Updated so DH and I started on our taxes last

[Wisconsin Beth]

So DH and I started filling out our tax forms last night. We will either owe the Feds $24 or they will owe us $26. We need to doublecheck the interest from the house, HELOC and land as we're not convinced what we have entered (the $26 refund) is correct. Worst case scenario is that we owe the $24.

The funny thing is that DH was trying to get us to have a refund of a couple hundred and didn't take an $800 credit into account when he was playing around on the calculators for taxes. If it wasn't for that credit, we'd definitely being owing.

I know we hit the sweet spot, on accident but it turns out our comfort level is getting a refund back that's between $200-$1000. So I guess OUR sweet spot to aim for is $500.

[SVT]

Why not continue to try to be around 0 (give or take $25) like this year? Why is getting a $500 refund more comfortable than owing $26? Or even owing $500? You're paying the same amount of tax no matter what. It's just a matter of when you pay it.

[resolution]

Wow! I am impressed that you got it so close, even if it was an accident.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Feb 16, 2011 13:40:40 GMT -5 SVT said:

Why not continue to try to be around 0 (give or take $25) like this year? Why is getting a $500 refund more comfortable than owing $26? Or even owing $500? You're paying the same amount of tax no matter what. It's just a matter of when you pay it.

I'm not completely sure, to be honest. I'm afraid that we'll screw up and owe large amounts unexpectedly and not have it at tax time.

We've been working on the getting the refunds down. Last year we got a refund of almost $3K from the Feds. And I think the year before was around $2700 from the Feds. But we added kids in 2008 and 2009 and were still figuring out the math/deductions.

[SVT]

Feb 16, 2011 13:48:35 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

Feb 16, 2011 13:40:40 GMT -5 SVT said:

Why not continue to try to be around 0 (give or take $25) like this year? Why is getting a $500 refund more comfortable than owing $26? Or even owing $500? You're paying the same amount of tax no matter what. It's just a matter of when you pay it.

I'm not completely sure, to be honest. I'm afraid that we'll screw up and owe large amounts unexpectedly and not have it at tax time.

We've been working on the getting the refunds down. Last year we got a refund of almost $3K from the Feds. And I think the year before was around $2700 from the Feds. But we added kids in 2008 and 2009 and were still figuring out the math/deductions.

There are tax calculators online to estimate the amount owed/refunded during the year. I usually do it some time in the summer then again around October or November.

[tloonya]

You are farer way from $10K refund than I m:-)

[Wisconsin Beth]

Feb 16, 2011 14:02:25 GMT -5 SVT said:

Feb 16, 2011 13:48:35 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

I'm not completely sure, to be honest. I'm afraid that we'll screw up and owe large amounts unexpectedly and not have it at tax time.

We've been working on the getting the refunds down. Last year we got a refund of almost $3K from the Feds. And I think the year before was around $2700 from the Feds. But we added kids in 2008 and 2009 and were still figuring out the math/deductions.

There are tax calculators online to estimate the amount owed/refunded during the year. I usually do it some time in the summer then again around October or November.

Yeah DH spent alot of time on paycheckcity.com but I don't believe he did it again. He's planning on doing it a couple of times this year though.

[Deleted]

I estimated that we were going to get a $3k refund and we owe about $1k.


; (

[phil5185]

our comfort level is getting a refund back that's between $200-$1000.

LOL - why don't you overpay your electric bill by $100/mon all year and then get a $1200 refund from the electric company in January?
Disclosure - I owe about $3500, haven't had a refund in at least 20 yrs.

[craig]

If it wasn't for unexpected deductions we were within a couple hundred dollars but ended up with just shy of 1000 return. Next year we should be closer to zero unless something else pops up.

[Deleted]

My favorit is owing the gov't $100. I feel like I got away with something!

Last year (2009) we got a refund of $8k. But our taxes last year were nuts; 4 tax returns between Germany, US Fed, CA and AZ. Our CA state tax return was 218 pages, and yes, hard copy.

I hope we can file electronically this year!

[Wisconsin Beth]

Phil, I probably shouldn't admit it but I used to be on the budget plan for electric/gas... Did you ever get big refunds Phil? Or did you always try to have your taxes be a zero sum game before moving into owing?

[Wisconsin Beth]

Our CA state tax return was 218 pages, and yes, hard copy.

Read more: notmsnmoney.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=finance&thread=3499&page=1#ixzz1E9ra1eP1

Holy crap Bonnap. That's nuts.

[schildi]

I am good with -1,000 to plus 1,000, but I do prefer to err on the "getting a small refund" side. This year, we get $1,300 back, last year it was less. I don't think I'll change the withholding.
The reason: I want to make 100% sure that we don't owe a penalty, and with the low interest rates right now, lending the government a thousand or so does not really matter. How much interest are we talking here? $5, maybe $10? I just don't want to keep on calculating the withholdings to make sure I don't go over for 10 bucks ....

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

Our CA state tax return was 218 pages, and yes, hard copy.

WTF? Actually I can understand that. A few years ago I changed brokerage firms and am now with a money manager.
All my funds I had for about 14 years were sold. My tax guy had to show every single tax lot(and there were literally 1000s) as required by the IRS, to show the gain/loss on every sale. My fed return was huge.

ETA:
Estimating ones income and deductions/credits becomes difficult when you have extensive holdings in a variety of assets. Most mutual funds distribute capital gains late in the year.

[tloonya]

Feb 16, 2011 15:44:33 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

I estimated that we were going to get a $3k refund and we owe about $1k.


; (

I told you u r a crpappy accountant Archiiiiiiiiie and you didn't believe me...:-)

I m too love to be on energy budget.
I like to pay $450/mo than $150 and $750...

