Have you started taxes yet?

[Minnesota!]

I input as I receive things, so I have been plugging along. Finalized most today - getting back about $1100 more than usual...our income went up, charitable deductions went up, etc. I don't know - makes me a little nervous but I will take it.

 

[neverlandsky]

Officially done. After getting a consult, didn't need the sold stock form. So I entered it all manually. So Federal e-filed today & then accepted about 15 minutes later. State e-filed today as well. The new tax laws had no impact because of the CTC. So less refund wise compared to last year. Without CTC though, which is our soon to be future, that will hit hard where we will have to withhold extra $$$ per pay period to go towards Federal taxes with Married/0 allowances. This year was the first year in a long time where I was nervous to file.

 

[amberpi]

Is it April 14th?

 

[tex1989]

Have not started and don't really want to. We always owe but it's not to bad a deal because bonus is paid March 1 so we can pay the bill easily but this year I sold 23 acres and have some capital gains and the wife who is retired turned 59 1/2 during the year so we received two forms from her retirement payments that I am guessing are pre and post 59 1/2. That and income went up and some stocks were sold and it turns into the nightmare that is tax filing and I am guessing we will owe around $4,000.

 

[kdonnel]

Is it April 14th?

You mean October 15th? That is the real deadline for filing.

 

[Music City Mama]

generally something like that the IRS finds with their computers, will just bill you the difference or send you a check, you do not have to refile. I would not worry about it. It might happen in a couple months

Thank you so much -- that makes me feel a lot better! It's still perplexing to me why that happened in TaxAct, though.

 

[fla4fun]

The withholding tables were adjusted to give people more money in each paycheck, spreading the reduced tax burden out over each payday, reducing the refund when compared to a prior year.

That is the way I understood it for myself, since I have no dependents and I don’t itemize. But I also understand that for people who DO itemize, there could be significant changes in what can be deducted, which in turn can affect their refund. It just depends on the individual taxpayer and their circumstances.

In my experience the early filers tend to be either people like me with super simple returns, or people who are in great need of the refund cash. Sometimes those also tend to be people who itemize for maximum benefit, so that could be why we are hearing about smaller refunds. Even if their expenses exceed the standard deduction, their overall total deductions may be a lot less than before.

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

So I skimmed through this, but it seems like MOST here are not doing better with the new tax law, is this right? I did see a couple that did that had kids to claim, but seems most not doing better? We haven't done ours yet this year, but being in NY and with the new laws not having the ability to claim as much now we think we'll get a little less back. But was wondering how others are making out across the country, the ones that are doing better, why, and the ones not, why. Or the ones that seem to be doing about the same.

 

[dish rag]

Corporate is done and I go sign today, dropping off my personal. Our stuff is very complicated and will spend this year between $7000 and $8000 on CPA's. Hoping to get rid of some things and simplify.

 

[Christine]

So I skimmed through this, but it seems like MOST here are not doing better with the new tax law, is this right? I did see a couple that did that had kids to claim, but seems most not doing better? We haven't done ours yet this year, but being in NY and with the new laws not having the ability to claim as much now we think we'll get a little less back. But was wondering how others are making out across the country, the ones that are doing better, why, and the ones not, why. Or the ones that seem to be doing about the same.

In my case, if you look at my effective tax rate on paper, yes I did do better. Percentage-wise, I am taxed less. However, due to the change in the way deductions are calculated, my "taxable income" went up about $10,000 over last year, even though my gross income from 2017 to 2018 decreased. It's very weird. But I made less money this year, more of it was taxable, but my tax rate is lower. Wrap your head around that!

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

In my case, if you look at my effective tax rate on paper, yes I did do better. Percentage-wise, I am taxed less. However, due to the change in the way deductions are calculated, my "taxable income" went up about $10,000 over last year, even though my gross income from 2017 to 2018 decreased. It's very weird. But I made less money this year, more of it was taxable, but my tax rate is lower. Wrap your head around that!

Looks like this new tax code isn't that great, makes you think you're doing better but with the other changes you do worse. That's how it's going to be for us but we'll see.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

So I skimmed through this, but it seems like MOST here are not doing better with the new tax law, is this right? I did see a couple that did that had kids to claim, but seems most not doing better? We haven't done ours yet this year, but being in NY and with the new laws not having the ability to claim as much now we think we'll get a little less back. But was wondering how others are making out across the country, the ones that are doing better, why, and the ones not, why. Or the ones that seem to be doing about the same.

We are in NY and did better this year with kids and my education credit.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

In my case, if you look at my effective tax rate on paper, yes I did do better. Percentage-wise, I am taxed less. However, due to the change in the way deductions are calculated, my "taxable income" went up about $10,000 over last year, even though my gross income from 2017 to 2018 decreased. It's very weird. But I made less money this year, more of it was taxable, but my tax rate is lower. Wrap your head around that!

The effective tax rate is the percentage that you're actually paying in taxes when all is said and done, so if that is lower than last year, then you're actually paying a smaller percentage in taxes this year.

Looks like this new tax code isn't that great, makes you think you're doing better but with the other changes you do worse. That's how it's going to be for us but we'll see.

See above. Everyone of course has different circumstances, but the gist of it is most people are likely going to see their taxable income as a little higher (after deductions), but be taxed at a slightly lower percentage. If you can claim the CTC, that seems to be a huge benefit for tax payers this year.

 

[lsyorke]

I'm concerned for my employees discovering their withholdings don't cover their tax obligation. I did warn everyone, but the response was "but we're not going to have to pay such high taxes with the changes so I'm fine"...sadly they may find out the hard way.

 

[Christine]

The effective tax rate is the percentage that you're actually paying in taxes when all is said and done, so if that is lower than last year, then you're actually paying a smaller percentage in taxes this year.

Agreed and I think that's what I said. Now, had the formula not messed with my "taxable income" I would have been doing well. But they lowered my rate, but increased the amount of money I pay taxes on. Seems like a wash to me and not a tax break. I realize this will work out differently for each situation. In my own, while my effective rate went down, more of my income (even though I made less this year) was up for grabs.

 

[LSUmiss]

Looks like this new tax code isn't that great, makes you think you're doing better but with the other changes you do worse. That's how it's going to be for us but we'll see.

I believe some ppl suspected it would be that way too but...ya know

 

[mefordis]

So I skimmed through this, but it seems like MOST here are not doing better with the new tax law, is this right? I did see a couple that did that had kids to claim, but seems most not doing better? We haven't done ours yet this year, but being in NY and with the new laws not having the ability to claim as much now we think we'll get a little less back. But was wondering how others are making out across the country, the ones that are doing better, why, and the ones not, why. Or the ones that seem to be doing about the same.

I'm wondering if some people are just looking at their refund. That doesn't tell whether or not they paid more in taxes . For example, we began receiving a lot more in our checks as soon as this tax cut went into effect (due to withholding laws changing). I'm wondering if people have really looked at how much in taxes they paid and compared them with 2017.

 

[kdonnel]

I'm wondering if people have really looked at how much in taxes they paid and compared them with 2017.

Taxes are a very emotional subject for most and I believe you are correct and that most people are looking solely at the change in refund to emotionally decide if they paid more or less.

 

[LSUmiss]

Taxes are a very emotional subject for most and I believe you are correct and that most people are looking solely at the change in refund to emotionally decide if they paid more or less.

And some have logically explained that their taxable income has gone up so they did pay more.

 

[kdonnel]

And some have logically explained that their taxable income has gone up so they did pay more.

Not disputing that.

But there are many in this thread that are using their refund or other numbers on their tax return that they deem important for comparison purposes that has nothing to do with their effective tax rate.