Turns out Uncle Sam is robbing you less now than they were before! Lol

 

As others have said, the total amount zeroes out every year. Either the govt takes too much out of every paycheck and pays it back in the form of a tax refund, or they let you keep too much money and you end up owing them come tax time. Either way, it balances out. Whichever way you prefer having it go down is personal preference, though I don't know why you would be ok with the govt holding on to a considerable chunk of YOUR money all year long.

 

If you get a big refund every year, you can change your withholding at work so that you're pocketing more money with every check.

 

If your refund this year is $200, they actually pretty much nailed it. Go figure.

Well, we have to face the facts. Most people don't have that tight of a budgeting behavior and the common tax refund is sort of forced savings.

I definitely see what you're saying, and agree to an extent, but I wonder how many people actually treat their refund as a savings vehicle. Personally, before I actually knew what a tax refund was (my own money being paid back to me), i actually treated it as bonus money and would spend it on a big ticket item that I had been wanting. I'm 27 now and did this until I was 25. I'm not proud of how ignorant I was, but I'm willing to bet there are tons more out there who do what I did and throw their own money away thinking it's basically a gift.

If your refund this year is $200, they actually pretty much nailed it. Go figure.

Not necessarily. If he had less deductions, a different number of allowances or filing status on his W4, additional income in a higher tax bracket, or if the accountant forgot to include some write offs the amount due back could be affected. Way too many variables involved. Comparing the 2016 return to 2015 to look for differences would be a good start.

I definitely see what you're saying, and agree to an extent, but I wonder how many people actually treat their refund as a savings vehicle. Personally, before I actually knew what a tax refund was (my own money being paid back to me), i actually treated it as bonus money and would spend it on a big ticket item that I had been wanting. I'm 27 now and did this until I was 25. I'm not proud of how ignorant I was, but I'm willing to bet there are tons more out there who do what I did and throw their own money away thinking it's basically a gift.

 

 

I'd be wiling to bet that the # of people is very high.  Since more credits/rebates are offered to lower tax brackets, refunds tend to be higher at lower incomes.  So essentially most people treat it as manna from heaven...

 

On the flip side, people keep mentioning changing your withholding estimate.  Just remember if you underpay by 10% or more you WILL get penalized (assuming you owe more than $1000).  So keep that in mind when futzing around with your W4.

The smartest thing congress ever did was to force employers to withhold federal taxes from employees.  It means that most people never notice how much money the government takes of your paycheck.  I have a couple of side businesses and have to pay my own state and federal income tax (and self employment tax).   Every quarter, I write a big check to Uncle Sam and I always get angry at how high a percentage he gets of my hard earned money.   If everyone had to pay their taxes themselves and realized how much money they were actually handing over, there would be a revolt.

Well said

Change d day to nov 15th

99% voter participation

The smartest thing congress ever did was to force employers to withhold federal taxes from employees. It means that most people never notice how much money the government takes of your paycheck. I have a couple of side businesses and have to pay my own sales tax (and self employment tax). Every quarter, I write a big check to Uncle Sam and I always get angry at how high a percentage he gets of my hard earned money. If everyone had to pay their taxes themselves and realized how much money they were actually handing over, there would be a revolt.

Dave Ramsey once said on his radio show, "Imagine if you had to pay your taxes as you walked out the door each morning. There'd be a dad-gum revolution."

Had never thought of it that way, but chances are he's absolutely right. Lol

Well being self employed you get to pay both halves of Social Security, 15% plus right there.  Now pay income tax.  Where does all the money go, and still we are 18 plus trillion in debt.  Government should never have been allowed to borrow money, period.

Without reading anything except the Header.... Yes

The income tax was not envisioned by the founders. They should never have passed and ratified the 16th amendment.

Uncle Sam is not only robbing you, he's throbbing you.

I'm sure the Obamacare tax put a dent in the return.

 

The 2016 tax year penalty is $695 per adult and $347.50 per child, up to a maximum $2,085 for a family, or 2.5 percent of a portion of your household income, whichever amount is larger.  The penalty is assessed on a monthly basis, meaning you could owe a portion of the penalty for every month that you or your family members were without coverage.

 

So it looks like Bama took 1.25% of your combined income, up to the limits above.

 

3 months no coverage for 2 adults.   .025 / 12 * 3 * 2 * total income

 

Pretty sure this would be greater then 695 /12 * 3 * 2

Yea but that was 2 years ago. We had coverage all year last year.

They say 5 years, but I don't think there is truly a statute of limitations on the Throbbing Knob.

I always went by the 7 yr rule

I always went by the 7 yr rule

I think you are right. I had people for that until recently.

 

But you'll still get the quivering timber.

Knock on wood. But I have people for that

Taxation is theft!

7 years sounds safe.  3 years for an audit, further if caught cheating.

 

The IRS abides by a statute of limitations of three years after the due date of the return.  For “substantial errors,” the IRS maintains it can go back six years and recommends you keep most records at least that long.

Or you get the trembling member.

My medical premiums went up 250% in 6.5 years because of ObamaCare.

Uncle sam is like a crack head whore , No matter how much she gets she want's more...