It's Tax Season! How much do you owe Uncle Sam? How much does he owe you?!

Because I live in Minnesota/Majorwalfare, I will be receiving from the feds and mailing off to the state a few hundred dollars, essentially breaking even. This is that time every year that that I fill my swear jar wondering why I never moved back to South Dakota.

I also don't understand why anyone would allow the government to capitalize on thousands of your dollars that you should be earning interest on yourself. Any refund over $1000 is either an oopsie baby that shows up in November or seriously flawed economic practice.
 
What's the deal with this make work pay credit? Sounds like a $400 giveaway in my case (using the worksheet on the back of the EZ form). Is it possible to decline that (it's not my money), and if I do am I going to get audited because I filed my taxes "incorrectly?"
 
2009 was my first year "in the real world". Wasn't a dependent for the first time, and was out of college (no debt)...and had a full-time salaried job all year.

That being said, I'm single, don't own a home (rent an apartment), and have no kids.

Getting $5XX back on federal and $88(?) on state taxes. Already filed the federal return...need to sit down tonight and submit the state. My girlfriend is getting $2XX back federal and $60(?) back on state.

Mine will be going into the savings. She'll probably spend hers on junk. :p
 
[quote name='Allnatural']Yes, I've read that, but it doesn't answer my question.

Fun fact: I was talking to a co-worker about this the other day. She said, "if you don't take the credit you'll have to pay taxes this year." I just rolled my eyes and walked away...[/QUOTE]

Why would you decline it? Be glad you qualify for it. Many people, including myself, don't qualify for these credits for whatever reason. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
 
I figure I'll be getting my standard $750 back from the Fed, I usually end up owing the State $1, which is annoying. I'm not even sure they bother collecting if it's only $1, but I send it to the anyway.
 
I-- am an independent for the first time and have no fing clue what I'm doing yet. but i had a contract job over the summer and I go to school full time, which the govt helps with, soooo we'll see what happens.
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']I think I owe $1000. However, I haven't determined whether or not I qualify for the credit.

I haven't even looked at state taxes.[/QUOTE]

You should be thrilled, you got to collect interest the whole year on money you owe the government! Happy tax return!
 
[quote name='SpazX']You should be thrilled, you got to collect interest the whole year on money you owe the government! Happy tax return![/QUOTE]

Seriously!

Any time we owe our bankrupt government money, my wife gets upset.

"Oh, no", she cries while buying Nickelback tickets, "another bill."

I wouldn't want to have this country owing me money unless I have a large Chinese army behind me to enforce collection.
 
[quote name='Allnatural']What's the deal with this make work pay credit? Sounds like a $400 giveaway in my case (using the worksheet on the back of the EZ form). Is it possible to decline that (it's not my money), and if I do am I going to get audited because I filed my taxes "incorrectly?"[/QUOTE]

I filed electronically and that worksheet is attached automatically. I tried to decline but was not able to do so. Oh, well...
 
Well seriously, if you think you shouldn't have that $400 credit then you can either buy a bond to give it back to the government (I imagine you could just never cash it in?) or donate it to charity. Or if you feel bad that the government took somebody's money to give it to you then just mail a check to the richest person you can think of.

And btw I did finally file my taxes yesterday using TaxAct, thanks for the link. Unless I fucked something up I'm getting back $821 federal, $160 from VA, and paying $3 to PA.
 
waiting on some reassessed real estate tax bills that are effective back to July of 2009 that haven't been paid (not overdue, though) before i can finish up mine. Should get a few g's though.
 
$340 back from federal, $9 back from state. Nothing amazing, but it's a decent deposit into my bank account.
 
[quote name='Allnatural']Yes, I've read that, but it doesn't answer my question.[/QUOTE]

I'm confused as hell by this, as well. From what I can gather on the worksheet -- if you make more than $6,000, but less than $75,000, you get an extra $400?
 
Ok I have no idea what's going on. I'm getting like ~$1100 back from fed but i OWE NJ like $401? How?
Can someone explain if I may have done something wrong.
This year and last year I have lived in NJ and worked in PA/Philly and Philly area.

Just confused. I have never owed on my state. Ever. :whistle2:\
I don't own a house.. so..wtf? I didn't file yet, I'm going to have my dad look at it too.
 
[quote name='lilboo']Ok I have no idea what's going on. I'm getting like ~$1100 back from fed but i OWE NJ like $401? How?
Can someone explain if I may have done something wrong.
This year and last year I have lived in NJ and worked in PA/Philly and Philly area.

