OT taxes questions - any experts?

Sandy Foster ran this through spell check:
In article ,
"Dr. Quilter" wrote:

Obviously I know nothing about taxes. Just got a shock when I did the
calculations for 2003 and noticed for the first time we owe a big
chunk (at least for us, since in the past we always got a couple
hundred bucks back). Remember we rent, we don't get too much
interest from savings accounts, and we have no other income besides
2 postdoc salaries. This is the second time we filed jointly.

snip

I'd suggest getting some advice from an expert -- the H&R Block people
tend to be pretty knowledgeable. We used them for years, though this
year we switched to TurboTax and like that very much.

I don't use TT anymore, I use an accountant. TT messed up on some
calculations that cost us $4K, and we had go back and amend prior year's
returns once the accountant got a hold of them. We got money back.

If you questions at all,even a one time visit with a professional can be
worth it.

Penny S

I think she means that on the W-4 withholding form you can claim single, but
on your actual taxes at the end of the year you have to claim married if you
are.
"Dr. Quilter" wrote in message
...
200 bucks, really??? I thought you had to claim married if you were and
the only reason we weren't was the non resident issue...

Deb in AR wrote:

I know from experience that claiming "married" on your W2 does mean less
taxes taken out than claiming "single". I don't know why, but that's
how it
works. Does that make sense? As far as I know, you don't have to claim
"married" even though you are. DH always claims single even though
we're
married & since we have 2 kids we tend to get a chunk back. I knew
there
was a good reason we had kids! hahaha

It might not hurt to go to a tax preparer, but I would suggest shopping
around first. Who knows, you might be able to find one who would look
at it
cheaper than HR Block? We've used Jackson Hewitt in the past few years,
but
after paying $200-something this year I've decided we're getting
TurboTax
next year at Wal Mart.

HTH

--
Dr. Quilter
Ambassador of Extraordinary Aliens
http://community.webshots.com/user/mvignali
(take the dog out before replying)

There is no sense or logic or understanding of "withholding" on
paychecks. Frequently every year I had to review our check stubs and be sure
that some bookkeeper or accountant hadn't made a decision to correct (?) our
withholding. We had to withhold as zero dependents (with two children) just
to come out sort of even at tax time.
I don't know why. I don't care. I only wanted my taxes to be done right
and go away.
If you are having your paycheck (and DH's) being calculated as married
with one child, at the end of the year, you may get an awful amount of taxes
to pay.
Sometimes we get to choose our battles. I found it one heck of a lot
better to force the payroll clerk to ignore the chart she insisted was the
best one than to cough up a hefty check on April 15. I will leave better
explanations to those who understand this stuff, I just found it very
annoying. Polly

As the others stated, when you are having taxes withheld from your
payroll as a single person, then marry and change filing to "married",
your takehome pay goes up. All your tax liabilities are adjusted for
married, so at some point during the year your amount withheld goes
down when you reach a certain amount.

Claiming married filing single can really hurt you. I beleive WA has
no state tax, is that correct? So you have only Federal taxes to deal
with (lucky you!). My suggestion is to get Publication 17 from the IRS
and read it. It has the answers to your questions in fairly
straightforward language, make sure you get it for the current filing
year since it does change each year.

H&R Block is a good place to go to if you want to get advice or have
someone check your numbers. They offer several levels of service from
tax prep to financial planning. The goal with taxes is to not get a
refund, nor have to pay. That way Uncle Sam is not getting interest
from your money (=paying too much in tax) and you don't have to pay
(=not enough taken out).

Your payroll dept should be able to show you what will be taken out if
you file Married 1 each, and one filing Married 1/one filing Married
2, or any combination thereof! Good luck..........

Ginger in CA
a graduate of H&R Block Tax Prep course for professional accountants.

"Dr. Quilter" wrote in message ...
Obviously I know nothing about taxes. Just got a shock when I did the
calculations for 2003 and noticed for the first time we owe a big chunk
(at least for us, since in the past we always got a couple hundred bucks
back). Remember we rent, we don't get too much interest from savings
accounts, and we have no other income besides 2 postdoc salaries. This
is the second time we filed jointly.

