 401K money so we owe that. We also bought a house so we have the $8000 credit but that goes right back to our savings account so I don't count it as a refund.