If you think you and your better half's income will be similar next year, just send in a quarterly estimated tax payment. You can print the blank forms off the IRS website.
I have to agree that there shouldn't be tax breaks for having kids. If anything, people with kids should be paying more IMO to pay for their kids education. I have no kids to contribute to said need for education, so why am I paying more in taxes?
If you guys want to bitch about taxes as they relate to presidential candidates, run this calculator for yourself and see how each candidate would affect you're take home pay. http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/3/25/11293258/tax-plan-calculator-2016
Comrade Sanders would have my already kinda poor ass paying $7600 more in federal income taxes each year...
The whole tax code sucks.
I hate these ****ers more and more every day.
Add up all the taxes you pay,
Fed, state, sales tax, fuel tax, property tax, registration fees, etc....
Mine comes out to 53% of my pay check going to the government in some way shape or form.
Someone tell me that this is fair to my face.
I agree with this.
Having a kid is a choice. Having a place to live and even having a job to live is not a choice, unless you like living as a homeless person. I feel people that have kids are rewarded and those that do not are penalized even more, despite making "more" money.
My wife and I bust our asses, pay a lot in student loans, mortgage, mortgage insurance and over $16,000 in JUST federal taxes and have to shell out several more thousand. Now, to avoid this, we are reducing our checks and taking a $250 per month loss on income so we don't owe in 2017.
In Chicago, our income is nothing special and hardly considered middle class (125K combined)
I agree with this.
Having a kid is a choice. Having a place to live and even having a job to live is not a choice, unless you like living as a homeless person. I feel people that have kids are rewarded and those that do not are penalized even more, despite making "more" money.
My wife and I bust our asses, pay a lot in student loans, mortgage, mortgage insurance and over $16,000 in JUST federal taxes and have to shell out several more thousand. Now, to avoid this, we are reducing our checks and taking a $250 per month loss on income so we don't owe in 2017.
In Chicago, our income is nothing special and hardly considered middle class (125K combined)
Well I think the reason they use more tax breaks for kids is the theory that it encourages more people to have them so they can pay for the ponzi scheme of social security down the road.
The idea is that people are birthing future tax payers.
If it makes you feel any better, I've paid almost $20,000 in federal taxes this year and will be writing a check to the IRS for another almost $30,000 in two weeks. And I don't get to take the whopping $1,000 tax credit for having a kid, just to add salt to the wound.
It sucks for the single/married folk that don't have kids.
It also sucks for my kid that will be stuck paying social security to support the elderly who never had kids to pay in. The knife cuts both ways.
I don't know if this question has been asked on here or not, but how many of you are married with no kids and both employed? How do you keep from owing more once you do your taxes?
My wife and I both work and both claim zero exemptions on our W-4's. I just did our taxes over the weekend and we ended up owing $1500 to federal! WTF??? I understand why it happens. I'm sure it's because we are individually taxed throughout the year under one tax bracket but then our combined income puts us in a higher bracket come tax season, but how do we adjust things so that they just take out the correct amount throughout the year? I just want to break even.
Should we file separately? Is there something else we can do on our W-4's or are we just going to have to enter a dollar amount on them under "additional deduction amount?"
I don't intend to write the federal govt. another ****ing check next year, so any help is appreciated.
What i tell people is this: if you are making over 65K a year, combined, get a CPA to do your taxes. You will be glad. And you can retroactively re-file taxes up to five years back, I think.
As to your situation, Branhammer, my wife and I are in the same boat, and have been for ten years, at least. Our accountant looked at our situation, recommended we have an additional amount deducted, and that problem is solved.
In my opinion, payroll deduction of taxes should be flat-out against the law. We should have to write a check, every year, for what we owe and pay it. If we did that, there would be huge riots as people saw exactly how much is being taken from them. Payroll deduction prevents that by most people not knowing how much is being taken from them. I say if the Federal Government wants to tax us, they should make it so in-our-faces clear how much they are taking that no one has any doubt. Then the next politician who comes along promising midnight basketball or whatever in the hell else piece of dipshittery with your money will get run out of town.
Bitter? Why, yes, yes I am.