I noticed that a lot less was taken from our paychecks than in 2002,
especially for DH. Any hint as to why? We both changed our status to
married in Jan of 2003 (we couldn't claim married until we were
'residents for tax purposes' and able to use the regular 1040 instead of
the 1040NR which has nothing to do with being legal residents but with
being in the US longer than 5 years, it has been more than that, but we
hadn't done it - I think I had, but it never crossed DH's mind he might
change his status, he just does not think about those mundane facts),
and we only have one allowance each. Do you guys know if changing from
single - married implies less is taken every month?

Or do you think it might be related to the new tax laws? I did notice
the amount I took home went up at some point, while the total salary had
not increased at that time.. I was happy since I was taking more home,
and did not question why at the time (I guess in the long run it is
better to owe since you've had the money all along, right? But getting a
check back sure is nice!).

Here I was, naively thinking that since taxes had gone down with Bush
(or so the ads keep repeating, although I know most benefits are for the
very rich) and there was no marriage penalty anymore we'd get a nice
check back!

Do you think I should see someone so they can take a look at my numbers?
Like an HR Block person? They say the can definitely save you some
money, right? The thing is, our taxes are so simple I am not sure they
can help us so paying a fee might not be worth it.. unless there is
something I am completely missing and it might make a huge difference -
remember Sofia was born this year so I cannot claim her!

If you end up owing the government a significant amount more than was
withheld, you may end up owing a penalty for underpayment of taxes. If
you are not able to withhold enough for taxes, you can make quarterly
estimated tax payments.

Julia in MN
--
This message has been scanned for viruses by Norton Anti-Virus

http://mail.chartermi.net/~jaccola/

"Heather" wrote in message
...
I think she means that on the W-4 withholding form you can claim single,
but
on your actual taxes at the end of the year you have to claim married if
you
are.

You don't have to file as Married if you don't want to. YOu can file
together as 'married', or you can file as Married filing separately, but
usually you are better off (Pay less in taxes) if you file together. To be
sure, run the numbers each way and file however it comes cheaper for you.

Wish I could help, but working for the British Inland Revenue our tax
laws are completely different to the American ones - I'm starting to
think that America should be treated as 52 separate countries rather
than one country with 52 states, 'cos each state has its own laws on
what you can and can't do!!

OK, so that statement is rather tongue-in-cheek, and a sweeping
generalisation, but I still remember being in Seattle in 1999, whilst
we were staying with Donna (me Mam...) and visiting a fast food
outlet, asking "how much are those breadsticks?" and being told "2 for
a dollar", so we asked for two and got charged $1.08...

In the UK we have a law that states that the price on the shelf or on
the price ticket is the price you are charged at the till, with no
additions... its a national pastime to watch your purchases being rung
through the checkout like a hawk to ensure that you are not
overcharged - even by 3 pence!

FYI, the UK had Married Couples Allowance, worth approx £40 per month,
that you could claim but you had to be married, they also did away
with it in 2001 except if you were over 65...

Suzie B
--
"From the internet connection under the pier"
Southend, UK
--
Please remove NOSPAM when emailing me!
http://community.webshots.com/user/suziekga

I did, they tell me I should do what I want. I think maybe they are not
allowed to give tax advice?



That means they cannot give you sound advice without knowing your entire tax
situation the way a CPA would.

If you are both withholding at the "Married" rate, and have no deductions to
speak of, you will get taxed more heavily. I don't remember if you said you
were filing as "Married-One" or "Married-Zero'" which would also be
significant.

Since you got "nailed' for taxes, you might consider changing one status to the
'Married, but withhold at the higher single rate" status. This should even you
out a bit better. You can also specify that you want a certain amount of extra
federal or state tax withheld as well, if necessary.

