Tax refunds

Jells2dot0 · March 2015

Our situation changes every year. We can never figure out if we're going to get a refund or owe. Thank god for our accountant. If we do get a refund (we'll find out in about a week), we're using it toward the down payment on our home in Texas. Since we still do not know if we're going to sell one of our AZ homes, we need as much money as we can get for Texas!

huskypuppy14 · March 2015

We owed money. We both sold a bunch of stocks to replenish our bank accounts from the wedding and buying our house. I was so good at paying estimated taxes that at first I almost broke even. But then H gave me his stock stuff and he thought he paid taxes on it but he didn't pay enough. Oh well.

We also make too much money to get some of the deductions.

charcoalandblush · March 2015

Mine was both exciting and boring.

1/4 went to paying for our football season tickets for this fall.

1/4 to student loans.

1/2 to savings.

Cookie Pusher · March 2015

We did okay on the federal filing jointly, but state wasn't as pleasant. We did get a small refund, but it was smaller than what I usually get back on my own. Not that it matters, I have a feeling DH has already spent the money even though we just sent the forms in over the weekend.

knottie9c5ed33df4bbd226 · March 2015

My close friend's dad is an accountant and she has always told me his advice is that 1/3 goes to debt, 1/3 goes to savings and 1/3 goes to "fun" so that's what I've been trying to do!

julieanne912 · March 2015

I got to pay over $10,000 to federal, $1350 to state. Gotta love being a 1099.

And student loan interest is only deductible (not refundable), up to a certain amount, I think like $2400 or $2700? That's per my accountant.

mrsjhodge · March 2015

I owned and ran my own business last year. I'm sure I'll have a bill. I haven't filed yet, but last year I was pleasantly surprised to own less than 10k.

Next year should be better, since I'll be on maternity leave for a portion of this year and have been an employee all year.

lyndausvi · March 2015

julieanne912 said:
I got to pay over $10,000 to federal, $1350 to state. Gotta love being a 1099.

And student loan interest is only deductible (not refundable), up to a certain amount, I think like $2400 or $2700? That's per my accountant.

I went from w-2 to 1099 half way through the year. I was so scared of penalties of underpayment or a large April 15th bill I overestimate my quarterlies.

That is the only reason why we got a decent refund. I prefer not to have a large refund or own a lot. I try and aim for +/- $500. Nice enough refund, but not really what I would call a windfall for us at least. If we have to pay $500 is not a hardship either.

redoryx · March 2015

Part went towards spin classes, part went into savings, and part I set aside for my trips to Denver and Orlando this summer!

Jells2dot0 · March 2015

lyndausvi said:

julieanne912 said:
I got to pay over $10,000 to federal, $1350 to state. Gotta love being a 1099.

And student loan interest is only deductible (not refundable), up to a certain amount, I think like $2400 or $2700? That's per my accountant.
I went from w-2 to 1099 half way through the year. I was so scared of penalties of underpayment or a large April 15th bill I overestimate my quarterlies.

That is the only reason why we got a decent refund. I prefer not to have a large refund or own a lot. I try and aim for +/- $500. Nice enough refund, but not really what I would call a windfall for us at least. If we have to pay $500 is not a hardship either.

I have income from both a 1099 as a contractor and a W2 as an employee. Usually I am able to offset the 1099 income with business deductions, but the cancer prevented that this year. I hope that having my DH's daughter as a deduction this year will offset that (we only have her every other year). I don't do quarterly tax payments on the 1099 income because I still have that W2 income, which is significantly higher. Hell if I'm going to pay my taxes quarterly off of my W2 income. I think what we paid this year in taxes is upwards of $90K between the two of us. I'd die if I had to write a check to cover that every three months.

I really wish taxes were SO much less complicated.

julieanne912 · March 2015

lyndausvi said:

julieanne912 said:
I got to pay over $10,000 to federal, $1350 to state. Gotta love being a 1099.

And student loan interest is only deductible (not refundable), up to a certain amount, I think like $2400 or $2700? That's per my accountant.
I went from w-2 to 1099 half way through the year. I was so scared of penalties of underpayment or a large April 15th bill I overestimate my quarterlies.

That is the only reason why we got a decent refund. I prefer not to have a large refund or own a lot. I try and aim for +/- $500. Nice enough refund, but not really what I would call a windfall for us at least. If we have to pay $500 is not a hardship either.

