aka

how bad did you fuck up your claiming or benefit from new credits and deductions etc.

Right now, without my exact W-2 figures and just going off my last paycheck, I'm looking at $2500

Doh

Oh well it was a new job with a different salary...

1/3/2008 12:25:31 PM

I got married and we had a baby plus $6,000 in mortgage interest. w00t

1/3/2008 12:29:38 PM

I need to get an accountant, between all the mileage for work, clothes I've bought for work, interest paid on mortgage, etc, I don't know where to start.

1/3/2008 12:36:09 PM

^ Turbotax/TaxCut, etc walks you through it all. If you have documentation and can click buttons, that's all you need, unless you have way more complex stuff going on that you didn't mention.

Just ran some preliminary numbers, and looks like i'm getting back around $1500. Having a baby in december helped out a lot.

without baby, would have owed $1038

1/3/2008 12:44:12 PM

ive never made significant enough money previously to worry about getting much back on taxes (got paid cash for reffing sports mainly during HS and college with only some short stints of retail/restaurants).

i claimed 0 this past year and have 6months taxable salary in '07. I understand that they are taking the most out by claiming 0, but is there any ballpark figure of what kind of percentage i should be expecting on a return?

1/3/2008 12:55:56 PM

Quote :

"If you have documentation"

eh, oops. I'll see what receipts I can dig up and start going through some things.

1/3/2008 1:11:49 PM

No more marriage penalty + Baby + ~$5k mortgage interest + ~$1-2k in charitable deductions =

1/3/2008 3:38:19 PM

Any software out there that is good for mortgage/small business(sole proprietor)/capital gains/charitable giving/roth distributions ??

Dont want to buy something if it wont actually work for me.

1/3/2008 3:40:28 PM

I think my HR rep at my last company put in my information wrong and didn't have enough deductions, so now i'll probably owe 1 or 2k

Thank god I'm not trying to have a wedding and buy a house right now as well........oh wait......

1/3/2008 3:46:33 PM

you mean exemptions?

if you don't have enough, then they withhold more, so that would likely net you a larger refund.

1/3/2008 3:48:01 PM

Marriage penalty?>

1/3/2008 4:03:50 PM

^^right and thats where Im at. I put 0 for myself so I shouldnt owe anything unless my thinking is way off.

^^^ and i think bobby is right, having MORE exemptions than reality is bad, having less really isnt something to worry about.

[Edited on January 3, 2008 at 4:04 PM. Reason : ]

1/3/2008 4:03:57 PM

^^ in many cases a married couple will have a higher tax liability than if they were single filers. Usually this is the case when both spouses make around the same salary, bumping them up to a higher tax bracket.

example: you and your wife both make $70k per year.

as single filers, you'd both be in the 25% tax bracket. ($31,851 – $77,100)
as married filing jointly, you are in the 28% tax bracket ($128,501 – $195,850)
and even if you are married and file separately, you still wind up in the 28% tax bracket ($64,251 – $97,925)

1/3/2008 6:41:59 PM

^thanks for pointing that out. I guess I better change my withholdings since I'll be getting married next year and will end up in a different tax bracket.

I need to get started on my taxes early this year, because I always end up with a ton of work write-offs to account for.

if you're married and file separately, but make different salaries, can one person only pay 25% if they make under the $65,000 cutoff?

[Edited on January 3, 2008 at 9:02 PM. Reason : taxes get confusing]

1/3/2008 9:00:21 PM

Your question is confusing.

1/3/2008 10:46:59 PM

i end up owing money every year.



what am i doing wrong?

1/4/2008 1:23:34 AM

zero cause I don't have shit for deductions!

^buy a house and start knocking up some broads

[Edited on January 4, 2008 at 2:03 AM. Reason : .]

1/4/2008 2:02:40 AM

^^ nothing! that's what you want.

If you get a refund, you're giving Uncle Sam an interest-free loan each year. That is costing you money, because you could've been investing it (even if just in a savings account/money market/CD) yourself.

I usually end up having to pay $50-100 or so.

1/4/2008 2:28:13 AM

^What he said. The best scenario you can work yourself into is owing just enough to not incur the fee for having owed too much (and not owing so much that it becomes a burden for you to pay obviously).

[Edited on January 4, 2008 at 8:21 AM. Reason : -]

1/4/2008 8:20:44 AM

bah i still gotta figure all this out, this is why i just claimed 0 this year :/

1/4/2008 9:18:46 AM

to amend, i looking at a potential REFUND of $2500, not owing....which is why the face

1/4/2008 9:31:23 AM

so just for everyones info. when posting your refund/owe amount, let us know if you're married, homeowner, parent etc.

1/4/2008 10:14:43 AM

single nonhomeowner Schedule X 25% tax bracket

1/4/2008 10:19:34 AM

single, non-homeowner, no kids 25% tax bracket for me

1/4/2008 10:21:30 AM

does anyone know strategies, etc to owe a small amount at the end? my plan was to just claim 1 for part of the year and then claim 2-4 for the last 4 or 5 months to try and get it to work out (though i didn't end up doing it). last year's refund was too large (mainly b/c of mortgage interest - which was new for us last year) and i expect larger this year b/c of a full year of mortgage interest vs only 5 months last year. i'd much rather owe ~$50 like Duke mentioned, just don't know the best way of going about it.

married, homeowner, joint 25% bracket

[Edited on January 4, 2008 at 10:24 AM. Reason : tax bracket]

1/4/2008 10:22:24 AM

random question, but last year i began paying back my college loans. i started paying in Feb. so i was basically paying the whole year.

