Tax refunds or the lack thereof

[360]

I normally get a return back for between $4K-$5K. I don't care to let them hold it. It ends up going to my one nice gift to myself each spring, and we take a couple of nice vacations on it. The amount of interest it would generate in a savings account is minute, and the temptation to use it is too great.

So it works for me. My wife does the same.

Max withholding. Helps me keep my budget in check too.

 

[snorko]

Ya know if people wrote a check to the tax collector every month I believe there would be different out look in this country.

Let's move election day to April 16th.

 

[Militarypol21]

I will be owing $1,590.oo

:fawk: ....the IRS for not taking enough of my hard earned money in 09'

You will now find me in the classifieds selling all my guns

 

[mskendall]

I was wondering if that "extra $15" bi-weekly from the "stimulus" plan is going to bite everyone in the end? Paying $15 less every other week in taxes and then you'll just pay that back? Not like it adds up to much but every bit counts. Last year I wound up paying the state ~$1100 and I don't want to give them more this year.

 

[Andre46996]

I will be getting 1658.00 and change from the FEDS and I owe Mitch 2562.00 and change.

Gotta love working out of state in a state where there are no county taxes and a lower overall state tax. Plus I was collecting out of state unemployment off and on in 2009 because work is SO GOOD right now.

I wish I had 12 kids and received food stamps, welfare and section 8 housing. Dang my parents for raising a productive member of society!!!

 

[JustOneMore]

Well i would file if my wife would ever get her 1099. Just talked to them a little while ago and they still havent printed them. Guess they forgot that stuff is supposed to be out by 1-31.

 

[So IN Dude]

try being self employed, 4 times a year steam shoots from my ears!!!!!!

 

[SavageEagle]

I'm not sure I'd call the Earned Income Credit a welfare check. Yea, if you get it and only worked a month or two and do that every year, then, yea, ok. But for those of us who've worked all our lives and pay unGodly amounts of taxes each year to give to those welfare junkies, then I consider it payback for all that wasted money. Hell, it's not like the dollar is worth the paper it's printed on anyway.

Christ, if you qualify for the EIC, GET IT WHILE YOU CAN. The EIC we got back paid off medical bills and a couple other debts. Yea, my wife makes decent money, but if it weren't for that EIC, we'd been screwed.

 

[RelicHound]

I'm not sure I'd call the Earned Income Credit a welfare check. Yea, if you get it and only worked a month or two and do that every year, then, yea, ok. But for those of us who've worked all our lives and pay unGodly amounts of taxes each year to give to those welfare junkies, then I consider it payback for all that wasted money. Hell, it's not like the dollar is worth the paper it's printed on anyway.

Christ, if you qualify for the EIC, GET IT WHILE YOU CAN. The EIC we got back paid off medical bills and a couple other debts. Yea, my wife makes decent money, but if it weren't for that EIC, we'd been screwed.

what is the EIC? Ive never qualified for it as combined my wife and I made fairly good money but for 2009 we made almost $40k less than we did in 2008 due to my hours being cut and her loosing her job..I think we qualify for it this year but I dont fully understand what it is.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

Self employed, owe well over $28,000. Didn't make enough to pay any......I'm going with the whole "income tax is illegal" thing this year.

 

[Caleb]

I'm hoping for 2-3k at least...we'll see

 

[CountryBoy19]

I'm going to end up OWING about $1600 to Uncle Barack...if Turbo Tax can be trusted.



My wife and I bought our home in August of '09. Closed on 8/11, actually. We got our check, WITH INTEREST, about 8 weeks later. Of course...we got a 1099INT with the interest income on it...

-J-

Wow, thats shocking. I was told 8 weeks as well. I closed on my house 9/15, and filed the paperwork sometime right after the 1st of October, and I was hoping for a max of 12 weeks wait. Here I am at 16 weeks and still waiting.

If they include interest on it that'll be great. Right now the fiance has a student loan at 13% interest that I had planned to pay back immediately with that money, and I'm still waiting. The thing that upsets me is that by the time Fannie Mae actually got around to approving the student loan and issuing the money, it was already too late and I had already scraped up the money to pay for the schooling.

 

[SavageEagle]

what is the EIC? Ive never qualified for it as combined my wife and I made fairly good money but for 2009 we made almost $40k less than we did in 2008 due to my hours being cut and her loosing her job..I think we qualify for it this year but I dont fully understand what it is.

I'm not 100% sure what the EIC is, but I know that If you only make so much money and have kids you qualify for it. There was a special earned income credit this year that I THINK came from the stimulus package for married couples. However, I'm not exactly sure. But I know that each family is entitled to UP TO $5900 in Earned Income Credits this year. I think it's usually capped at $3-4, again, depending on how many kids you have. I think the lady at HR Block said you can receive $1000 per kid.

 

[RelicHound]

I'm not 100% sure what the EIC is, but I know that If you only make so much money and have kids you qualify for it. There was a special earned income credit this year that I THINK came from the stimulus package for married couples. However, I'm not exactly sure. But I know that each family is entitled to UP TO $5900 in Earned Income Credits this year. I think it's usually capped at $3-4, again, depending on how many kids you have. I think the lady at HR Block said you can receive $1000 per kid.

still a bit confused..ok say Im married and have 1 kid...we are filing jointly,when we file they will say ok you get $500 back since you over paid plus the $1k child credit for a total of $1500..but you also qualify for the EIC since you made under the set income so here is an extra $3-4K? sounds kinda odd that the gov would just give people an extra couple of grand just because they are poor...well then again with or Gov I guess it makes perfect sense

 

[hornadylnl]

still a bit confused..ok say Im married and have 1 kid...we are filing jointly,when we file they will say ok you get $500 back since you over paid plus the $1k child credit for a total of $1500..but you also qualify for the EIC since you made under the set income so here is an extra $3-4K? sounds kinda odd that the gov would just give people an extra couple of grand just because they are poor...well then again with or Gov I guess it makes perfect sense

It is exactly a welfare check. A federal income tax refund is exactly that. A refund on overpaid federal income taxes.

