Claim 0 on W-4. Still owe taxes. WTF?

[STAMPEDE3]

I'm still confused on why you have to pay personal property tax every year on things you've already bought and paid a sales tax for.:shrug:

Because my local government needed the funds to do the environmental impact study of a area wide water and sewer system.
The same study that they have actually paid the same engineering firm to do like 12 years in a row.
Oh. did I mention that the engineer in question contributes heavily to most of the guys on the council?

 

[snakedoctor]

Because my local government needed the funds to do the environmental impact study of a area wide water and sewer system.
The same study that they have actually paid the same engineering firm to do like 12 years in a row.
Oh. did I mention that the engineer in question contributes heavily to most of the guys on the council?

Oh, I wasn't talking about you in particular, I was talking about everyone, me included. It doesn't make sense to me

 

[snakedoctor]

My town just added an increase to the sales tax to pay for building two separate fire stations. Now we have two fire stations in a town with a population of only 5,000. They said the old fire station wasn't up to code. It's in the same building as the police station, but the police are still working out of it. I could see possibly build 1 new station but 2? The town isn't big enough. Their reasoning is they needed one on both sides of the railroad track but for the past 50 plus years it has never been a problem. The only traffic the railway sees is from the paper mill that is in town. People from the bottom to the top all in these council seats are lining their pockets and we continue to pay for it.

 

[STAMPEDE3]

Oh, I wasn't talking about you in particular, I was talking about everyone, me included. It doesn't make sense to me

I know but my reason stands. It is just 1 small example of the kind of out of control crap that has cost us over the years.
Literally 1 small example.
That is how they pass more taxes. They find a reason to justify it.

 

[Sinister04L]

I knew this girl that had 2 kids and her net taxes to the government after her refund one year was less than $100. At the time I was making a lot less than I am now but I still paid in a net of over $11K (just fed taxes). I asked her how that was fair. She said because I have kids? I said so what? If anything, you put more of a stress on the things those taxes go towards, and I'm paying school tax to put YOUR kids through school when I don't even have any, and you contribute basically NOTHING when it's all said and done. Her reply, well have kids. This system is bullshit.

 

[13COBRA]

Agreed.

 

[04svtsnke]

I knew this girl that had 2 kids and her net taxes to the government after her refund one year was less than $100. At the time I was making a lot less than I am now but I still paid in a net of over $11K (just fed taxes). I asked her how that was fair. She said because I have kids? I said so what? If anything, you put more of a stress on the things those taxes go towards, and I'm paying school tax to put YOUR kids through school when I don't even have any, and you contribute basically NOTHING when it's all said and done. Her reply, well have kids. This system is bullshit.

Not that I'm defending her or harping on you, but every kid deserves an education K-12. Simply put, if there was reform that allowed those without kids to save on taxes, they'd just find another way to get it from you.

 

[Branhammer]

I have seen this thread for a few days and I just do not get it. I would be glad to pay at tax time. I hate giving the government an interest free loan. I claim 4 and my wife claims 3 with no kids and I still get money back.

Then you either both work at Taco Bell part-time or you are deducting $20k+ in charitable donations. Absolutely no way you guys make decent money with no kids, claim THAT HIGH of an exemption, and still get a refund unless your itemized deductions are through the roof.

 

[BrunotheBoxer]

I knew this girl that had 2 kids and her net taxes to the government after her refund one year was less than $100. At the time I was making a lot less than I am now but I still paid in a net of over $11K (just fed taxes). I asked her how that was fair. She said because I have kids? I said so what? If anything, you put more of a stress on the things those taxes go towards, and I'm paying school tax to put YOUR kids through school when I don't even have any, and you contribute basically NOTHING when it's all said and done. Her reply, well have kids. This system is bullshit.

I agree but it's what the bullshit politicians want.

 

[Sinister04L]

Not that I'm defending her or harping on you, but every kid deserves an education K-12. Simply put, if there was reform that allowed those without kids to save on taxes, they'd just find another way to get it from you.

I agree that they do. However, a person with kids that contributes basically nothing vs me contributing what I do when I'm not sending kids through the system is not the way it should be working.

 

[BrunotheBoxer]

I agree that they do. However, a person with kids that contributes basically nothing vs me contributing what I do when I'm not sending kids through the system is not the way it should be working.

Especially when those in question are illegals.

 

[Grabber]

You only get a 600 dollar credit max for daycare services. Because only half of your income is taxed plus having two kids is why you're getting back that much.




The tax code is written to incentivize child bearing, real estate, etc. it needs to be reformed but until then I'd suggest you all look into finding more tax breaks. Instead of taking pay cuts, donate the money or use it on something that gets you a tax break. Me and my wife made 150k last year and with a house, a kid, daycare, and retirement tax breaks we bought home about 7800.

To give an example about tax breaks, our daughter will be going to pre-k this upcoming school year. We could've just kept her in daycare but we decided to put her in a private school. The cost are surprisingly close and we get a lot better structure and care at the private school. Where I'm getting at is when we file next year, instead of only getting a max of 600 dollars for paying in over 7000/yr, we can actually recoup close to 3000 of that money through the child care credit. It's just for the one year she's in pre-k.

Big problem again is you claim a child and get a lot back.

We donated over $500 in clothing and what not, claimed Student Loans, mortgage interest, property tax, mileage for work (over 750 miles in addition to my normal to-from work) you name it. Even hired a CPA and paid $200 for him to say the same thing as Turbo tax that we owe XYZ.

I'm sure if we had a kid, our amounts back would be over $5,000 or more. That's how the system works I guess.

