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Another Tax Help Thread!
LavaKnight
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey everyone,
I can't find the annual taxes thread, and I didn't want to clutter the other tax threads lying about right now.
I have a feeling the answer is going to be fairly simple, but I'd like to sure in any case.
This year I worked two jobs, one in Nevada for eight months, and one in Washington for three months. All together I made $31,263.53 and was taxed $2,195. Going through my taxes online, it looks like I owe about $200, after claiming the credits that H&R block lets me claim, in addition to claiming my moving expenses.
That seems a bit high to me. It's possible that I had my withholdings somewhat low, as I subscribe to the "I'd rather have the money now and deposit it into my Roth IRA than a year from now in the form of a return" school of thought, but would low withholdings result in having to pay that much?
Are W-4 withholdings either too much or too little, that is, can you not fine tune it so that you get the appropriate amount of taxes taken out each paycheck?
Thanks!
I can't find the annual taxes thread, and I didn't want to clutter the other tax threads lying about right now.
I have a feeling the answer is going to be fairly simple, but I'd like to sure in any case.
This year I worked two jobs, one in Nevada for eight months, and one in Washington for three months. All together I made $31,263.53 and was taxed $2,195. Going through my taxes online, it looks like I owe about $200, after claiming the credits that H&R block lets me claim, in addition to claiming my moving expenses.
That seems a bit high to me. It's possible that I had my withholdings somewhat low, as I subscribe to the "I'd rather have the money now and deposit it into my Roth IRA than a year from now in the form of a return" school of thought, but would low withholdings result in having to pay that much?
Are W-4 withholdings either too much or too little, that is, can you not fine tune it so that you get the appropriate amount of taxes taken out each paycheck?
Thanks!
LavaKnight on
0
Posts
HR Block has calculators to determine next years taxes based on your current information. That should help you for next year.
In what form or fashion is the federal government going to want back the ~300 bucks I got in my refund last year, tied to this credit?
Also, HR Block also says that I am indeed eligible for the making work pay credit this year, even if I got it last year, and yet selecting it does nothing to increase my refund. I should not be expecting that $400, yes?
You probably already received this credit in the form of reduced payroll taxes.
$200 is nothing. It could have been because of the job switch, or additional withholdings on your W2.
True, but you still need to claim it on your return. If you have too much income, it phases out, but otherwise it should increase your refund (and it makes no difference whether or not you also got it last year). If you look at the bottom line on your schedule M, what does it say?
You can fine tune it, but like Creidhes and Deebaser said, less than $200 is a pretty narrow target to hit.
And yeah, switching jobs is probably what did it (essentially, the second job doesn't know about your income from the first job, and it only withheld enough taxes assuming that it was your only job for the year). If you keep just the one job this year, and keep everything else the same, you probably won't owe again this year.
Pretty much what you're supposed to do is file an amended return when you discover the mistake. I don't know if you'd get a penalty, but if so it probably wouldn't be much.
In all honesty, though, unless you were audited, the IRS would probably never find out that you were ineligible. And if they did find out, it would be pretty easy to justify as an honest mistake, so you'd likely end up with a small penalty and interest.
So in the end, it's a gamble, and you just have to decide for yourself. For what it's worth, if it were me I'd probably file the amended return (just cause I'd rather not worry about it, not out of some sense of duty or anything).
I'm not really sure what schedule M is, other than something associated with the making work pay credit. I don't remember receiving any such form last year, and I haven't this year.
Edit: For the American Opportunity credit, would filing an amended return for 2009, be entirely separate from completing my 2010 return?
Sorry for the confusion; schedule M is the form you use to claim the making work pay credit, and it gets attached to your return. When you say H&R Block, do you mean in person or online? Because if it's in person, they should be able to tell you why you're not getting the credit (it should show up on 1040 line 63). If you're doing it online, there should be some way to look at the schedule M and see why the credit isn't flowing through (generally either because you don't enough enough earned income or you have too much).
And yeah, the amended 2009 return would be completely separate from the 2010 return. If you were at H&R Block, they might give you some kind of discount for doing them at the same time, but they're separate forms.
If you go into an actual H&R Office, they have a program called "Second Look". It's FREE if you go in during the month of March. They will review your previous returns for mistakes. (They'll even pay any penalities you may have incurred if they had originally filed your return).
Is there a way to change this short of changing the 1 to a 0 (or vice versa) on my W-4?
Are you within the first four years of post-secondary study?
Are you enrolled in a program that leads to a degree, certificate, or other piece of paper?
Are you taking at least one-half the normal full-time workload for the course of study for at least one academic period beginning in 2010?
Have you ever been convicted of a felony?
After that, you can get a credit for up to $2,500 depending on the amount of eligible expenses, the amount of tax on the return, and whether or not your scholarships/grants cover the expenses. (That last part means that your qualified expenses sent on your 1098-T are reduced by nontaxed benefits)
Most employers allow you to have an optional, arbitrary extra amount withheld each paycheck. So hypothetically, mid-year at some point you can extrapolate how much you'll end up making by the end of the year and how much will have been withheld. Then figure what your tax liability will be (roughly). And if you're a little low, then just have your employer withhold a little extra each paycheck.
But yeah, changing the 1 to a 0 would help (it would be the equivalent of about $550 extra withheld, assuming you're in the 15% bracket).
Not to quibble, but it specifically needs to be a felony drug conviction. So grand theft auto - no problem
Haha, so it does. Incidentally, the lifetime learning credit does not disqualify someone with a felony drug conviction from taking the credit.