Baltimore Nesties
Cooper81
member
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
DH is upset we are getting $ back from taxes!
He is such a weirdo. He is a financial analyst (nothing to do with taxes at all) and he thought he had us set our witholdings so that we would break even between state and federal. He did our taxes last weekend and was so bummed that we were getting $ back, it's less than $500. I could only laugh.
Who is done their taxes?
Refund? Owe $?
Re: DH is upset we are getting $ back from taxes!
I go both ways - its exciting to get $$ back, but I'm always annoyed too b/c it means I've been giving the gov't an interest free loan. $500 wouldn't bother me, but if I got more than $1000 back, I'd be annoyed w/ myself for miscalculating.
We're going to get about $400 back in federal, but will owe about $100 to the state. My husband works in Delaware, so we have to file in two states -- annoying! However, that little $300 will be very nice to bring to Jamaica with us in April for souvenirs and tipping, etc.
~ Kelsey Jean ~
Cooking with Crouton: A Food Blog
We also try to break even every year but in 2011 we had Blake toward the end of the year and we didn't calculate correctly for that so we got a bit of a refund back. It went straight towards bills. I really do understand the mentality of "wahoo huge tax refund!!" because I used to claim zero so I got a big check, until I started reading a lot of financial stuff and realized that was really not in my best interest.
I would also like to add that holy crap, our effective tax rate was embarassingly low.
I don't care how many times people explain to me that a big refund isn't in your best interest, I still love it, and this is the first year since we bought our house that we aren't getting over $8K back. It's because this year has been so wonky and so many things have changed, so ultimately we're getting under $1K back. Given the circumstances, I'm just grateful we didn't owe.
But yes, I can relate to how your husband's feeling
We usually get a few thousand back (I know that that angers MM people, since it's an interest free loan to Uncle Sam, yadda yadda yadda). I know we should be close to 0, but I kinda feel like it's "found" money, and I like that
That being said, I did try to even us out in 2011, and that completely backfired, b/c after adjusting our witholdings, I made about $10K in untaxed freelance and we ended up owing $4k. I'll take getting money back over that any day!
I knew I felt a kindred spirit in you.
We haven't done our taxes yet, but we usually get a sizable refund. Yes, it's nice to get a lump sum like that, but I'd prefer to come closer to breaking even.
This will be the first year we're filing with a dependent, so no idea how that will change things.
BFP#1: 01/10, M/C 6w -- BFP#2: 06/10, M/C 5w -- BFP#3: 09/10, DS born June 1, 2011
BFP#4: 07/12, M/C 5w3d -- BFP#5: 12/12, EDD 08/18/13
Decorate This
Cha-ching! Why do you think I had two? Kidding.....
Hehe, ditto!
Meh, I'm with your husband and I'm that person who can't understand why getting your own earned money back after loaning it out for a year is a good thing.
I used to pay estimated taxes since I get a 1099 instead of a W2. Once DH and I got married, we did his withholding so I wouldn't have to pay during the year but we wouldn't we be assessed a fee for not paying enough. now, each pay period, I put what I would have paid in taxes into a high yield savings account. Come tax time, we pay about $4000 out of that account but we've been earning interest on it all throughout the year. It's not such an amazing deal now that even Emigrant Direct's rates are below 1% but we made a few hundred dollars do this when rates were over 5%.
DH also co-owns a rental property with his brother and they pumped a lot of money into it this year so I'm sure they will get a substantial amount back for depreciation but we keep those finances separate.
Our Share of the Harvest: One couple's take on farm-to-table cooking
Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Strawberry Filling
Before we bought our house we used to get a small-ish refund. Last year we ended up breaking even between federal and state, which is good. We haven't done our taxes yet but this year I think we'll be about even again, I guess it will depend on investment losses/gains over the year, which I haven't really looked at. Any refund less than $1,000-1,500 wouldn't bother me but if it was more than that, I do think that I would be annoyed and would definitely re-adjust for the next year!
I like getting a refund because we take some of it and spend it on things we otherwise wouldn't if it was just rolled into earnings. We put most of it into savings, spend some a little frivolously and since we're not feeling the strain without it month to month, it works for us.
Also curious to see how a dependent changes things this year...we need to get ours done.
Someone's getting a little brother!
Haha! I hope you're right! That would make DH feel better
BFP#1: 01/10, M/C 6w -- BFP#2: 06/10, M/C 5w -- BFP#3: 09/10, DS born June 1, 2011
BFP#4: 07/12, M/C 5w3d -- BFP#5: 12/12, EDD 08/18/13
Decorate This
We are not good savers. Getting a refund is better for us.
We'll be getting a somewhat hefty return this year.
We have to do some adjustments for next year. We both received decent raises this year and we have been placed in another tax bracket.
We always get a large refund, and I'm more than fine with that. Our yearly income is always a bit of an unknown going in because my bonus is a substantial part of my income. We're smart with our money over the course of the year, and the lump sum that we get around February/March in the form of our tax refund, my bonus for the prior year, and my retroactive pay increase for the current year is a tidily sizeable amount generally slotted for large scale house projects, investments and the like. That works for us now because I don't count other people's money, including Uncle Sam's - I just do what works best for us.
Anyway, if I was going to get upset about the money that we give to Uncle Sam every year, I'd just curl up in a corner and cry from New Year's until mid-June. Because that's the portion of the year that I more or less work to pay the government before they start letting me keep our money to pay our own bills.
lovelylittleworld
BFP#2 1/12/12 ~ Missed M/C 8w2d
Im getting money back this year and I'm annoyed, bc I have my withholdings actually set to take less money out than they should (don't ask, I was lazy to fix it), but with my TSP withholdings, health insurance etc I am still getting close to 1k back (h and I file separately. He broke even almost exactly.). But last year I had to pay close to 1k, bc I changed stuff mid year, so I kind of thought I'd be okay for this year. I hate getting $$ back and I'll get more back next year bc I'm doing more pretax stuff this year. I'm going to wait and see though before fooling with my withholdings too much.
I mean it's not the worst thing in the world lol but I would like to have that extra $ over the course of the year. Then I'm also a dirty liberal who doesn't MIND paying taxes and I kind of dont get why I'm not taxed at a higher rate. But I'm not such a liberal that I'm going to donate the $ lol. (and no, I'm not one of those liberals who railed against Romney for his low tax rate either. It is what it is.)
Agreed!
We normally are pretty even. If we do receive a refund it is normally less than $500 total.
I have to admit that I like getting a big chunk of money back. Usually we take a portion of it to do something fun and the rest goes to bills.
We actually got so much back last year that the tax preparer told me to adjust my deductions because getting such a large refund can be a red flag to the IRS. I hope that my estimates for this year were right. I am really nervous that I made a mistake.