The general population don't understand the federal taxes at all. All over the internet in every corner people are talking right now about taxes and the majority of them make comments on getting more back in a refund this year, or less, or owing more or less. Not near as many actually talk the number that's important, the amount of taxes you pay with X amount of income compared to those numbers next year.
My effective rose .65% but as I said earlier in the thread I had lots of changes between 2017 and 2018. Short of doing my 2018 taxes with my 2017 info or my 2017 taxes with my 2018 info, I can't really say if the change was due to the tax law or due to other changes in my tax situation or a combination. I expected my effective tax rate to rise or be unaffected because my income puts me at the point where I make too much for my vote to be easily bought and too little for my dollars to do the buying.
Yes you really need to compare tax rates before deductions, rates are slightly lower this year buy deductions less and exemptions zero
Something else you have to keep in mind is that others prefer it that way. I'm not necessarily saying we are but we def. don't try as hard as possible to get to break even as other people. That could def. change over time though.
It takes less then 5 minutes to fill out a new W-4 form, https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf, and adjust your withholding to ensure you get a large refund.
Gee..did you miss the comment you quoted?
though I know it comes off as abrupt
There is nothing in the 2017 or 2018 tax code that requires someone to get a large refund or no refund.Gee..did you miss the comment you quoted?
By that I mean they prefer it the way they've been doing it whatever way that is.
*Sorry no rudeness intended
No I fully understand that. I think you're trying to talk about something I'm not. I responded to a poster talking about giving the government, by way of how someone structures their withholding, an interest free loan rather than taking that money that would have gone to the government and putting it into an interest-bearing personal account. Some people don't prefer to do that if they prefer a larger sum at the end rather than small amounts each paystub in addition to interest-bearing accounts not having much interest. Just depends on the person and how they prefer it.
Something else you have to keep in mind is that others prefer it that way. I'm not necessarily saying we are but we def. don't try as hard as possible to get to break even as other people. That could def. change over time though.
But I will say our Money Market account is 0.065% interest rate and our Joint Checking account is 0.045% interest rate. Heck my husband got $15.88 in interest in 2018 for his one checking account though I don't know the interest rate off hand----can we have a party now
In all seriousness the interest rates are still so dang low people have to look at it if things work out better for them in terms of their needs. Is having a little bit of money in your paystub each month better or is it easier to have it in a lump sum. Think of it as a very tiny lottery--lots of people choose the lump sum rather than 30 payments and while a large part of that is the length of time the other part is it's just easier in their minds to see it as a lump sum aspect.
All that being said for sure people can check around for accounts with higher interest rates though that normally comes with additional rules and/or fees. I know our Money Market is a higher yield one than other options but it comes with higher accumulative running account balances plus a hefty fee for 12 months of no account activity. We largely use our Money Market account for escrow shortages personally though.
Yeah it's a good thing to keep an eye out.
Argh....I usually even out between state and feds (owe money to one, get a similar refund from the other) but this time, I owe more than I'm getting back.
