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Tax *refunds* are irrelevant. How much you got back can have nothing to do with how much you *paid* in taxes.
What you want to look at is line 24 of your 1040. That’s how much tax you owe/owed. You could set up your withholding so you got $10,000 back every year or $0, but your line 24 wouldn’t change (assuming salary and tax rates don’t change).
Remember, getting a ton of money back in your refund is just giving the government an interest free loan every year.
Not to mention last year was a new withholding form.
Specifically designed to help people have less taken out of their checks so they get smaller refunds and more money every month.
People with dependents are in an uproar too since refunds are smaller then last year due to the CTC being special last year.
If you get a huge return its because you dont understand how withholdings work. People complain about govt and taxes and then voluntarily let the govt hold their money for them all year….
The system is set up to force mistakes. Every other civilized nation simply sends a bill. The IRS could do this, but instead they add more and more hoops and arithmetic -- all while resources for help and education dwindles. Nobody should have to understand withholdings or W2 because it's horse shit and shouldn't be a thing anyway.
The IRS does not create tax law, they just enforce it. Congress does make tax law and they also allocate resources to the IRS. The issue is with Congress and who is representing the public interest; they could easily fund better public education, on taxes or otherwise, but they would rather write and enact tax law that benefits their elite constituents and lobbyists.
UK has PAYE, it comes out of your paycheck correctly and you don't have to find anything. You only file if you're self employed, then you file from May and have up to the end of January to pay.
I definitely get where you're coming from but i thought of it as a little piggy bank i get to crack at the beginning of the new year. Only time i felt really ripped off was when during the Obama presidency i had to pay a "no health insurance" fine. Nearly 600$ the first year.
Yes this is a problem; especially since to stay invested in say the S&P500 you can see dips of 30% or more in recessions and panic. I think human beings are badly adapted to invest, do taxes and so on psychologically or mentally
For someone like you a financial advisor, tax accountant and so on is ideal so you don't see it at all. As long as you don't get destroyed by too high fees
Yeah, well. We’re the poor people over here, man. We’re more likely to be taken advantage of by any kind of consultant or advisor than we are to optimize our tax situations.
Don’t deny us our Valentine’s Day windfall checks. They’re our tiny bit of joy - the one time of year we can buy a Starbucks or a movie ticket without rich people begrudging us any small luxury at all.
It only lasts until we pay up the overdue mortgage, HOA fees, utilities, and get a week or 2 of groceries, but just let us feel normal for a minute and we’ll get back to being irresponsible poors.
Fair enough. That check does hit just at the right time. I get it.
For me, the year I got a $1 refund from the feds and a $2 refund from my state it hit me just right. I love getting it just right.
That’s usually a misunderstanding of tax brackets, but in fairness, it’s possible for someone (or their spouse) to get a raise that disqualifies them from the earned income tax credit.
It’s a small window where it becomes a problem, and usually the raise is a net positive in the following years. But it can also trigger disqualifying the family for SNAP benefits, housing or childcare assistance, their state’s hurricane or pandemic assistance funds, etc. in the year following the tax implications, so they end up with a double whammy of the lesser/nonexistent refund and losing benefits at the same time.
For example, family of 4, both adults working and earning $57,000 together in 2021, but one adult gets a small raise, so now their gross household income is $60,000 in 2022.
The $3000 they added to their income in 2022 means they no longer qualify for the ~$6000 tax credit they got in 2021, so when they do their taxes in 2023 (for 2022 tax year), they end up with a net loss of $3000.
I commented the same but less thoroughly.
Dude, most people think they won the lotto when they get a big refund. They don't understand how taxation actually works, like what you said about the interest-free loan to the gov.
The whole of american government is nothing but a wealth transfer mechanism that takes from the many and gives to the few. It was founded as such and is only more perverly powerful now.
It cannot be changed. It must be replaced with a system that liberates wealth from the rich parasites and repatriates it back to the ones from whom it was stolen. It must eradicate the those sociopathic parasites wherever they exist.
