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How much is YOUR tax refund going to be?
- Thread starter 125037
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damn, I initially said I was head of household as I well live by myself
Looking into it, I do not think I qualift for HoH right?
Are chances pretty good that I will owe money back?
You can't be head of household if it is just you, you need a dependent.
Normally, with 3 allowances you would owe, but since we got a $400 tax credit, that might be enough to cancel out the extra allowance.
Will that credit be automatically taken care of when I do taxes?
If not, would I be expecting to pay in the 1000's since I mistakingly classified my categories? Or is it a small penalty cash wise?
There is a line on the tax form for the $400, so it'll be subtracted from your total tax liability (it is called the Making Work Pay Tax Credit).
I tried with my information, adding an extra federal allowance (going from 2 to 3) resulted in them withholding $45 less per month. It'll be different depending on your salary, but it wasn't hundreds of dollars.
If you use something like Turbo Tax, it will automatically determine if you're eligible for the credit and apply it.
My salary is in the 50-60k mark if that makes a difference
So not a huge penalty correct?
Just need to make sure I file correctly once I get my W2's
Yes I did mine (filed last week) on Turbo Tax's website, e-filed and didn't cost me a penny.
Yea, I moved Jan -Feb 2009. Had a lump sum given to me
While I realize its better to owe money back, it is nice to be expecting a refund lol
So you can't claim moving expenses since you didn't pay for the moving (unless it cost you more than the lump sum you received).
It's hard to say what it'll be. You may owe a few hundred dollars.
Assuming single, non-dependent, no dependents, and one job, with one withholding, you're going to get a large refund. With two withholdings, you're probably about +/- $100, meaning you'll either owe or get a refund, probably no more than $100 either way. With 3 withholdings, I don't know. That may mean you'll have to pay quite a bit.
Also don't forget about deductions. I know you're a recent college grad, are you currently paying back a student loan? The interest (not the principal) you paid is deductible, up to $2,500, you'll get a 1098 form from your lender if you paid interest. This is in addition to the standard deduction, you don't have to itemize to get that deduction. I got to deduct all $2,500 from mine, which greatly lowered my total tax due and increased my refund.
Yeah, it doesn't make sense to try to have nothing withheld and pay taxes in April IMO.
For example, my total tax was $6806 in 2009. That would mean that I would have to set aside about $567 each month into a savings account. My HSBC Online savings has a 1.35% APY, so by doing that, I'm going to be making well under $100 in interest. Oh, and the interest I would earn on that is taxable. It's not worth it. I'd rather give Uncle Sam the interest free loan and not have to deal with it, and possibly screw up and owe money I don't have.
And, I can time events around my tax refund. I went to Europe in March last year knowing that I'd be getting a big tax refund in February. This year, I'm finally moving out of the parents house into my own apartment in either February or March, again, knowing that I have the tax refund coming. And even though I know it's my money that I earned, I don't feel guilty spending it because my mind thinks of it as free money that came out of nowhere rather than me spending money I already had in my savings account which I hate doing.
I really couldn't tell you. If you have your last paycheck stub from 2009 handy, you can go here, input your YTD salary and fed withholdings and get a rough estimate.
Also, go to your HR department ASAP and fill out a new W4 to change your withholdings to 2 or 1
Yup, it's deductible. So if you do the above calculator, take your YTD salary minus $900. Your lender should either be mailing you a 1098 or putting it online.
I still need to get my W-2 from work. I'm already planning on doing some car maintenance and getting a new larger computer display from my tax refund. Anything left goes into savings. I really, really hate taking anything out of my savings at all.
I've still managed to put around 33% of my pay into savings from every check.
I'll be vacationing in México later this year but that's on my mother's tab since she'll be going along too. It's nice to have family down there too. Now to get her to invest in some AMD stock if it keeps going down.
Do you have you last 2009 paycheck, it should have a YTD section on it, so it should tell you how much federal tax you had withheld for the whole of 2009.
Now, if your taxible earnings (after all deductions etc) is 50K then you would owe about $8300, if your taxable earnings is 60K you would owe about $10800.
How does what was withheld compare to those numbers?
Looking at my last 2009 paystub
Taxable YTD Wages: ~59,100.
Total Taxes: ~15,300
Total Deductions: ~1,100
Is that Total Taxes a combination of both Federal and State withholding?
Edit: The most federal tax you could owe (if you take the standard deduction, the personal exception and nothing else) is $8231
[Why? 59100 - standard deduction (5700) - personal exemption (3650) = 49750]
Tax Table says 49750 corresponds to 8631 in tax - 400 tax credit = 8231
DANG man, that stinks! (LOL btw) I have a friend who owes $3,000 this year but doesn't care. He said he'd rather pay at the end and get more throughout the year !!
As other posters have said, that's the best financial decision. In this economy people aren't getting that high of returns so it doesn't matter that much now, but it usually does.
Yes it does take into account state taxes. I have the following listed that summed up to the amt I gave in my last post
Fed Withholding
Fed MED/EE
Fed OASDI/EE
NY Withholding
NY OASDI/EE
Are you saying I get a refund of $8,231 whereabouts?
No, I am saying that you owe a total of $8231 (or thereabouts) to the federal government. If your Fed Withholding is more than that you'll get a refund, else you still owe the difference.
Ok let me see if I have this right
For my values:
Fed Withholding: ~8100
Fed MED/EE: ~850
Fed OASDI/EE: ~3600
So I will owe about 131 (looking soley at the Fed Withholding)? or do I get a refund of ~4k (incorporating the other 2 values)?
I appreciate your explanation