Just confused. I have never owed on my state. Ever. :whistle2:\
I don't own a house.. so..wtf? I didn't file yet, I'm going to have my dad look at it too.[/QUOTE]

You probably need to take some kinda credit for NJ tax for state tax you paid to PA already
 
[quote name='PR Mega X']I'm confused as hell by this, as well. From what I can gather on the worksheet -- if you make more than $6,000, but less than $75,000, you get an extra $400?[/QUOTE]

How confusing is it, really? If you make less than 75,000 (adjusted gross income) you qualify for the credit.
 
[quote name='mtxbass1']How confusing is it, really? If you make less than 75,000 (adjusted gross income) you qualify for the credit.[/QUOTE]
Is that all you need to have? I made almost $10k, and I'm pretty sure I didn't get the credit.

EDIT: Nevermind, I just double checked and I did get the $400. But I could have sworn it said that I wasn't eligible for it. Maybe it was for something else. Either way, oops. :/
 
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[quote name='Access_Denied']Is that all you need to have? I made almost $10k, and I'm pretty sure I didn't get the credit.[/QUOTE]

Are you a dependent?

(And how the hell are you getting $2,500 back if you didn't even make $10k? Who was drunk when they did your withholding?)
 
[quote name='mtxbass1']How confusing is it, really? If you make less than 75,000 (adjusted gross income) you qualify for the credit.[/QUOTE]

That's what I read it as, I just didn't think it could be that simple.
 
Yeah it's basically like the Bush thing a few years back where everyone got back $400 or $600 or whatever based on status in the middle of the year. Except this time it's an extra credit at tax time to be mailed out with the tax refunds rather than a separate mailing process later in the year.
 
Getting back more than expected, probably due to the tax credit (was expecting no more than $1000-$1500, getting $3100, and GF getting back $900 instead of the $400ish she got last year).

But of course, it goes to debt, since our Nov-Jan vet bill for our cat was about $3K alone.
 
[quote name='SpazX']Are you a dependent?

(And how the hell are you getting $2,500 back if you didn't even make $10k? Who was drunk when they did your withholding?)[/QUOTE]

No, I filed as an independent this year. It helps get me more money in school loans and whatnot.

Also, I did my taxes with TurboTax, and everything was 100% true. I claimed the money that I made, about $10k, with about $1,100 withholding. Then I claimed myself, which, according to my dad, adds about $700 or so? I'm not sure, I know he lost $700 since he didn't claim me. And then I claimed the $1600 I spent on books an school supplies this year. (Including my Macbook, which is deductible.)

I was expecting $1,400 or so, but I'm not going to complain about it. Especially since I double checked everything with TurboTax and their help forums, and everything seems to check out.

EDIT: Turns out I did get the $400 credit, so that helped a bit.
 
The $400 is from the Making Work Pay credit. This is apart of the stimulus bill passed in February 2009 to help people working get some more money in their pocket. Its similar to the stimulus checks Bush had everybody got but this time around you get it added to your refund or deducted from your tax bill.
 
[quote name='Access_Denied']No, I filed as an independent this year. It helps get me more money in school loans and whatnot.

Also, I did my taxes with TurboTax, and everything was 100% true. I claimed the money that I made, about $10k, with about $1,100 withholding. Then I claimed myself, which, according to my dad, adds about $700 or so? I'm not sure, I know he lost $700 since he didn't claim me. And then I claimed the $1600 I spent on books an school supplies this year. (Including my Macbook, which is deductible.)

I was expecting $1,400 or so, but I'm not going to complain about it. Especially since I double checked everything with TurboTax and their help forums, and everything seems to check out.

EDIT: Turns out I did get the $400 credit, so that helped a bit.[/QUOTE]

Alright, makes a bit more sense if it includes the $400 credit. But even so, $1,100 is high for under $10k if it's just federal (I paid just over $1,100 in federal for the W2 I had almost $16k on), but maybe if your withholding was set up with no exemptions for yourself. I imagine you're getting back everything you paid in, both federal and state.

Claiming yourself doesn't give you $700, but it does let you claim more money to be exempt from federal taxes. Like I said though, I imagine since you made so little, you're not filing as a dependent, and you have other school deductions, etc. then you're going to get back everything. If the federal withholding was $1,100 and you got the $400 credit then that's $1,500, either you have access to more credits than I know about or you paid a ton in state taxes as well. I don't think you can deduct your way down so that the government actually owes you money past what you paid in, but I'm no expert.
 