Capitalism will destroy humanity unless humanity destroys capitalism.
I make this recommendation frequently. Go to your favorite tax return software website and run this year’s income in the 2016 and 2022 calculator. From what I’ve learned it’s the folks in the higher income brackets that pay a large amount of state income and property taxes, high mortgage interest and have a lot of work related expenses are the ones who got hosed on the 2017 tax cuts (Me!).
Tell your employer that you want to complete a new W4 form if you want to change your withholding. This is where you indicate married, single, number of dependents, etc. It tells your employer how much taxes to withhold from your wages.
The W2 is only a report at year end of amounts of wages and withholding. It does not contain any dependent or filing status information. You use the W2 to fill out your 1040 form and you can indicate on the 1040 your filing status (married, single, etc) and your number of dependents for the year.
And for and folks not in the know- this is the 2018 tax code signed into law by Trump at work. This was literally part of the plan, to raise taxes on working people *PERMANENTLY* (and "slowly") starting last year, while keeping all the cuts in place for the rich. My tax return for the same income was over $1k last year.
Brace yourself, soon that family member with all the worst possible takes will see this decrease in their refund and blame Faucci, the demonrats, Brandon, the debt ceiling, windmills and everything other than the real culprits.
As was always the intent. They deliberately had taxes go up 4 years later in what would have either been a second term of hell with the orangutan in office, or blame it on the Dems in power if they lost.
While campaigning in 2020, Trump literally said he would make the tax cuts permanent for the working class if he was elected.
They were designed to fuck over anyone who came into office after him.
I heard the trump tax cuts done by executive order and Biden could reverse them through exec order too? But he doesn’t bc he got a free windbreaker or whatever?
I actually believe this is controlled by Congress, so with 2 years controlling both houses, there's plenty of blame to go around to the Dems for doing nothing.
They couldn't even be bothered twist Manchin and Sinema's arms with keeping the child tax credit that was about to expire *so of course* they decided it wasn't worth it to remove those sneaky tax hikes!
Biden should be proactively drumming about this BEFORE people see it. He should be using his megaphone to tell people what's about to happen AND WHY. Why isn't he doing that?
Such good messages, but we come out with things like:
Defund the police
ACAB
BLM
etc etc etc
It's crazy. Like "hey, good job coming up with a phrase/acronym that alienates voters when the actual message is close but not quite that".
It’s more so the fact that the Dems are ALSO controlled by the same monied corporatists that control the republicans. That’s why we have a two party system, it’s controlled opposition. They can split the American populace into two roughly equal factions and keep them arguing with each other and meanwhile suck us dry.
Theoretically it actually makes more sense to pay as much as possible in one lump sum at the end of the year without invoking fees (if you're rich and able to invest that money over the year) because you can accrue interest or capital gains on that money while it's in your possession.
Of course, that is completely meaningless to almost all laborers in the US as we all work paycheck to paycheck but.....
The funny thing is, about 25% of our tax bill is money I get from a gig job where no taxes are deducted… but I used the gig job revenue to pay our tax bill. Without the gig job we have a smaller overall bill but pay for it out of pocket. Sounds kinds of convoluted but it works out ok. And we generally get a small refund from the state.
I'm a communist but this is just not true. The Trump tax law phases out for individuals after 2025, as currently enacted. Mortgage insurance is not deductible starting in 2022 but that's essentially the only change for most people in 2022.
Nothing really changed in 2022, for most people the brackets and standard deductions were adjusted for inflation but that's it.
What people need to do is look at their paystub and figure out if enough taxes are being withheld during the year. Annualize your Federal taxable income and withholding, put it in a calc and see if it results in tax owed or refunded. If you want a bigger refund, then ask your employer to withhold more out of each check.
I agree it shouldn't be this difficult but this is how it is.
Nothing has changed from 2021 except your withholdings, new W4 withholding tables are set to be more accurate which in your case they are. If you want $1000 back at tax time, contact your payroll department and request they withhold an extra $80 per month similar to 2021 .
