Like Coffee Talk, but less funny.
Last night I was fooling around on The Nest and saw a link for TurboTax's TaxCaster. You grab your W-2's and 1099's and fill in the blanks. It has a little gauge that tells you how much you'll owe or get back, and as you fill in the blanks, the needle moves accordingly.
I plugged in my numbers, made up a few for Ryan (his employer is a little behind the 8 ball on getting out his paperwork), and almost shit myself when I saw we'd probably be owing. A lot. Naturally, I panicked and it's all I thought about last night as I laid in bed pretending to be sleeping.
Isn't the point of filing "0" so that the most taxes get taken out so you don't owe? I honestly have no idea how taxes work, which is why I send them to an accountant to taken care of.... and I know that I need to wait for Ryan's W-2 to get an accurate quote. In the mean time, I will continue to feel puke-ish. The lack of appetite is really going to help at tomorrow's WW weigh in.
This is the first time ever that I have (possibly) had to pay instead of getting back a refund check. I am sooooo not excited about it, seeing as we were going to use our refund as a "bonus payment" on our debts. I wasn't stupid enough to count my chickens before they hatched, but I certainly didn't count on owing. This is seriously messing with my world right now.
18 years of Henry
1 week ago
4 comments:
Check the number of dependents you guys are claiming on your W-2's from your employer. If you want more taxable income taken out each pay period so you get a refund, claim 0. If you want more of your money each month for bills or to put away in interest bearing accounts, you should claim dependents. Claiming dependants can leave you in a situation at the end of the calendar year of owing the IRS money vs. getting a refund. Now that you're married the rules might have changed, but I'm not sure how that all works.
If you're claiming 0 dependants theoretically you shouldn't go, there could be special circumstances that are effecting this though, (plus the nest is not always very accurate-try the free turbo tax online if you really want to know) Also, check and see if you jumped a tax bracket. It may be that one job is deducting at a lower tax bracket because you fall into a certain level of income at that job but additional income is pushing you into a higher tax bracket. The most painful jump is the jump from 15% to 25% income tax bracket but it doesn't get any more pleasant at 28% and higher.
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Don't worry too much yet. There are some pretty good credits this year that may help. Plus if either of you put money in a 401k, remember it shouldn't be in your wage total for taxes.
I remember the first time we had to pay. We were young, didn't make much money...but, no kids and no house to help with deductions.
Now we are back to the no kids again thing.
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