We will see what happens in the future. Still going with the pay cut so we don't shell out savings to pay the IRS that claims we owe them so much.

 

[venmos1]

Something isn't right here man. Federal doesn't vary from state to state unless I'm missing something (didn't seem to change from Il to MO) Either one of your jobs is screwing up payroll or one of you isn't setup correctly claim wise.

Several years back the wife and I made right around 100k (couple years actually). Both filing 0 we got back 3000-4000 each year. No student loans to deduct and fairly small interest on the house.

I think you need to get HR from both jobs to double check your setup. Last year we cleared 150K, her filing 0 me 1, and we broken even.

I will double check. Im pretty sure that they are correct. Not that im hoping for a return, just dont want to pay in. Its really crazy to read through this thread and see how many upset hard working americans there are that are paying rediculous taxes. And look how many times people have commented on the lazy non-working (both legal and illegal) people in the country are making out better than we are. And its not an isolated incident. Look around at people's locations. Its spread out. How cant others see this issue (those higher up that could make a change)? Here in Maine its disgusting what goes on. The stories i hear about how people manipulate the system is disgusting. Ive seen people come into stores with a piece of paper (to read pass code) and use someone elses EBT card. Cashier even helps them enter it correctly. People sell cards to others etc. Then the benefits they receive for having children.

I saw someone comment about the fine for not having insurance. Thankfully my wife is a teacher (just for the insurance not the crappy salary), so i have good insurance. But it was brought to my attention here at work that if insurance would cost you more than 8% (may want to double check this number) of your weekly salary/earnings (weekly earnings vs weekly insurance premium), you do not have to pay that fine. My mother confirmed this with her tax lady and she also got last years fine back too. From talking to others at work, apparently tax places are not catching this and having people pay the fine when they may not have to.

 

[sleek98]

As a CPA I always tell clients dont worry about what your refund is compared to others. Worry about the total TAX being calculated.

Bob and Jane have 100k in wages, 8k in mortgage interest, 3k in real estate taxes, 4k in state taxes and get a 3k federal refund
Jon and Mary have 100k in wages, 8k in mortgage interest, 3k in real estate taxes, 4k in state taxes and owe 1k with their federal return

Now Jon is bitching to Bob about how they owe money and its unfair. Bob replies with your doing it wrong we got a 3k refund. What Jon doesnt know about is that Mary and him claim single 0 with no extra withholding while Bob and Jane both claim zero and an additional 75 a check in federal withholding.

The way the withholding tables work is they estimate out your income based upon the tax tables for the year and withhold that amount. The tax tables are not designed to handle 2 working spouses. As one spouse fills up the lower tax bracket and the other spouse is withheld based upon being able to use the lower brackets but actually gets all their income subjected to the higher tax bracket.

If you want you can pm me and I can give you my email address and I can help you get the correct withholding for what you want. Some people like to owe under 1,000, some clients want to be within 100 either way (really hard to do), some people want a 3-5k refund.

 

[04svtsnke]

I agree that they do. However, a person with kids that contributes basically nothing vs me contributing what I do when I'm not sending kids through the system is not the way it should be working.

I totally agree which is why we need reform.

Big problem again is you claim a child and get a lot back.

We donated over $500 in clothing and what not, claimed Student Loans, mortgage interest, property tax, mileage for work (over 750 miles in addition to my normal to-from work) you name it. Even hired a CPA and paid $200 for him to say the same thing as Turbo tax that we owe XYZ.

I'm sure if we had a kid, our amounts back would be over $5,000 or more. That's how the system works I guess.

We will see what happens in the future. Still going with the pay cut so we don't shell out savings to pay the IRS that claims we owe them so much.

Is there a way to see the tax tables you're held against for the year? If there were it would probably make it easier for people to get their taxes correct.

 

[TK Doom]

Is there a way to see the tax tables you're held against for the year? If there were it would probably make it easier for people to get their taxes correct.

http://www.efile.com/tax-service/tax-calculator/tax-brackets/

This?

Also, we don't need so much reform on tax, as we do on its usage locally and in Washington.

 

[P49Y-CY]

I did mine tonight, I was OK with just paying $63 then after the Obamadouche care fine I have to pay close to $1000. This extortion of hard working American citizens need to be repealed after Barack leaves! Forcing free thinking people to pay a fine for not having heath care is raking in MILLIONS for the IRS..:nonono:

get a high deductible health plan. I never go to the doctor and it's what I use. Money just goes right into my account and sits there instead of paying for insurance that I don't need. No fines. Better on your taxes. What I pay for it and what my employer contributes breaks even.

i agree this new "tax" on healthcare is very bad. i still think it is unconstitutional. you want to tax me on roads and property and insure my car in case i'm in an accident with another person, that's one thing, but just for being a living breathing (and dying) person? there should not be a tax like this.

we teach our children from a young age that this is the "land of the free". lol, i guess we also teach them there is a santa claus.

 

[2000gt4.6]

http://www.efile.com/tax-service/tax-calculator/tax-brackets/

This?

Also, we don't need so much reform on tax, as we do on its usage locally and in Washington.

The problem is, like discussed before, most people don't even know how much they really pay.

Imagine if it was a consumption tax like the fairtax, and they also passed a balanced budget amendment. Mr politician wants to line his buddies pockets on a study of the mating habits of the extinct golden goose.
But whoops, that 100 billion dollar project will up your tax on every receipt from every store you visit by .01 percent. The people would be up in arms.

Which is why they will never allow it.