Always get money back. I don’t care if “we’re giving out an interest free loan” by over paying. I don’t play games Uncle Sugar’s money.
Do you usually get a tax refund or have to pay
- Thread starter walterjay
- Start date
I plan to owe the Feds as much as I can without penalties, so not too much. The government won't give me an interest free loan, so I won't give them one either. But there are so many variables - how much the stock market grows, how much our stock options will be worth, etc. that it's impossible to plan precisely. So it's something like 80/20 I owe them, they owe me.
Would you loan your neighbor $100 each pay period and allow them to pay it back to you once a year with no interest?
It’s your money. That money could be going into savings, retirement accounts, etc.
I don’t know could my neighbor come after me and garnish my wages with interest for not guessing how much money I should’ve given them? If so, then yes, I would.
Who said it doesn’t go into savings? A one time payment for $1200 into savings is the same as $100 a month for 12 months. The interest on that $100 a month is not much.
I claim zero, no kids, just a mortgage. I got $129 back this year. I'm happy with that, the money has been in my bank instead of Uncle Sam's.
And you forgot BUSINESS taxes, which of course we all pay. But some love, because easy supposedly.
And unless you are poorass - you pay taxes, and even then. You pay taxes. We don't have a taxing problem in the USA we have a spending problem.
I actually am getting around $3K back, most ever. I overestimated the amount I paid on Dec 31, 2022
The odd part is they say I underpaid like $1000 for last year's marketplace health insurance. But I didn't see any clawback going on. Standing by.
I'm self-employed and pay estimate taxes...I almost always have a payment in April for both federal and state. I plan very carefully and adjust all year to hit it about right (I developed a spreadsheet that I can update as I go that will help with the estimated taxes) but usually like to have either a small payment or refund at the end which for this year, was actually a refund for both fed/state (each about $500) where last year I paid about the same...it's not perfect science but either way show I'm doing it about as good as you can get w/r to estimated/sporadic/hard to estimate self-employed income.
Pay if i would get refund put it towards the next year since i pay quarterly both state and fed. Paid a penalty to fed owing more that was allowed.
efund
efund
This question is often misunderstood - the question really is "Did you set up your withholding to over-withhold or under-withhold." Your taxes are your taxes regardless of how much you have your employer took out of your paychecks (or you paid in estimated etc. if self-employed).
I often pay a small penalty in my attempt to hit it as close as I can - it's really the only rub I have (beyond the over-complication of the system as a whole) - paying estimated taxes when self employed if v. challenging to estimate for many and if you pay all four quarters and overpay, even then, you may incur a penalty b/c you didn't pay the correct amount in one or more of the quarters based on the "pay as you go" nature of our system i.e. you earn more towards the end of the year and paid less than the total tax burden/4 over all 4 quarters so one quarter may ding you.
I'm in the minority in that I withhold $50 extra each week, on top of my normally sizeable refund (due to having 4 kids). I'm well versed in math and fully understand the govt is getting a free loan. My wife and I are frugal people; my fear is that the extra income each paycheck if I balanced out tax liability would be absorbed into the family budget, lots of temptations out there. It's not that I lack discipline, I maintain / grow a savings account, invest, blah blah, but that lump sum that comes in at tax time is guaranteed (can't touch it), completely liquid money that gets put to good use each year on large projects / major purchases instead of frivolous things throughout the year. If we have no use for it, we put it in a CD or high-yield savings till next year.
Granted, this practice began when returns on high yield savings accounts were next to nothing, or chump change. I might have to revisit this now that you can get a semi-decent return by parking money.
Granted, this practice began when returns on high yield savings accounts were next to nothing, or chump change. I might have to revisit this now that you can get a semi-decent return by parking money.
Certainly. Consumption burden affects the lower brackets significantly. Man's gotta eat...
I usually end up paying... But I wait as long as possible to do it. Who knows? I might die before hand and then it's not my problem anymore.
Ever the optimist... Cool!
Optimism has no bearing on death and taxes.
Never get a refund. Pay from $37, my best year of breaking even, to paying a few hundred. Refunds are evil. I never want a refund. Not that I make huge amounts now but at least I make some money on my savings vs. zero on a refund.Just curious how many people get a tax refund or are having to mail in a check.
I just finished mailing in my due amount. Not as bad as some years but still....
We get a refund, but we also have 4 kids.
