F*ckin, love taxes!!!

[quote name='Wlogan31'](*cough*thisismeeventhoughI'maCPA*cough*)[/quote]

You're a CPA? I'm actually in the process of getting that myself. I'm with ya, I just went through my first busy season, and boy did it suck.

Anyways, be sure to thank you accountant/tax preparer for minimizing the damage or maximizing the benefit. If you went through H&R Block, Jackson-Hewitt, or Turbo Tax/other off-the-shelf software, best of luck to you.
 
Got to also remember that you get the stimulus check which for most will be $600 bucks plus whatever you get back from your other taxes.

I'm getting back around 1000 bucks in total from City, State, and Federal. This money will be put up so that I can create some more retirement savings.

[quote name='alongx']That's nothing. I was frustrated that I owed so much this year at first, until I realized that I was able to invest the money, instead of giving a free loan to the government.

What sucks is that if you owe this year you get penalized when it comes to the stimulus rebate check. Since you can't file your banking information to pay, it has to be in the form of a check, you can't enroll to automatically deposit the tax rebate in your bank account, which could be the difference between getting $600 on May 14 or not until late August. I, unfortunately, fall into the latter category, but, then again, I won't be getting $600 anyway.[/QUOTE]

The thing that sucks for me is since I'm getting a check and the last two digits of my Social are 91 I will be apart of the last group to get checks sent out which will be sometime in July based on the info provided by the IRS.
 
I *just* got back from mailing mine. Yeah, procrastinated for no reason considering I'm getting back a good chunk from both Federal and State.

Here's something to piss off you single and childless people.

So I make decent money (not bragging - just the reality of being a Software Engineer for the last 12 years after getting my Masters vs being a starving student like so many at CAG ;)). Nothing too high as I sacrificed an even better salary for better quality of life (don't want to live in DC area, thank you very much so I work from home 2500 miles from my "office" thus keeping me out of management/supervisor type opportunities where the big bucks are).

I just did my taxes last night (took about an hour to do both Federal and State). Now I have no love for the govt (especially the current one) but one of the myths of taxes is that you pay what your "tax bracket" is. Of course, with the graduated brackets and deductions/exemptions/credits you end up paying far less, usually.

For example, I am nominally in the 28% bracket (just barely). However, I ain't paying anywhere NEAR 28%. But I was astounded at how much less. My Federal tax liability was just 2% of my adjusted gross income. It is an even smaller percentage of my net income (income before 401K and health insurance costs are deducted). Now my state tax is much higher - near 5.5%, actually.

Why would this piss off single/childless people? Well, I have 4 dependent children and the biggest reason my taxes are so low is the $1000 per child tax credit, which is taken off AFTER you figure out all your taxes (including the AMT). So with the relatively minor exemption for the kids but without the $1000 each taken off, my rate would be 6.5% (note also that I have a hefty mortgage deduction which reduces my taxes considerably even without the kids). It would be a bit higher if I figured it all out with only 2 of the 6 exemptions I can claim (though still nowhere near 28%). I'm also set to get a pretty big "stimulus" check because of the kids (though only 3 of the 4 will count as the youngest was born last Nov).

Just thought it was interesting to figure the actual taxes being paid. And note I don't even use the child care deductions which could bring that down even more. But still, if I had 2 more kids (not gonna happen) I wouldn't pay any tax at all. If I were single or part of a couple that chose not have children I'd be pretty pissed ;).

On the flip side, my property taxes are sky high - WAY more than my Federal tax. I had to look that up for my deductions (since it is taken care of by the mortgage company automatically and I never think about it) and was amazed what that was.
 
[quote name='bigdaddy']You love taxes because the government stole money from you and now you are getting it back?

At the very least the government took out a loan with zero interest on it. You try getting a student loan like that and the government will laugh at you.[/QUOTE]

You know if you just adjust your withholding (exemptions on your W-4) that doesn't have to happen. I keep adjusting mine but I keep getting refunds anyway (though they are a little smaller than they would have been otherwise). I'll have to make another adjustment though - would rather have the cash in hand now than wait till next year!
 
[quote name='InuFaye']I had to pay 30, bullshit.[/QUOTE]

You are the doing things right then. Anyone who gets a HUGE tax refund has been letting the government keep money for them. Money you could have put into a savings account and gotten interest on. Or paid off a loan. Or preordered WiiFit...
 
I had to file to get my $300 economic stimulus payment, I normally don't have to file due to various reasons I'd rather not disclose.
 
[quote name='mikeohara']I had to file to get my $300 economic stimulus payment, I normally don't have to file due to various reasons I'd rather not disclose.[/QUOTE]

Glad you brought it up.
 
[quote name='lordwow']The problem is, you have to pay taxes if you earn interest in a savings account too. That's what a 1099 is for.[/quote]

Depends on the amount of interest gained. Every year I check with my bank statements and such to determine the amount of interest gained. And every year it's not enough to claim on any kind of tax form.
 
[quote name='JJSP']Got back $611 federal and $3 state. Yay.[/QUOTE]

Thats usually what happens with me on taxes... I get back a big amount on federal (over 1000 this year plus the extra 1200) and a small amount on state... so I always hold off on state taxes like this year...lol... but we will actually get about 300 from state for once (the itemizing deductions saved us this year)

Probably took me about 20 minutes to completely fill out our state tax form. Glad it is done though
 
Got back $92 this year when I filed in February(I don't like waiting till the last minute to file). But was under $100 short of qualifying for that stimulus package.

Bought a guinea pig with around $27 of that. Of course about 6 weeks later, found out it was a girl since it gave birth to 5 babies. So instead of buying one guinea pig, I ended up with 6 of them.#-oEnded up having to spend another $50 of that return on a cage big enough for a rabbit, just so I could keep them all in one cage. So I'd like to thank Meijer for selling me a knocked up female guinea pig when I was told all they sell are male guinea pigs.
 
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