I'm assuming the institution I have the loan through is going to send me a tax form so i can report interest i paid and other information right? Cause i'm pretty sure I can file for the Hope eduction credit or whatever that is, plus get money back on interest or something.

I know nothing about this, that's just what i thought i read on turbo tax. i seem to meet the requirements, but i guess ill find out soon.

1/4/2008 10:38:31 AM

yep, you'll get a 1098 with that info.

1/4/2008 10:41:15 AM

^thank you sir!

if you've gotten one before, do you know how long it usually takes them to send it out? i'd guess around late Jan. or early Feb.?

1/4/2008 10:43:43 AM

usually late Jan.

1/4/2008 10:45:42 AM

Yeah, isn't nearly everything due to be sent out by Jan 31?

1/4/2008 10:46:54 AM

^i think so, but i was just wondering, figured they might be late on that stuff. it doesn't really matter to me. i work at nc state, we get paid monthly, so i won't be getting my W-2 until the 30th of this month anyways.

1/4/2008 10:48:07 AM

esp if youre single/nonhomeowner/no kids, you should still be able to figure out your rough situation based on your final paycheck for the year

1/4/2008 10:50:03 AM

i think by law that they have to send out the forms by January 31.

Also, with regards to your student loan, are you able to look up your account online? You should be able to calculate how much you have payed.

1/4/2008 10:51:20 AM

^yeah i have online access to my account. but when i goto turbo tax, it just asks for information off this 1098 form.. i guess if i looked up a 1098 form online i could probably roughly figure out what amount goes in what box. and get a rough guess until then.

1/4/2008 11:03:43 AM

Does anyone know when ncsu prepares the 1098T form?

1/4/2008 12:53:58 PM

one last question on this. i tried looking it up on the IRS website but im lost.

my brother graduated from a technical college around july. he is already started paying his loan back, and he was wondering if he can file for the "hope education credit" as well. It says it's for current students, i guess that means he's eligible since he was a current student during the 2007 tax year?


i know im eligible for the Hope credit cause i'm a student, he was wondering if he would be eligible for the same thing

1/4/2008 1:05:50 PM

^ take a look at this:

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc605.html

1/4/2008 1:13:00 PM

Quote :

"Having a baby in december helped out a lot. without baby, would have owed $1038 "

I was born on jan 1

Imagine how excited my parents were about their taxes that year

1/4/2008 1:14:43 PM

yeah, but one day earlier, and they'd have been able to claim you for the whole previous year, too.

1/4/2008 1:18:06 PM

^^^ Thank you, i dunno how i missed that when i was looking on the irs.gov site.

thanks!

1/4/2008 3:24:41 PM

im self employed so usually i just deduct everything i can which usually can add up to me having almost no real income.

now i have to buy a house and show an income since no doc loans are gone.


prolly going to owe 6000

shitty

1/4/2008 3:35:06 PM

Even if you deduct things don't you still have proof of income?

1/4/2008 3:41:56 PM

Quote :

"Even if you deduct things don't you still have proof of income?"

David: lenders go off of ADJUSTED gross-income... which is why stated programs were ever invented, for the self-employed that write the growth of their grass in their yard off and the removal of a dead pidgeon because he had to buy a new shovel.

Quote :

"now i have to buy a house and show an income since no doc loans are gone. "

they're not gone.


plus, why not just state your income if you've been self-employed for 2+ years? as long as you have good credit and can put 5% down i can state income AND assets with a 680 score!




i put 0 deductions and am only getting $400 federal return back per my calculations even though i made over 60k? wtf?

single no kids 25%

[Edited on January 4, 2008 at 6:42 PM. Reason : ]

1/4/2008 6:16:35 PM

Quote :

"f you get a refund, you're giving Uncle Sam an interest-free loan each year. That is costing you money, because you could've been investing it (even if just in a savings account/money market/CD) yourself."

I love it when people are like "im getting free money and I'm buying XXXXX Luxury item with it!"

1/4/2008 6:20:25 PM

It's b/c they are too fucking stupid to save for themselves so they are happy to have someone force them to do so.

1/4/2008 7:04:43 PM

^It is easier. Unfortunately I've fallen victim to that line of thinking in the past. But I will readily admit I'm stupid when it comes to money.

So it makes sense that this is a stupid question, but: is there any way to find out how it would hypothetically change my situation if I changed my withholding from 0 to 1? Obviously it's smarter financially but I don't want to put myself in some crazy situation where I'd go from getting a refund (haven't done this year's taxes yet but last year was around $1200) to owing a couple thousand and having to take a huge bite out of savings to pay it...

Though really my taxes are about as simple as possible. Single, no kids, non-homeowner, usually take the standard deduction because I wouldn't come close itemizing...

1/4/2008 7:33:10 PM

I got a pay raise and had to write a nice big check last year, so I went down to 0 deductions, I caculated the interest I would of made on the extra vs last year, isnt really that much to want to pay the state and feds each year. Hopefully, I get a couple thousand back.

1/4/2008 11:39:37 PM

i owe a small fortune

and i'm buying a house right before taxes are due

sure am glad i socked all the dough away or else i probably wouldn't be able to sleep at night

1/6/2008 12:18:09 AM

how do you go down to zero deductions?

1/6/2008 12:24:08 AM

you usually just resubmit your w-2

i changed mine at work and just had to fax the new sheet in

1/6/2008 11:31:25 AM