If you BOTH file as "Single-Zero," you may wind up paying more taxes than you
need to. I do not subscribe to the "have as much tax taken out as you can, so
you get a big refund check at the end of the year" practice. Why should you
deprive yourselves of that extra money each week, only to get it back later
without interest?

You may also consider (if you don't already have one) either a 401Kplan at
work, or a traditional IRA. Both are pre-tax deductions, which means you pay
tax only on the income you have after either of these is deducted from your
gross. You'll be sheltering this money from income tax, and setting aside for
your retirement at the same time.

Kathy


http://community.webshots.com/user/katquilts53

Actually this is wrong. Married people do NOT get a break tax wise. You
pay MORE in taxes than if you are a single person. How can that be you ask?
Because combined incomes put you in a higher tax bracket. The only way
married filing joint is a true benefit is if only one person has income.

Kathy in Kansas, an H&R Block person.
"Betty in Wi" wrote in message
...
Married people get a break tax wise. You pay less taxes than if you both
filed separately. That is why less taxes were taken out. My husband and I
have found that we need to claim 0 deductions each----we don't itemize
deductions either (no house interest to deduct). The payroll department
where you work should be able to help you calculate how many exemptions to
claim. If your tax situation is simple---do your taxes yourself. No need
to
pay someone to do what you can do yourself. Did you know you can go to
Turbotax.com and file your taxes online. There are other providers as
well---H & R Block for instance. If you have internet, you don't have to
go
out and purchase tax software---which changes each year. There is a
nominal
fee for using internet tax software.

Betty in WI


"Dr. Quilter" wrote in message
...
Obviously I know nothing about taxes. Just got a shock when I did the
calculations for 2003 and noticed for the first time we owe a big chunk
(at least for us, since in the past we always got a couple hundred bucks
back). Remember we rent, we don't get too much interest from savings
accounts, and we have no other income besides 2 postdoc salaries. This
is the second time we filed jointly.

There was a change in the withholding rates in July. They took less out of
your paycheck after the first of July. It caused a lot of people to get
smaller refunds or owe this year.

Since you had the baby you may not need to adjust your W-4s for next year.

If you want you can email me your numbers and I can check to see if you've
missed anything.

Kathy in Kansas, an H&R Block person.
"Dr. Quilter" wrote in message
...
Obviously I know nothing about taxes. Just got a shock when I did the
calculations for 2003 and noticed for the first time we owe a big chunk
(at least for us, since in the past we always got a couple hundred bucks
back). Remember we rent, we don't get too much interest from savings
accounts, and we have no other income besides 2 postdoc salaries. This
is the second time we filed jointly.

I noticed that a lot less was taken from our paychecks than in 2002,
especially for DH. Any hint as to why? We both changed our status to
married in Jan of 2003 (we couldn't claim married until we were
'residents for tax purposes' and able to use the regular 1040 instead of
the 1040NR which has nothing to do with being legal residents but with
being in the US longer than 5 years, it has been more than that, but we
hadn't done it - I think I had, but it never crossed DH's mind he might
change his status, he just does not think about those mundane facts),
and we only have one allowance each. Do you guys know if changing from
single - married implies less is taken every month?

Or do you think it might be related to the new tax laws? I did notice
the amount I took home went up at some point, while the total salary had
not increased at that time.. I was happy since I was taking more home,
and did not question why at the time (I guess in the long run it is
better to owe since you've had the money all along, right? But getting a
check back sure is nice!).

Here I was, naively thinking that since taxes had gone down with Bush
(or so the ads keep repeating, although I know most benefits are for the
very rich) and there was no marriage penalty anymore we'd get a nice
check back!

Do you think I should see someone so they can take a look at my numbers?
Like an HR Block person? They say the can definitely save you some
money, right? The thing is, our taxes are so simple I am not sure they
can help us so paying a fee might not be worth it.. unless there is
something I am completely missing and it might make a huge difference -
remember Sofia was born this year so I cannot claim her!



--
Dr. Quilter
Ambassador of Extraordinary Aliens
http://community.webshots.com/user/mvignali
(take the dog out before replying)