on a happier topic: anyone surprised in a good way about their tax refund?

[aikoaiko]

I have to admit that was. Even a couple of hundred helps.

I didn't change my deductions but got more back

[hobbit709]

1. Refund?

Made less than half of last year and had to pay them.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Don't think I'll be getting one

[Brickbat]

3. Not so much. We must have been near some kind of cut-off last year, and went over it this year.

[aikoaiko]

28. I was a little worried about that too this year because I got a promotion and a modest bump

So far so good. Next year, though, will be a full year with the larger salary and I need to double check the deductions.

[subterranean]

4. You shouldn't be happy about a big tax refund.

That means you're paying too much in withholding tax (or quarterly estimated tax if you're self-employed). In essence, you're giving the government an interest-free loan.

(I should clarify that I mean it's not good if you consistently get substantial refunds. Special circumstances, like the Making Work Pay credit, might make your refund bigger in individual years.)

[aikoaiko]

27. I agree, usually I'm much closer to just getting a few hundred back and this time it was more.

A small happy surprise, but I'll have to recalculate the deductions.

[SheilaT]

5. I'm getting my taxes done Monday.

Normally I structure it so that I owe, but I suspect I may be getting money back this year, since I started a small business and have all the start-up expenses connected to it. We'll see.

[aikoaiko]

29. Good luck and good accouting...

:hi:

[ChoppinBroccoli]

6. Our Refund This Year Was MASSIVE

My wife and I both made less money this year, plus we had another child and were able to benefit more from all the credits you get for having children. Our refund this year was close to TWICE what it was last year. All these Teabaggers running around wringing their hands about how much Obama has raised their taxes are out of their frickin' minds.

For a middle class family, if you're buying your own home AND you have children AND you're smart enough to realize everything you're entitled to get, you can do pretty well. You gotta itemize, and you really gotta research things like reimbursements for child care and the "Making Work Pay" tax credit so you can find everything you're entitled to (this is where filing online helps--you use free tax software and it helps you find a lot of things you didn't know you could use).

[RB TexLa]

7. How nice that you should benefit from your lifestyle choice.

[The Straight Story]

10. Hmmm not sure I get what you are trying to say

Having kids is necessary to keep this country moving ahead (SS, roads, etc and so on depend on having people who can...well, do that work in the future).

It takes a lot to raise kids, and we all benefit from them being here.

I am not sure it is a 'benefit' to get a few bucks back from taxes when it cost a ton to raise the folks who will be ensuring we can get SS and drive/etc in our later years.

[Bluenorthwest]

15. To me, that post is painful

Some families are not treated like families in tax law. You might have heard about that. While you drone on about 'kids' the operative words in that post are 'wife and I' and 'mortgage' not 'children'. So, whatever. It just gets old, the songs about how comfy it is in the front of the bus.

[Shiver]

8. Same here, and I didn't have any of the stuff you were able to use.

Except for the Making Work Pay. I also discovered that my tuition, even though my parents paid it, could be taken off of my taxes, and added to my refund. Got back a nice chunk of change from both state and federal. :toast:

[aikoaiko]

30. as the kids say, woot!

[aikoaiko]

31. I'm glad the deductions and credits worked out well for you.

:hi:

[Contrary1]

9. We finally broke down and replaced our 37 year old wood windows...

We qualified for the energy tax credit, which turned out to be a bit more than we expected. But the bigger surprise was how much lower our heating bills have been...about $600., when compared to last year.

[aikoaiko]

32. Double win.

[rzemanfl]

11. It is so hard to get paper tax forms. What I did was use one of the

on-line companies, when I found out they wanted money to e-file my "free" return, I printed the .pdf "review copy" and I will manually transfer the numbers to the printed form I downloaded from the IRS and mail it. We are getting a little bit back, most years I have to put some money in an IRA to avoid owing, but my wife had her hours cut last year so our income was down.

[shraby]

12. The libraries usually have stacks of forms on a special shelf.

I use TurboTax because it walks you through filling it out then prints out the forms you need, all filled out. It also keeps a running total at the top of what you owe or have a refund coming.
You buy the Federal TurboTax and then can download the state one when you get done with the federal and all figures are transferred to the state form to start it and you are then walked through it. Same type of running total at the top.

[rzemanfl]

13. Didn't see any there or at the post office either. Things worked

out fine for me, it just galls me that they wait until the very end to ask for money. We don't have state income tax, when Rick Scott is through, we won't have a state either.