My final pay stub for last year shows just under $35k. I had a total of $2450 withheld in Federal Income tax and I have no dependents set up on it. I had a total of $1920 withheld in Social Security. I had a total of $450 in Medicare. That gives me a total of $4820 in Federal Income and payroll taxes for an income of $35k. There is no way in H A D E S that people with incomes of $30k or less have paid in more than they are getting back if they are getting refunds of $5k or higher.

It is simple. Total up the amount of Federal income tax you had withheld from your check for the year. Forget SS, Medicare and the other stuff because you are getting a federal income tax return, not medicare, ss, etc. If your return is greater than what you had withheld, call the difference welfare because that is exactly what it is.

Elect me king for a day and I will do away with the child tax credit. I have 1 child and there is no reason I should owe the federal government $1000 more in taxes than a guy with an identical income with 2 children.

 

[misconfig]

I've never owed in my life until this year - this year took a rather large sum from my savings ( little over $3k ).

At least the people with 20 kids are gittin' dey MONIEZ!

 

[hornadylnl]

Right now the fiance has a student loan at 13% interest that I had planned to pay back immediately with that money, and I'm still waiting. The thing that upsets me is that by the time Fannie Mae actually got around to approving the student loan and issuing the money, it was already too late and I had already scraped up the money to pay for the schooling.

I'm lost here. If you already paid for the tuition before the loan was granted, why didn't you just take the money from the loan and immediately pay it off?

13%? Really? Is that a normal rate for student loans?

 

[henktermaat]

If you're getting a tax refund, then you are loaning too much of your money to the government, interest free.

 

[SavageEagle]

It is exactly a welfare check. A federal income tax refund is exactly that. A refund on overpaid federal income taxes.

My final pay stub for last year shows just under $35k. I had a total of $2450 withheld in Federal Income tax and I have no dependents set up on it. I had a total of $1920 withheld in Social Security. I had a total of $450 in Medicare. That gives me a total of $4820 in Federal Income and payroll taxes for an income of $35k. There is no way in H A D E S that people with incomes of $30k or less have paid in more than they are getting back if they are getting refunds of $5k or higher.

It is simple. Total up the amount of Federal income tax you had withheld from your check for the year. Forget SS, Medicare and the other stuff because you are getting a federal income tax return, not medicare, ss, etc. If your return is greater than what you had withheld, call the difference welfare because that is exactly what it is.

Elect me king for a day and I will do away with the child tax credit. I have 1 child and there is no reason I should owe the federal government $1000 more in taxes than a guy with an identical income with 2 children.

I have a very hard time believing that you only paid $4820 in Federal Taxes last year. My wife paid a hell of a lot more than that, more than double actually. Matter of fact, she paid more than that in State Taxes too. So either you're lying, or you're not counting ALL the federal taxes you've paid. Taxes are taxes are taxes. It doesn't matter what you call them. SS, Medicare, whatever. It all goes into the same coffer so I don't understand why you wouldn't count it because you count it when you do your federal tax returns.

Look, if I have a chance to get my taxes back from the government I'm doing it. We didn't get it all back, but we got most of it back.

The EIC is NOT Welfare. It's an exemption from paying a certain amount in income tax. If that's welfare, then I guess you consider net pay on your paycheck welfare. Taxes we pay are welfare to the government. Whatever. The only way I see people getting back more on their tax return than they paid in is if they screwed up on their return or lied. Plain and simple.

 

[hornadylnl]

I could show you my tax returns for the last several years. I have x amount of dollars withheld in federal income taxes from my paycheck. I get y amount back in a tax return. X-Y= amount of federal income tax I paid. If Y > X, I didn't pay federal income tax, I got a welfare check back.

I have the most federal income taxes I can have withheld without putting an extra dollar amount on my tax form at work. I claim zero dependents even though I have 1 child. Unless I tell my employer to take out an extra $10, 20, 50 or whatever extra out each week, I can't have anymore withheld than I currently do.

Go to the IRS website and put your own numbers in their calculator to see how much taxes you will pay. Fill out the numbers and it will show you. If you go on there and put in $50k and show you have zero withheld, it will tell you how much you owe at the end of the year.

Example...
$50k - married filing jointly - zero withheld - zero dependents - zero deductions = your federal income tax bill of $3,061

$50k - married filing jointly - zero withheld - 3 dependents - zero deductions = your federal income tax bill of $0

$100k - married filing jointly - zero withheld - zero dependents - zero deductions = your federal income tax bill of $11,894

$100k - married filing jointly - zero withheld - 3 dependents - zero deductions = your federal income tax bill of $6,156

If you think I'm making these numbers up, go to the sited and check them for yourself. People making $40k or less with 2 or more kids are paying zero or very little in federal income taxes.

If you want to count your payroll taxes in with your federal income tax refund, then I guess the social security check you get at 65 will be a welfare check as you never paid a net gain in to it.