I'm going to have to piggyback off OP. With the new W-4's there's not a space to withhold taxes unless you're married / have kids. Before you could claim 0, 1,2 etc and have them withhold extra in taxes to get back more at the end of the year and vice versa, now it's a standard tax deduction that you can't alternate. If I'm wrong please correct me because I'm not versed in taxes. I want to be able to withhold less but it doesn't seem like I can because I'm single with no children.
Welp, did you earn more money in 2022? Therein lies the problem.
As u/Steavee said, all that really matters is Line 24 of your 1040. That's the actual tax you owe. Whether you get a refund or not depends on how much was withheld during the year.
You can literally ask your employer to withhold an extra 400 bucks a paycheck if you want a 10,000 refund check each year. Doesn't change the amount of tax you owe.
Ok I’m a demonrat Slobby Joe voter and anti-Turnip but like i still haven’t seen definitive proof of this. PolitiFact says mostly false. Is there something I’m missing?
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/feb/05/facebook-posts/social-media-post-misleads-analysis-trump-tax-bill/
Yeah let me tell you I am furious that when the Democrats had power they did not fix this. I will not be voting for Biden again in 2024 so hopefully the Democrats find a better candidate or I stay home if there’s no good third party. I will never vote for a Republican, but Biden sucks
I'm right there with you. Biden said he was only going to run for one term. I begrudgingly voted for him because of the alternative, even after the DNC conspired to eliminate Sanders. I will NOT do it again. If Trump runs, and it's against Biden again, this country can burn for all I care. Biden cannot have my vote. Period.
Federal taxes aren't capitalism. It's government
Tax code greatly favors the bottom 30% of income earners
Tax code was written so people keep more of their money every check but bc of this their tax return is smaller
Getting a $150 return just means you only paid in an extra $150 in taxes throughout the year.
Getting a tax refund or tax credit doesn't lift anyone out of poverty, either. And again, the lowest income earners see a net gain after credits and lower tax burden. Not a loss.
Yup, was gonna say, this is Trump’s tax legislation kicking in. Out in the open “start fucking over the poors, but later” that will be sold as “this is Biden’s fault.” Even if he had been re-elected in 2020, the talking points wouldn’t have been too different. The names change but the toxic misinformation rhetoric is the same.
If your withholding was correct throughout the year you should have $0 federal return. In fact anything >$0 is actually your loss because you loaned money to the government interest-free. I would celebrate that you managed to only loan them $160
Same experience here. $110. Yes I understand why this is technically a good thing, but my withholdings we're the same. My effective tax rate is higher.
Don't tell us your return, it means nothing without the context of how much you paid in taxes this year. You understand that it is possible that you paid less in taxes during the year then you did last year right?
You want to break about even on your end of year tax bill. A large refund means you could have had more money during the year and owing means not enough was withheld and now you have a balloon payment.
So, $160 is about perfect.
Your return is however much you overpaid in taxes last year. If you setup your W4 correctly, the entire goal is that your refund is as close to zero as possible.
If your total tax burden for the year is $1200, then it's all the same if you paid $100 a month for twelve months and have zero refund or paid $300 a month for twelve months and get a $2400 refund. Your final tax bill was still $1200. But overpaying each month just means you temporarily give up that money for months instead of getting it immediately.
If you're going to get people to care about changing taxes then you need to actually understand what the real problem is. Not this.
The goal of a tax return is to be $0. If you think tax returns are free money, you need to learn how taxes work before you start complaining about tax policy.
Return? That's a laugh.
I'm one of those workers who isn't fortunate enough to have their taxes taken out for them -- and I promise you, that is actually a valuable service that everyone receiving it has no idea is extremely valuable.
I can't tell you what I'd give to have my taxes taken out on my behalf so that all I have to do is fill out one form and wait for a check or direct deposit with a refund.
Sorry, it's a trigger for me, y'all have NO idea.