[shraby]

20. You're in the wrong state..here in Wisconsin they have

stacks of them at the libraries.

[rzemanfl]

25. You have a state income tax that is tied to the Federal return so

there's a reason for that. Between your crazy Governor and our crazy Governor "wrong state" is a close call. It's eighty something and sunny here, you? I used to live in Wisconsin, oddly, I miss ice fishing.

[MissDeeds]

14. Nope

No refund in seven years. And we have a great accountant who could get blood out of an IRS turnip. Just love those middle class tax breaks!!!

[TheCowsCameHome]

16. What refund?

I didn't get no stinkin' refund.

[aikoaiko]

33. No doubt because you accounted your withholdings properly.

[kiva]

17. Nope, getting back less than last year. n/t

[Snoutport]

45. me too...I paid $300 more this year. I got a raise but it was $600...

so, I guess I got a little raise and paid half of it in taxes. sigh.

[Liberal_in_LA]

18. got more back than I'd calculated.

[tammywammy]

19. I got back quite a bit this year

I have school tuition plus a mortgage. Every dollar helps.

[ecstatic]

21. I haven't filed yet

:scared:

[Cleita]

22. What tax refund?

Because of a peculiar law, I must pay every year. Even though I'm on SS, I still must work to make ends meet and therefore must pay into FICA.

[aikoaiko]

34. that aint right.

[tularetom]

23. I'm not getting no stinking tax refund

I have to pay less than I thought but more than I wanted.

Glad you got some of what I paid. I'd rather you have it than GE or some other corporation.

[aikoaiko]

35. I suppose in reality I only paid up front too much and was fortunate to get some back.

[orwell]

24. That is because...

...contrary to the flatulence coming out of the ConWebMedia orifice, we have the lowest federal tax burden since the 50's.

Just turn on the TVMachine and listen to the liberal media tell you this fact 24/7... what's that? You never hear about this factoid amongst the cackling babblers who assure you that we must cut taxes to ensure our "strong" recovery?

Never mind...

[Nye Bevan]

26. Nice federal refund. But need to pay almost exactly that amount to CT.

I always owe CT for some reason.

[aikoaiko]

36. State taxes make me yearn for my tax days in NH.

What state tax?

[lunatica]

37. I just had the IRS tack on what I owe this year to what I owed in 2008

I make monthly payments.

[aikoaiko]

38. I had to do that once when I went from being a grad student to fully employed

somehow I ended up owing quite a but and I had to make payments. The IRS folks were nice and helpful but it was still a very unhappy surprise.

[lunatica]

44. The IRS has been very helpful. That I must admit

I called them in January and asked if they could lower what I pay every month. I explained that I've gone through bankruptcy and was in trouble with my mortgage and facing foreclosure. They cut the payment to the minimum.

What happened to me was my mother became bedridden with Dementia and couldn't be left alone so I didn't work for awhile and had to use my retirement to make ends meet. My tax bill was huge so they agreed to monthly payments for 60 months. It's been a couple of tough years, but at least I haves my job and it seems pretty secure.

[aikoaiko]

46. Tough situation, Lunatica. I'm glad you're surviving.

[scorpiogirl]

39. Yes.

We hadn't filed 2009 yet because we thought we'd owe and we've been broke. We just had them done finally along with 2010 and we are getting quite a bit back between both years. Couldn't come at a better time since we are living paycheck to paycheck, barely. Now we can catch up on bills and payback some loans. My husband started working last July after a two year length of unemployment. I feel like I can finally breathe a little with this refund.

[aikoaiko]

40. I'm glad to hear things are improving for you and your family.

and that the taxman wasn't a problem.

[scorpiogirl]

42. Thank you.

I thought I would owe the taxman for years to come. It's nice to get good news.

[Ex Lurker]

41. it's the Making Work Pay tax credit, which phases out this year.

It will partially be offset by the payroll tax elimination, but most people will get less next year.

[aikoaiko]

43. That was part of it for sure.

[southernyankeebelle]

47. Am always happy when we get more back. We didn't get as much as last yr but am not complaining.

[SoCalDem]

48. No refund here, but I am happy, nonetheless

My husband collected his SS for a full year and got an additional large lump sum payment from the time he was eligible , but had not collected, and this all happened in the reporting year that he got a rather large bonus, so I was sweating bullets.. He's also still working.

The bonus had a large amount withheld, but I was afraid we would owe a LOT this year. It was also the first time my piddly pension was in effect for a whole tax year.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that we owed a lot less than I anticipated..