Yeah, this was our first year as Married Filing Jointly, and we're getting back a lot less than we were hoping.

I hate the estate tax with a passion.

I paid $10,200 (and some change) between state and federal. fml

Above and beyond what you had withheld? or Total?

Which is why we have a CPA.

One of the best ways is do you all actually donate money to a church/non-profit org consistently.

That's one thing the rich does that a lot of middle class people with high tax bills seem to not do.

The second (if you are an employee) is actually play around with your withholdings.

Not saying it is the be all end all, but you will start seeing the results of not owing soo much at the end of the year.

Additional.

...because I was stupid and effed up taxes in previous years.

:( x1 million

Single, out of school full time, no kids, no property definitely does suck though. Most of the people I know rake in the $$$ in refunds, but not I.

While I do get a refund, it is usually under $400 in total (federal and state). It's depressing :(

I got bumped into a new tax bracket last year, so $400 would have been a blessing lol

I guess I can't complain, though.

Depends on your mentality.

A lot of people have the mentality that a refund is pretty much giving the government an interest free loan.

I say if you are an employee this is true.

As a business owner on the other hand, if you getting a refund, it means you had a lot of write offs and really need that extra money to make up for that shortfall.

Mortgage interest deduction is a total joke. If you have a $200,000 balance on your house at an interest rate of 5%, that’s $10,000 a year that you pay to the bank in interest. If your income puts you into a 25% tax bracket, then not having a mortgage (or interest to go with it) means you pay $2,500 to the government on that extra $10,000 in the form of taxes. So..... buying a house when you'd rather rent simply to claim a mortgage interest deduction is stupid, as is not paying off your home because you'd lose the deduction. Yeah, let's pay the bank $10,000 so I don’t have to pay the government $2,500.... :rolleyes:

If you dont have a mortgage and want to "save" that $2500 that you would owe to the irs, donate $10K to your church or a charity, and be done with it.

NInjapoodle is getting a federal refund. That is all. :)

Me, too. Praise the Lord that my parents had a trust! Federal estate tax = 40%. State estate tax = 4%. We don't have to pay the Feds! :D

I am getting fed and state refunds, too.

As far as I'm concerned, the home mortgage deduction is a friend of mine. And as someone said earlier in the thread, claiming deductions for charitable contributions also help.


....hey, I just thought, if the president is really a "birther," who was secretly birthed in Kenya, and is therefore, some kind of illegitimate president does dude have to have his taxes done by today? :rolleyes:

What BluPhire said. Your goal should be to break even or to owe the government. Otherwise, you gave the government an interest free loan. I know people who use their refund to pay off the credit card they've used all year. Well guess what? If they changed their deductions to break even, they wouldn't have needed to use that credit card and wouldn't have paid interest on that credit card! Major win.

For that reason, I follow the worksheet on the back of the W-4 to a T and I break even or get a very small refund. In the meantime, I have my cash to spend.

Jesus H. Christ.

Hubby and I earned $7k less than when we filed last year. But we paid more in taxes. Maybe it's time to have a kid to get the child tax credit!