Taxes -- how much did you pay or get back?

[Audrey]

I just sent off our taxes the other day (in Canada we have until April 30), and it got me to wondering how much other people pay or get back. Personally, I felt like we are getting an amazing bargain considering what we paid.

 

The poll is totally anonymous, and refers just to the cheque you had to write the government, or the cheque they sent back to you.

[PiCO]

I was so glad to see I'm not the only one in my category!

[tlcmom]

I am so surprised at the large amounts that people got back or owed. We have always tried to keep ours close to $0 in either direction. We are self-employed so it is harder to figure. One year we owe and the next year we get back, but we don't like owing the govt a large amount or them "using" a large amount of our money.:glare:

[Andie]

I just sent off our taxes the other day (in Canada we have until April 30), and it got me to wondering how much other people pay or get back. Personally, I felt like we are getting an amazing bargain considering what we paid.

 

The poll is totally anonymous, and refers just to the cheque you had to write the government, or the cheque they sent back to you.

 

 

So you're asking what we got back or owed after withholding, correct? I hope I didn't mess up the poll.

 

My answers are obviously VASTLY different depending on whether you want to know what we owed after they withheld all year, or whether you want to know our total tax owed, period. We're pretty good at keeping the withholding very nearly at what we need so we don't owe or get back more than a couple hundred dollars. What we owe in the first place, though..... oy.

[CookieMonster]

It's nice to get it though, because dh's bonus falls during the same month. So anything we need a chunk of money to do, happens in the spring.:)

 

We always have him claim one dependent less than he actually has, so that we never, ever owe taxes. But, then again, we've been moving and giving birth to babies, and climbing the career ladder for the last five years. (That's how long we've been married.) Once we're relatively stable, I'm sure we'll be getting a smaller rebate check.

 

Funny story: The very first year I ever had to file taxes, as a teenager with a job, my dad helped me fill out the 1040EZ. When we got done, he told me I owed $400 in taxes. I was crying. I had no such $. Every dollar I earned payed for my car insurance. I also knew that 19% of my gross pay had been taken out every week for taxes. So, I couldn't figure out why I would owe anything.

 

I decided to take over and fill out the form myself, after an hour of trying to figure out all the lingo, I discovered that my father had not given me my personal exemption. The IRS paid me $200 that year. :)

 

Now, my father-in-law does our taxes for us. Tax guru, that guy.

[Alice]

I included state refund too...might have skewed the poll incorrectly. :)

[Mallory]

Ideally we'd have to owe a small amount every year, but since we are so poor, even if we pay in a very small amount (we claim a couple extra exemptions) we usually get back a couple thousand.

[Alenee]

I once asked a person from my church why our church accounts are always much fuller in November/December. She said that people start giving bigger right before tax time. I was naive. I had no idea people gave big in those months just to get a good return. We were already giving but I hadn't realized what that was doing to our return. Now after several years, I can see it does wonders.

[Colleen]

We owed more than $10,000. Someone said they're surprised some of us owe so much and added that she tries to keep what they owe (or receive) right around zero. Makes good sense ~ but it's not realistic for some of us. Sometimes you just have to accept the reality that no matter how many corners your cut, charitable donations you make, children you have, or loopholes you take advantage of, you're going to have to pay taxes. That's the responsibility that accompanies making a good living.

[Tap]

We got back in the $1,000-$5,000 range but only because of dfd.

 

 

We didn't know we were going to be fostering all year so we didn't adjust our with holdings. Since she was our dependent for more that 1/2 of the year we were able to claim her and because of that we ended up with a larger refund than our usual couple of hundred dollars.

[Andie]

We owed more than $10,000. Someone said they're surprised some of us owe so much and added that she tries to keep what they owe (or receive) right around zero. Makes good sense ~ but it's not realistic for some of us. Sometimes you just have to accept the reality that no matter how many corners your cut, charitable donations you make, children you have, or loopholes you take advantage of, you're going to have to pay taxes. That's the responsibility that accompanies making a good living.

 

 

I think she meant she kept the withholding at such a level that she doesn't owe above and beyond that amount, not that she's able to offset her tax burden with deductions and credits so that she owes nothing at all.

 

I'm good at keeping the w/holding at just the right amount by paying a bit more than we should have w/held each pay period. I think it was last year that we got a refund of $5.00! Maybe the year before. I bought chocolate, I remember that. :D

[CookieMonster]

I think she meant she kept the withholding at such a level that she doesn't owe above and beyond that amount, not that she's able to offset her tax burden with deductions and credits so that she owes nothing at all.

 

I think that's what she meant. It's what I thought, anyway, when I read it. Like I said, in a few years, we'll lower the amount taken out of the paycheck every month and that will give us a return closer to $0.

[Mrs Mungo]

I am so surprised at the large amounts that people got back or owed. We have always tried to keep ours close to $0 in either direction. We are self-employed so it is harder to figure. One year we owe and the next year we get back, but we don't like owing the govt a large amount or them "using" a large amount of our money.:glare:

 

Just speaking for our family situation-we got back a large amount because my hubby was deployed for a good chunk of the year last year. Soldiers don't pay federal income tax when they are in a combat zone. This lowers our taxable income which puts us in a lower tax bracket than usual. So, we wind up getting money back for years he is deployed. But...it's hard to predict, we can't keep changing our tax info every few months.

[TwinMominTX]

My dh and I own several companies. He receives some pay in the form of W2 wages with some taxes taken out, but the majority of our money is paid on a 1099 basis and therefore we pay each year.