[quote name='SpazX'] I don't think you can deduct your way down so that the government actually owes you money past what you paid in, but I'm no expert.[/QUOTE]

This is correct for deductions, but you can get more money in tax credits past what you paid in.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']This is correct for deductions, but you can get more money in tax credits past what you paid in.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, so I was saying either he paid ~$1,000 to state (which sounds ridiculous) or he got some more credits. Otherwise it doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
 
Federal and state return totaled $1,800 this year. I've been laid-off for over 6 months now. My money will be sitting in the bank. If I get a job soon, I want to use it on a new Macbook Pro.

BUT... Here is something everyone should read!

FairTaxBookLarge.jpg


You can purchase this book on amazon...

http://www.amazon.com/FairTax-Book-...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265905660&sr=8-2

And when you go to the polls to vote, see if the candidate your voting for supports FairTax!! I understand a change such as this is a long shot. But the more people who support it the better chance we have!!
 
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[quote name='Robb']And when you go to the polls to vote. See if the candidate your voting for supports FairTax!![/QUOTE]

And then make sure you vote for a different one...
 
Federal is an 800 some odd dollar refund

State (MN) will be another 400 or so

Property Tax Refund this year is 1100

All in all just a hair short of $2,300. Trying to decide on what to do, though the most likely course of action will be to give it all to my parents to cover medical costs and their mortgage for a couple months. Sure would be nice if I could use it to finish my backyard, but oh well.
 
[quote name='SpazX']Alright, makes a bit more sense if it includes the $400 credit. But even so, $1,100 is high for under $10k if it's just federal (I paid just over $1,100 in federal for the W2 I had almost $16k on), but maybe if your withholding was set up with no exemptions for yourself. I imagine you're getting back everything you paid in, both federal and state.

Claiming yourself doesn't give you $700, but it does let you claim more money to be exempt from federal taxes. Like I said though, I imagine since you made so little, you're not filing as a dependent, and you have other school deductions, etc. then you're going to get back everything. If the federal withholding was $1,100 and you got the $400 credit then that's $1,500, either you have access to more credits than I know about or you paid a ton in state taxes as well. I don't think you can deduct your way down so that the government actually owes you money past what you paid in, but I'm no expert.[/QUOTE]

I've only had to file taxes twice, so I'm no expert. I'll guess I'll go back and read over my return and try to learn a little bit. It would be nice to know where all this money is coming from. Too bad I'm not Jewish, or this would all come naturally. ;)

EDIT: Also, my state return was only $60, so that's not where it came from.
 
Newly married, two kids, pretty low income. Looking to get $6,000+ back. Wife's getting a boob job and I'm gettin me an led tv.....win/win!!! Will know the exact come tues.
 
8,000 return, sucks compared to what I paid in while takeing 0 deductions throughout the year. Finally hit the 6 figure income. Uncle sam is a dirty dirty uncle.
 
[quote name='shadowkast']Newly married, two kids, pretty low income. Looking to get $6,000+ back. Wife's getting a boob job and I'm gettin me an led tv.....win/win!!! Will know the exact come tues.[/QUOTE]

I hope you're joking...

[quote name='rushisrighton']8,000 return, sucks compared to what I paid in while takeing 0 deductions throughout the year. Finally hit the 6 figure income. Uncle sam is a dirty dirty uncle.[/QUOTE]
Do you have a wife? Kids? Did you get fucked in the ass on your withholding's during the year? I'm in that range and 8k back would be pushing it...
 
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My Fed return is $1,088 and State is $156 so $1,244 total. Sad thing is I made just over $7,500 more this year over 2008 and my refund from then is about $250 less than this one.
 
[quote name='cdeener'] Sad thing is I made just over $7,500 more this year over 2008 and my refund from then is about $250 less than this one.[/QUOTE]

Same thing happened to me. I made $14,500 more than last year, and got back $300 less federal, $104 less state.
 
[quote name='Robb']Federal and state return totaled $1,800 this year. I've been laid-off for over 6 months now. My money will be sitting in the bank. If I get a job soon, I want to use it on a new Macbook Pro.

BUT... Here is something everyone should read!

You can purchase this book on amazon...

http://www.amazon.com/FairTax-Book-...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265905660&sr=8-2

And when you go to the polls to vote, see if the candidate your voting for supports FairTax!! I understand a change such as this is a long shot. But the more people who support it the better chance we have!![/QUOTE]

The fairtax regressive consumption tax is a pants-shittingly stupid idea of monumental proportions, supported by wealthy people who want to pay less in taxes and shoulder the burden onto working-class folks, but are unwilling to come out and admit as much.

We got a couple thousand back. Credit card balance close to $0, awesome.
 
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