Yeah, I admit, I don't pay my quarterlies. The penalty for not paying them was like $100. I'd rather keep my money in my savings until tax time and just pay the penalty. This year will be interesting as I started a W2 job on Dec 1, but I still have side work that I'm 1099'd on. Oh and we're getting married in September haha!

JennyColada · March 2015

We owe about $6000 due to marriage penalty.

Since DH pays the taxes, he's basically paying for me to work, which wasn't really a fun idea for him. But oh well. We (read: I) will be more prepared for 2015 taxes.

FiancB · March 2015

We weren't sure if we were going to be better off filing jointly or separately and had a hunch we were going to get hit kind of hard. We actually will be getting a huge refund, way bigger than expected, largely from filing jointly. Yeeessss! It's pretty much going to pay off a loan we took out when we panicked about wedding monies.

LadyMillil · March 2015

I need some "grown up" clothes for work, so my quarter will be going to that. DH will get a quarter for his fun money and, the remaining half will go into savings.

WinstonsGirl · March 2015

I haven't done mine yet, but I should get a refund (maxed out RRSP's again and I have tuition credits). No plans yet. We just have the mortgage, so no more debt to pay off and nothing planned for big trips/purchases. Maybe Hawaii over Christmas

blabla89 · March 2015

Taxes...right...I should probably get on that

I usually end up getting a small federal refund and owing to two states, so it's a wash for me.

natswild · March 2015

won't be doing my taxes until I get back home from work (around a week or so...maybe...), and I'm expecting a large refund, due to schooling, which meant I didn't work nearly as much as usual, plus my RRSP loan and RRSP through work, as well as my tuition and housing. My refund will go to pay off my RRSP loan, and anything left over will go into savings. We're preparing for a poor work year due to the low oil prices.

princessbuttercup09 · March 2015

I'm getting my first big refund!! I'm so excited! I will put about half in our wedding fund, a quarter to student loans, $150 for new classroom stuff (I'm moving to first grade! Yay!!), and save the rest.

OliveOilsMom · March 2015

This thread inspired me to get going on my taxes last night. I did mine and I came back with a smallish refund from both the state and the feds, so that is nice. I still need to do H's taxes and see what's up. Then I will also probably do ours filing jointly and see which return will get us the most money and officially file our taxes that way. That's why I like Turbo Tax, so much, I can start how ever many returns I want and then just file the best results!

Our first year of marriage we filed jointly, but H was working mostly part time except for the last month he was full time. We got a big refund! So when we went to file our 2nd year, he owed so much in taxes because he didn't change his W4 being a full time employee. It ended up being better in the long run for us to file separately that year because my refund helped pay off his amount owed. It was a mess! So now in our 3rd year, are hoping that the changed H made to the W4 will pay off for us!

badbnagdway · March 2015

julieanne912 said:
I got to pay over $10,000 to federal, $1350 to state. Gotta love being a 1099.

And student loan interest is only deductible (not refundable), up to a certain amount, I think like $2400 or $2700? That's per my accountant.

It's $2,500 for 2014. You also can't take it if your MAGI is over $80k. Which, sounds high, except when you're in a profession where you paid a lot of money for an education to make a good salary. I paid over $8k in student loan interest last year and cannot deduct one penny.

huskypuppy14 · March 2015

badbnagdway said:

julieanne912 said:
I got to pay over $10,000 to federal, $1350 to state. Gotta love being a 1099.

And student loan interest is only deductible (not refundable), up to a certain amount, I think like $2400 or $2700? That's per my accountant.
It's $2,500 for 2014. You also can't take it if your MAGI is over $80k. Which, sounds high, except when you're in a profession where you paid a lot of money for an education to make a good salary. I paid over $8k in student loan interest last year and cannot deduct one penny.

You can sometimes deduct it from your state return if you weren't allowed on your federal.

The income limits kind of suck for people who live in HCOL areas. 80K in Palo Alto is practically poverty level, while in middle of nowhere Kansas it's living the high life.

theartistformerlyknownas · March 2015

We owe $1500. You're welcome.

(Kidding. Sort of.)

huskypuppy14 · March 2015

lolo883 said:
We owe $1500. You're welcome.

(Kidding. Sort of.)

Ha, so do we!

Tax refunds

Re: Tax refunds

Choose Another Board

Search Boards