Thursday, February 4, 2010

Take THAT you Damn Taxes!!

This is going to be a very long story. Last February I noticed that my Federal Tax Withholding on my check each week had gone down from about $25-$30 (I don't make very much money) to only $1-$2. I called my HR person and she explained that the tax withholdings had changed due to Obama's stimulus package. I would be getting more money to spend in my check each month so I could go stimulate the economy. (Which of course, I gladly did.) Hubby's withholding amount also went down. In July, I happened to read something online somewhere - then went and checked it out on IRS.gov - saying that even though they were withholding less money each week, you would still pay the same percentage when you did your taxes. There was a tax calculator which, when I punched in all the numbers, told me I'd better start having more taxes taken out or I'd be screwed come April 15. I filled out a new W4 for Hubby asking for an additional $120 a month be taken for taxes from his paycheck. Last night, I did our taxes like I usually do and was stunned and dismayed to find that we OWED $700!! Even with the additional taxes being taken out. Usually we get a refund between $500-$1000. In desperation this morning, I looked up Turbo Tax. You can use on online version that is free for your Federal Taxes. I punched in all the number and 'lo and behold....I am getting a $350 refund!! I don'tknow if it was me doing something wrong or if I missed some new tax credit or what.....and I don't care. Receiving $350 back instead of paying $700 is fine by me. You have to pay $14.95 to be able to use the Turbo Tax for your state taxes. Even though I figured them out myself and determined I'd be getting at $300 refund.....I think it's worth the $14.95 to see if I'm right!

3 comments:

Jules AF said...

I'm glad you got it figured out!

Colleen - the AmAzINg Mrs. B said...

That was us last year - we usually always get a refun but last year we ended up payint $1000 - and we didn;t make anymore money than the year before - but they weren't holding out enough. Fixed it this year, used Turbo Tax and we're getting a pretty good refund this year! Yay for you and me :-)

Jenny said...

Thank heavens. I'm glad you got some help with the stimilus package. I don't know too many that have...but I'm not going into politics when I'm first visiting your blog. Where are my manners? Glad it all ended well for you!