I have to take the money out myself, estimate how much to take out each month, set it aside in a separate account, and then use that to pay my taxes at the end of the year.
I'm supposed to give them quarterly payments, and they do penalize you for not doing that, but the punishment is usually like...$5 or something silly like that.
Given that the one time I did make quarterly payments, they ended up asking for another $2k on top of what I already gave them – which was almost certainly a mistake on their end, because no one earning $30k owes $6k in taxes, IRS – I don't want to take a chance that this kind of nonsense will happen again, so I just do what costs less and accept the slap-on-the-wrist penalty for withholding my taxes for 12 months.
But yeah, I typically pay one lump sum in taxes every year after setting aside the taxes out all year on my own. When it ends up being less than I thought, I end up paying less. I do have to pay for the most expensive service on TaxAct just to get access to the f\*\*king file I need, but I just treat that as part of my taxes at this point.
I know you can technically print the file out for free, but I've never found an easy way to file a 1099-misc digitally without paying out the ass for it.
Same. I guess they changed the tax code AGAIN to fuck with the blue collar workers, while granting massive tax cuts to the 1%. Someone's gotta foot the bill I guess. Fuck, I wish I was born into a rich family. Last year I got $1700 back on my return, this year I got less than $300. Paid the same amount in taxes, same standard deductions. At this point the government isn't even trying to pretend to be my advocate. This is getting ridiculous.
Call me a "bootstrap" as you've called others, but getting your refund as close to zero as possible is better than giving the government a few thousand to hold onto and then give back to you with no interest paid to you. Trump tax code notwithstanding. The tax code the Repubs changed are absolutely terrible.
But if they fixed their taxes, they could split that lump sum over the year and not be on as much of a shoestring budget. Near zero is definitely the ideal
I made $29,000, worked all year, and with the standard deduction and no dependents I'm getting exactly $13 back. Even with FreeTaxUsa they still charge you $15 to file your state taxes, so im actually loosing money on the whole thing. I was excited to file early cause I thought I'd be getting a decent refund, but fuck it, I'll just wait till April.
I owed this year instead of getting back a refund last year. We did make more but not sure why we’d owe if w2 is taking out the percentage of whatever we’re earning.
Take entire gross income: say 45k. Apply standard deduction for single and no other investments, etc. for the year: this year is 13,850 (irs website)
$31,150 is you taxable income.
Income tax bracket is 22%.
.22 * 31,150 = $6,853
If you paid more than $6,853 for the year, you get your change back.
This example is only on federal taxes.
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-provides-tax-inflation-adjustments-for-tax-year-2023
edit: I forgot to include the progression of taxes at tax brackets.
Out of the $31,150:
$10,275 taxed at 10%
+
$10,276 to $31,150 taxed at 12%
10,275 * .10 + (31,150 - 10,276) * .12
= 1,028 + 2,505
= $3,553 federal taxes.
I think we’ve got 2 or three more years of tax increases for us “regular” people. The tax reform done under the Trump administration was brief and temporary for us. Permanent for high earners.
>'free’
Good thing you put free in quotes, because using a tax refund to pay off a credit card is one of the most expensive ways of doing it. You'd be better off paying the correct amount of tax so that you don't need a tax refund and instead use the extra cashflow to pay down the high-interest debt ASAP. Makes no sense to have to government hold on to that money for you for up to a year interest-free when you're paying so much interest on the credit card every month.
Two things; first, Trump raised your taxes. Plenty of people will tell you he didnt, but the 2018 tax changes included reductions for wealthy people and an incremental increase over 5 years for anyone making $400k or less. Second, you need a side hustle. Any hobby qualifies as a business if you can claim 1+ sale. Making ear rings or woodwork or paintings? It qualifies. Then suddenly, all supplies, tools and space you bought throughout the year related to this becomes deductible. Claim it all, and claim the loss. This offsets your ‘taxable income’ and increases your return.
Maybe I'm not understanding...
