Have you started taxes yet?

[North of Mouse]

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[gillep]

We upped our withholdings, again, to compensate for the changes even though we finally had them pretty much dead on before the new laws, and at last report from DH who said he was done and reviewing we owe a bit as usual.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

Yup - done, submitted, accepted and waiting for our refund.

We were in that low-end "higher" tax bracket that many 40-ish year olds find themselves in LOL (according to a tax accountant friend) and have owed the past few years or come close to breaking even, but the tax changes actually benefited us this year, so we are getting an unexpected pretty large refund. The new child tax credits helped - we could claim 3 since we have custody of our great-nephew, plus an extra $500 credit for DS18 since he was 17 most of last year, and the college credit for him, so we were pushed us into a pretty nice refund status.

I did DS18's taxes for him - this was the first time he had to file and worked in two different states. Easy enough to navigate with an online tax service. He owes $40 to the State Of IL, but is pretty much getting everything back for federal and the State of MI, so he's coming out ahead.

Now to wait for the refund...I hear they will be delayed this year.

 

[Southernmiss]

This thread is also going on the Budget board https://www.disboards.com/threads/anyone-nervous-to-do-their-taxes.3730980/page-9#post-60218391

We did ours and taxes for our 2 in college yesterday. Pleasantly surprised that we are all getting a refund this year. Usually, we would owe some taxes for our kids as they received room and board scholarships, too. But this year, changes in college credits allowed us some leeway. The refunds will go right back toward college tuition due in March.

Last year we about broke even and upped our with holdings this year to adjust for the coming tax changes hoping that it was enough to cover us. We also knew that our daughter had aged out of the child tax credits and DH has referee income that he files as a small business. He also has a retirement check that we have to claim taxes on. With these variables, we were really unsure how the overall changes would affect us.

 

[L&Lfan]

No, a friend does mine and they’re fairly simple. I haven’t gotten all the W2 forms yet. I usually end up owing the state (NJ, where else?) much more than the feds. I never get a refund so I’m in no hurry.

 

[Christine]

Oddly enough, while I've owed the federal government money for at least 10 years or more, I've always gotten a roughly $300 refund from my state. I can never get it right to break even. It never really changes. This year, I owe $64 (even though my income is down this year and withholding did not change). So very odd.

 

[disykat]

I hadn't thought about what a big chunk of the deduction state taxes would be for so many people. Our state taxes are low (comparatively, because we "only" have sales/property, etc. tax without a specific income tax), so that part won't affect us. Our home is paid off so charitable giving is our only big deduction so we won't be itemizing now.

I'm hoping for a refund, but know they started taking less taxes out and we didn't go back and adjust - so we'll see. I haven't started our taxes yet (dh does them,) but have looked at my parent's. They should be getting a bigger refund this year.

 

[Ben E N]

Just finished mine. I worked on it on and off over 4 days. I usually get a refund of a few thousand dollars. This year the standard deduction won and I got about a 10% smaller refund. It's always nice to get this job checked off the "to-do" list.

 

[disneychrista]

Started, finished and filed yesterday. Had to pay nearly $2,500. $1,650 of it to pay back for health insurance subsidy I qualified for when I got the insurance through the exchange but my total income for the year made me not qualify. I wasn’t surprised to owe but didn’t expect it to be that much.

 

[LilyWDW]

Filed yesterday. I was worried as this was my first full year with this job and so I wasn't sure if I had my withholdings set up correctly or not. I ended up getting about $300 back between fed and state. It would have been higher but I also had a 1099 MISC that I had to pay my taxes on. Not sure if I should make any changes to my withholdings as I would like to keep it as close to 0 as possible (the government does not need a loan from me) or just keep it and see what happens next year with my promotion and new salary.

 

[tvguy]

I have an appointment with the CPA. That is as far as I have gotten.
I better get busy because my appointment is February 12th.
Although, now I think about it, I only have my W-2. My wife hasn't gotten her's yet. And none of our 1099s have come yet.

We haven't been able to itemize in 19 years, so I suspect the tax law changes will have very little impact on us. Until they banned it, we always claimed an exemption from withholding tables, and had a percentage withheld. That was the only way we could get our withholding anywhere close to the actual tax we owed. The withholding tables aren't even close.

 

[lorimay]

They can apply for a filing pin from the IRS. No need to rush at that point.

Yes, my parents have that now.
Its funny how they have had this happen twice to them and they do not use computers for anything and go to an accountant for their taxes.
I thought it was the computer that makes us all vulnerable, but apparently not.

 

[kdonnel]

Yes, my parents have that now.
Its funny how they have had this happen twice to them and they do not use computers for anything and go to an accountant for their taxes.
I thought it was the computer that makes us all vulnerable, but apparently not.

Being alive or dead makes you vulnerable to identity theft, those are the only two pre requisites.

 

[dotfurio]

We upped our deductions last year. We see our accountant later this month so we'll see how we did.

 

[Seahorse17]

Did my taxes on line Tues. and the check is pending in my bank acct now.

 

[kimblebee]

I use turbotax because it makes it so easy and straightforward. Ours are about 75% done. I’m still waiting for two T4 (don’t know the US equivalent) of mine. When I get them I just have to plug in the numbers and then it’s done. Well, besides playing with our credits to see if it’s better for me or my husband to claim them.

We’re the dopes (please don’t lecture on a better way to do things, we’re very happy with how we do it) that get a huge refund at tax time. It’s like our second Christmas because it’s when we get to splurge a bit. I think mine for the year will be a tattoo..not a huge splurge but still something ‘extra’.

 

[EveDallas]

I use turbotax because it makes it so easy and straightforward. Ours are about 75% done. I’m still waiting for two T4 (don’t know the US equivalent) of mine. When I get them I just have to plug in the numbers and then it’s done. Well, besides playing with our credits to see if it’s better for me or my husband to claim them.

We’re the dopes (please don’t lecture on a better way to do things, we’re very happy with how we do it) that get a huge refund at tax time. It’s like our second Christmas because it’s when we get to splurge a bit. I think mine for the year will be a tattoo..not a huge splurge but still something ‘extra’.

No lecture here. I like getting a large refund too. The way I see it, I'll just spend an extra fifty a week on little things but that extra 2000 at tax time will pay for a vacation

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

No lecture here. I like getting a large refund too. The way I see it, I'll just spend an extra fifty a well on little things but that extra 2000 at tax time will pay for a vacation

We look it like that too. It’s kind of a savings fund for us. It’s money we don’t really “see” so we don’t miss it, but it’s nice to get it back!

 

[EACarlson]

First full year at new jobs in a new state. Turns out we are getting $2700 back, and all of it is going straight to Disney for our trip in Dec. Had to use H&R Block since TT was going to charge me $40 to claim the child care credit.

 

[Skippy918]

We can’t do ours until the business taxes are done. Our accountant is handling it.