bad taxes / good acceptance

[supercheesegirl]

Just did my taxes. I owe Federal $49 this year. Last year, I got a refund of $981, so this was something of a shock. Turns out I had my exemptions listed wrong on my W4. Need to fix that with HR ASAP. I owe the state of Pennsylvania $8, but I owed them $3 last year so I wasn't expecting anything there

Comments

[handmadedark]

I had the same thing happen to me two years ago; my exemptions were wrong and I owed $350. Ouch. Congrats on the acceptance!

[tisana]

How exactly do people get so much back in taxes? I usually owe under $50, but only get just over $100 back... Now, we probably make about the same amount (or close) and we're both unmarried (which raises the refund), so what am I doing wrong, here? I never itemize, never bother to claim deductions...is that it? It just seems that asking someone to do my taxes for $300, when they're pretty uncomplicated and don't even get that much back...is a little silly.

[supercheesegirl]

I don't itemize either, but there are some good deductions you can claim that will make a difference. For example, if you're paying off student loans, you can claim the interest you paid on the loan that year. It'll help.

What exemption are you using on your W4? To have your employer take out the most taxes, and therefore get the largest refund, you should claim 0, instead of 1 or 2.

[cavergrrl]

There's a fine and funny balance to strike with taxes and exemptions - owing is not fun, but a small refund generally means you have your exemptions just right. If you end up with a large refund, that means Uncle Sam is hanging on to extra money, interest free, all year long. If a person is diligent enough (and I'm not) they could put that extra in an interest bearing savings account all year and end up with a self-made refund with a few extra bucks.

[supercheesegirl]

My mom told me that. I'm not diligent enough, and getting the lump sum all at once is nice, even if I'm not collecting any interest on it over the course of the year. Besides which, the largest refund I've ever gotten was $1000--how much interest would that money really earn?

[lilacgrrl]

congrats missy!

[birdmaddgirl]

hurrah!!! congrats miss thang! (oh yeah, and sorry about the taxes bit. guh, need to do mine.)