Tax Refunds.

[Dantrag]

It's the interest of the home that's deductible, not the principle. When you pay extra, you pay down on principle.

Yeah, 8,100 in interest. Just not sure how that translates in the return.

[Tyche]

Depends on your other deductions. You have to get over the standard deduction amount, which is about 12,000 for a couple I believe.

[Dolmen]

HR Block employees = someone doing it on TurboTax. They take a night course that teaches them the HR Block software, and miniscule amount of tax law.

As for standard deductions and exemptions, MFJ is $11,900, and the personal exemption is $3,800.

The primary difference between going to a real CPA firm or a Jackson Hewitt/HR Block/doing it yourself is pretty big. For instance at my firm all tax returns are reviewed by a second person before being approved, and either the preparer or the reviewer is a CPA/former CPA (we hire retired CPAs to prepare returns during tax season). At my fiancee's firm they are reviewed by two people (she does business returns that they bill $60,000+ for). At a Jackson Hewitt/HR Block they're not reviewing your return, and they rely heavily on the software. We get a decent chunk of our business from people that HR Block has screwed up their returns, but if you have a simple return (W-2 and a 1099-INT) you're fine there.

[Dolmen]

Yeah, 8,100 in interest. Just not sure how that translates in the return.

Your state taxes count toward itemized deductions, so that plus your mortgage interest puts you over the standard deduction. Ultimately the goal is to owe as much as possible without penalty so it's like the IRS gave you an interest free loan.

[BadKarma]

I'm a student with a part time job and I had to pay the state and government last year....sigh

[Kaslo]

I'm suppose to pay $1300 based on my turbotax estimate. I'm trying to figure out if I can claim my half-thai brother who lives in Thailand as a dependent. My dad is currently in jail and I send him money every month for education >.>

[archibaldcrane]

Damn these niggas get their tax forms mad early. I got one form from my IRA, that's it so far. Waiting on probably 5 different W-2s, 4 different 1099s, home mortgage interest statement, wife's W-2, etc. etc.

I rarely can even start my taxes until March.

[Soa]

HR Block employees = someone doing it on TurboTax. They take a night course that teaches them the HR Block software, and miniscule amount of tax law.

This is 100% true. My wife did it a few years ago when she was out of work and she couldn't believe how little they actually teach you before putting you to work. She also couldn't believe people would pay $100 to do simple returns they could do themselves with free tax software. The one good thing that came out of it was her getting a few clients that she does taxes for every year for some cash on the side.

We used to get $2500 every year like clockwork, but I was laid off in July so I have no idea what I'm getting back this year.

[Epysian]

I'm just waiting on my W2 from my part time job. I'm sad I'm not going to get a refund this year. Most of my money comes from my freelancing job I started in August, and they don't take out taxes. I'm gonna be writing a nice check to the government soon

[Dolmen]

Damn these niggas get their tax forms mad early. I got one form from my IRA, that's it so far. Waiting on probably 5 different W-2s, 4 different 1099s, home mortgage interest statement, wife's W-2, etc. etc.

I rarely can even start my taxes until March.

If you have anything from Pershing, they're telling us that they're not even going to bother mailing anything out until the 1st of March. I'm still waiting on too many 1099s, 1098, and a K-1.

[archibaldcrane]

I dunno what Pershing is.

[Dantrag]

WTF is a K-1?

[Kaslo]

a Dog minus 8.

[Meresgi]

Question for all you tax savvy ones, does marriage award any sort of tax breaks or anything I should know about? Got hitched in October and up till now just been doing my own taxes with Turbotax but I don't want to fuck up or miss anything filing this year for the both of us. Not that we make that much at all since i'm just finishing college and she's working at Pet Smart.

[kuronosan]

So it seems like if my wife and I file separate we owe, we file jointly we get a refund. The funny thing is the majority of our income is mine... yet she works part time as a student and didn't make enough to have tons of tax taken out.

Am I liable for the tax she didn't have to pay?

[Ragnus]

Typically filing jointly enables you to have a lower overall tax burden.

[Ratatapa]

i'm wondering what ever to do mine alone or not

[archibaldcrane]

Typically filing jointly enables you to have a lower overall tax burden.

This. The larger the disparity is between your two incomes, the better tax savings you'll get. If you both make roughly the same it may not help much or at all, but there are still some deductions that "married filing separately" cannot claim.

[tyven]

i got my w2 on Jan 4 like a fucking baller. Tyche i believe gov starts accepting on Jan 22. I filed to freetaxusa on the 8th. so ballage

[RKenshin]

If you're currently stable in your finances, you should probably look into increasing your withholdings and just putting the extra money into a high yield savings account. Bank of IRS doesn't give ya any interest.

this is what I do, but i do get jelly when people get their 5k pay day.

What going from a 0 to a 1?

Pretty much. Taking 1 withholding still allows for a pretty massive tax check at the end of the year and you get more to stick in some hidey hole gaining interest.

Yeah, definitely should claim allowances.

While sure, it's nice to see a big refund in the next year, you're likely better off making an extra $100-200 each check rather than giving the IRS an interest-free loan for a year+ (unless you lack to self-control to not want to wildly spend it, which is fine).

I have no deductions at all aside from student loan interest, and I've claimed 2 allowances on my federal and 3 on my state (RI). My refund this year will be about $1.2k, and my salary is in about the same range as Dantrag.

Most people here with mortgages, kids, etc, could likely claim 3-5+.

Generally, all that claiming an allowance does is pre-deduct whatever the personal exemption amount is from your projected income (times the number of allowances). For federal, that number is currently $3,800.

So say you may know that while your salary is $50k/year, you qualify for enough tax deductions to reduce your taxable income to $38k/year. If you claim 3 allowances, that will tell your employer to reduce your projected taxable income by $11.4k, so each pay check you're taxed as if you're earning $38.6k/year instead of $50k/year, and you'll get ~$110 more in each check (bi-week) with a ~$140 federal refund at the end of the year, instead of ~$110 less in each check with a ~$3000 refund at the end of the year.

Everyone can claim at least 2 federal allowances though, since everyone gets a standard deduction $5,950 along with one personal exemption $3,800 ($3800 * 2 is < $3800+5950) which will still leave you with a decent refund.

Quick and dirty way of explaining it, but yeah.