[Deleted]

Feb 16, 2011 16:47:47 GMT -5 tloonya said:

Feb 16, 2011 15:44:33 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

I estimated that we were going to get a $3k refund and we owe about $1k.


; (

I told you u r a crpappy accountant Archiiiiiiiiie and you didn't believe me...:-)

/quote]

When did I ever say i didn't beleive you... I am fully on board with that analysis.

[phil5185]

Did you ever get big refunds Phil? Or did you always try to have your taxes be a zero sum game before moving into owing?

I don't remember ever getting a big refund. I was in the Army in 1957, they paid in cash so I probably got whatever they gave me, maybe the W4 wasn't even invented yet? After I got my engineering degree and had higher paying jobs I kept the refund at near zero. In the 1960s our town had postal folks out at midnight at drive thru mail drops for late filers - I did that a couple times.

[whoisjohngalt]

I estimated that we were going to get a $3k refund and we owe about $1k.

OK, that statement if freaking me out, bc I am expecting a refund and if we owe, there is a very good chance I'll become a single mother very very soon.

How could you miscalculate by $4K???

Lena

[wvugurl26]

I think I might owe the feds a couple hundred based on rough calculation on online calculator. Going to figure it out this weekend. I expected a refund due to starting new job halfway through the year. And yes, my tax professor told us to adjust it on our W4 and then redo it for the following year when you planned to be at the job all year. However, since my HR/payroll people lost all of my paperwork at the beginning and I very nearly didn't have a check for my first 2 weeks of work, I'm not screwing with anything.
As for state I have no idea. Its always been a crapshoot even when I was in college and making maybe $10-15k/yr. And I sure as hell ain't underpaying the state by very much bc their interest rate is 9% and my money isn't earning me 9% anywhere. Its one thing to underpay the feds and safe harbor it or even pay the penalty rate bc its tiny. My state penalty rate is like 3x the federal penalty rate.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Feb 16, 2011 17:39:55 GMT -5 phil5185 said:

Did you ever get big refunds Phil? Or did you always try to have your taxes be a zero sum game before moving into owing?

I don't remember ever getting a big refund. I was in the Army in 1957, they paid in cash so I probably got whatever they gave me, maybe the W4 wasn't even invented yet? After I got my engineering degree and had higher paying jobs I kept the refund at near zero. In the 1960s our town had postal folks out at midnight at drive thru mail drops for late filers - I did that a couple times.

Interesting.

I've learned alot over the years from your posts Phil. And DH and I are slowly shifting our comfort zone. I guess we're a work in progress.

[Deleted]

Feb 16, 2011 18:08:01 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

I estimated that we were going to get a $3k refund and we owe about $1k.

OK, that statement if freaking me out, bc I am expecting a refund and if we owe, there is a very good chance I'll become a single mother very very soon.

How could you miscalculate by $4K???

Lena

I didn't realize we would be pushed into a higher tax bracket or factor in that we would be losing a lot of our deductions and credits and that our withholding was lower compared to last year because of the making work pay tax credit withholding table adjustments.

[Wisconsin Beth]

wvgurl, we find it really hard to calculate Wisconsin withholdings correctly. None of the sites we've gone to play with tax stuff seems to work for Wisconsin. We're probably getting a refund from the state but haven't actually looked at the numbers for 2010 yet.

I have a gut feeling that in order to get the state refund down to 0, we'd end up owing the feds a couple of grand.

[Deleted]

Connecticut doesn't even let you adjust your withholdings.

[swamp]

I'm self employed and my income fluctuates, so every year my tax liability is a complete surprise to me.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I just did my taxes last night. Getting about $900 back from feds, hit the *$0* for state. Pissed me off that it cost me $15 to electronically file my state taxes though.

[The J]

I'm estimating a refund in the $1500 range from the feds. No clue on the state. This was my first full year in the condo, so I'm still getting a handle on how much my deductions will be, so I can tweak my withholdings. At some point soon I have to actually do my taxes....

[ugga81]

Finally have our taxes "ballparked" getting about $5K back from fed and $1600 back from states. In my defense though, I was completely unable to do tax planning this year. We had a move and a job change for DH in there including employer reimbursed moving expenses. I'm really grateful for the moving costs but it did push our AGI up almost $50K. Plus we have 3 state returns and a local/cit return which are still making me pull my hair out. Credits to this state, partial year in that state, worked but non-resident in this state. Ended up paying a $15 penalty in 1 state for underpaying yet we overpaid over $2500 in another state! Also, most of our Fed refund is from overpayment of SS due to DH's job change which shouldn't be a problem next year.

We've been married over 6 years and from the original "we owe $3,000 because you decided you could claim my exemption because we just got married but I already claimed my own exemption for my withholding" mistake to "yup, if we keep moving and/or changing jobs I'll never be able to tax plan" I'm finally hoping this year will be the year I'll have a good idea what our taxes will look like before our tax documents show up in Jan/Feb the following year.

[973beachbum]

Feb 17, 2011 9:53:14 GMT -5 swamp said:

I'm self employed and my income fluctuates, so every year my tax liability is a complete surprise to me.

DH does some self employment work as well as normally working for someone else. Normally I err on the side of caution and over with hold on the "regular" jobs and don't on the self emp ones. We have always come pretty close, within $1000 either way.

This year we took a bath on some of his work. So we are getting over $4K back. All it does is make me remember how much we lost though.

[kansasflower]

I aim to owe about $2,000 each year. My husband is not always comfortable with owing this much but in December we had to replace our furnace. Since we owe, we are able to take the 30% credit for a high efficiency model saving us $1,000 in taxes. If we aimed to owe $0, we would have lost out on the tax credit.