In this thread we discuss what we will do with our 2005 tax returns!

[preciousjeni]

I've never gotten a tax refund. It's not necessarily a good thing to get one because it means that the government stole too much money from you and they're *kindly* giving some back.

The major issue is that you missed out on potential capital that you could have put toward investments. It's better to owe money at the end of the year because at least you held onto it for a longer amount of time!

P.S. This year, with all the education waivers and deductions (ok, that's one nice thing about the IRS - you don't have to report tuition expenses because they actually WANT you to get educated so you can pay them even more!) I was headed toward the poverty line. So, I'm not going to the final few deductions that I could take because, as it stands, I'm taxable for -$48.

If I put in another deduction (which would be in the thousands), I would be -$1048 or so (actually more) and the government would send me a welfare check. I am NOT trying to be in the system, thank you very much!

[Beryana]

Originally posted by preciousjeni
I've never gotten a tax refund. It's not necessarily a good thing to get one because it means that the government stole too much money from you and they're *kindly* giving some back.

The major issue is that you missed out on potential capital that you could have put toward investments. It's better to owe money at the end of the year because at least you held onto it for a longer amount of time!

And some of us just had a LOT of deductions meaning we get a refund! When you had student loan interest, charitable contributions, Lifetime Learning Credits, Homestead Credit, etc THAT is what gives a refund. If you don't have enough to itemize deductions, yes you should look into having less taxes taken from your paycheck. If you itemize and make rather low income, you ARE going to get a refund (when you make over $18,000 and your taxable income is around $4500, not much you can do about 'the government stealing your money' because they are giving you back EVERYTHING you put in! You also have to remember there is not much you can do when you can only claim 1 deduction on your W-4 - you can't take it to 2 if you are single which would mean fewer taxes taken out.)

Sarah


ETA: Some of us STILL do pretax investments so we ARE lowering the amount that is sent to the Government.

[preciousjeni]

Originally posted by Beryana
not much you can do about 'the government stealing your money' because they are giving you back EVERYTHING you put in!

Aww don't go defending the IRS now! LOL! It's still thievery in my book. And, over time it's a disadvantage because of the interest/dividends/etc. that you're losing.

Of course, I'm a fair tax proponent, so my word probably isn't well regarded.

[AGDee]

Originally posted by Beryana
And some of us just had a LOT of deductions meaning we get a refund! When you had student loan interest, charitable contributions, Lifetime Learning Credits, Homestead Credit, etc THAT is what gives a refund. If you don't have enough to itemize deductions, yes you should look into having less taxes taken from your paycheck. If you itemize and make rather low income, you ARE going to get a refund (when you make over $18,000 and your taxable income is around $4500, not much you can do about 'the government stealing your money' because they are giving you back EVERYTHING you put in! You also have to remember there is not much you can do when you can only claim 1 deduction on your W-4 - you can't take it to 2 if you are single which would mean fewer taxes taken out.)

Sarah


ETA: Some of us STILL do pretax investments so we ARE lowering the amount that is sent to the Government.

That's not true, you can put as many exemptions on your W-4 as you want. There is a worksheet on the back of the standard one which said that with my mortgage interest and child care deductions, I should be claiming 11. I changed it, get a lot more in my paycheck each month and still got a $29 refund.

ETA: There's also a spot where you can designate an additional dollar amound per pay to be taken out, so you can say "Single, 1 exemption, plus $50 per pay" You do want to make sure that you're not going to put yourself in the hole, because if you do this and end up owing them, there can be fines for owing too much.

[Beryana]

Originally posted by AGDee
That's not true, you can put as many exemptions on your W-4 as you want. There is a worksheet on the back of the standard one which said that with my mortgage interest and child care deductions, I should be claiming 11. I changed it, get a lot more in my paycheck each month and still got a $29 refund.

ETA: There's also a spot where you can designate an additional dollar amound per pay to be taken out, so you can say "Single, 1 exemption, plus $50 per pay" You do want to make sure that you're not going to put yourself in the hole, because if you do this and end up owing them, there can be fines for owing too much.

And looking over the worksheets on the W-4 I'm STILL at 1 deduction (I have two jobs, will NOT be able to itemize my deductions like this year because of the trip to Germany as a volunteer team leader for World Youth Day, am not able to claim exempt because I WILL have a slight tax liability, I don't have kids, my adjustments to income this year will be much smaller than they have been and the worksheet makes you drop fractions, etc). This is proof that SOME of us are not ABLE to change the amount withheld from our paychecks so we don't give the government free use of our money. Yeah, I would much prefer to keep more of my paycheck each month, HOWEVER it is also nice when planning big projects for my house to get a lump sum back in February - and with what savings accounts are paying for it to be in the bank versus with the Government there really is not much of a difference in the end (my personal investing is my matched 401K which is pre-tax dollars).

Sarah

[Lady of Pearl]

When I get it pay those BILLs BILLS BILLS!

[SmartBlondeGPhB]

Originally posted by AGDee
That's not true, you can put as many exemptions on your W-4 as you want. There is a worksheet on the back of the standard one which said that with my mortgage interest and child care deductions, I should be claiming 11. I changed it, get a lot more in my paycheck each month and still got a $29 refund.

ETA: There's also a spot where you can designate an additional dollar amound per pay to be taken out, so you can say "Single, 1 exemption, plus $50 per pay" You do want to make sure that you're not going to put yourself in the hole, because if you do this and end up owing them, there can be fines for owing too much.

Yep, I do single 4

[SmartBlondeGPhB]

Do to the fact that I made VERY little money last year and I have a mortgage, I am getting almost everything I paid in taxes back and I'm thinking about Lasik.

[KunjaPrincess]

Since I go to school full time, as does my husband and I don't work but we have kids we got a nice big refund which is even better since we didn't pay in anything to begin with (gotta love the EIC) We are going to go on vacation I think.

[Denise_DPhiE]

Living Room Furniture and window treatments. Boring.

Denise

[smiley21]

My tax refund finally arrived! Thank God!