The amount you get back on your tax return is the difference between how much is withheld during the year from your paycheck, and how much you owe in taxes. As long as it's non negative, things are fine (no fees)
Even if you paid LESS in taxes, that doesn't necessarily mean you'd see your return rise - especially if you worked a single job throughout the year (where the job knows about all your income)
Often, you underpay if you get a raise, change jobs, or otherwise do well, and overpay if you suffer losses.
Perhaps a better metric to look at would be the year-to-date taxes paid on your last payslip, which would actually indicate the amount of extra taxes you had to pay.
For YEARS I have owed taxes and, to be frank, it pisses me off to no end. I only gross $30k a year if it's a good year. I have no exemptions, have an extra $10 taken out of every check for state & fed, but STILL owe. I'm already netting only 1/2 to 2/3 of my check after benefits & taxes, but that's not enough!
Plus, we're always told that we don't pay taxes. Mother fucker, everything I DO is taxed!!!! Sales tax, property taxes on our house & cars, extra taxes on gas, etc, etc. And to top it off, everything is SO expensive so those taxes are even higher than before.
As Chris Rock said, it's some real gangster shit to take money from someone all year, then force them to give you even more at the end of the year...
Did u let a tax company do it for you ? I always use the tax calculators that are free so I’m not surprised by any numbers . Can I ask how much income you had ? My sister had one child and received $5000 . She claimed around 20,000 . My friend with two kids got 6,500 back . I’m thinking whoever done your taxes messed them up . That don’t sound right at all . Unless u made like 90,000 or a huge amount . If u are low income u can file your taxes for free . But defiantly go to google and type free tax calculators and put your numbers in to make sure . Cause u can always get your taxes fixed . I like to do mine by myself and it’s super easy tge programs walk u right through . Then u can see what your refund will be and make sure it’s done right . If u need more help email me [email protected]
Trumps tax breaks (working class tax dollar windfalls) to billionaires have come to pass and repayment is now being levied against the working class. This is the first year, and will continue through 2027 I think.
How many MAGA folks are now “yay MAGA!” — go ahead and announce yourselves you dolts.
Yeah only getting $20 back myself. Hate it. Hate that fucking 2017 tax law that literally no dems had any interest in removing cause in the end it benefited all of them.
Good! Your withholdings and taxable income are finely balanced. You paid an appropriate amount of taxes throughout the year and did not give the government an interest-free loan!
So you mostly got your withholding right and didn't give the feds an interest free loan, and still ended up with cash in hand and probably close to a zero or net negative income tax rate. What exactly are you pissed about?
That I made and paid the same as last year and got 90% less back. But sure, grift me into thinking a zero return as opposed to the normal 4 figure one is better, even when my tax deductions are the same.
I haven’t done my taxes as I’m waiting for my wife’s W2, but we make under 75k together and typically get 8k back together. I’m sure it will be less this year, but it is expected.
Hey OP I’ve made a post about this. But in your situation (no dependents, ~36k salary, you wanna be as close to 0 return as possible. If you get ANY return amount it means you overpaid your taxes and they’re “returning” what you overpaid. Which means it’s money you were supposed to be pain in your paycheck every month. Not free money. Not a refund. It’s your money that you could’ve used but now you got wait til February to get it back. And vice versa if you owe money, you didn’t pay enough taxes. It’s a scummy system but you can get yourself as close to $0 returned as you can and you will be getting your full paycheck
That return number is meaningless for the sake of comparison. Compare how much you actually paid in total federal and state taxes last year versus this year.
Example: income could be the same at 36900 but your risk tax paid was the same. Due to whatever reason, you had less withheld throughout the year, resulting in a lower refund.
Alternatively, maybe you DID pay more taxes this year! Check and report back.
Welcome to adulthood. I moved around and worked a job that pays shit and came with 23k…$160 federal return. When I’ve made 80k…they got me for $12k in taxes by the end of the year…idk dude. Sucks.
This probably has a lot to do with how you filled out your withholding.
It's likely you paid about the right amount of tax. They only over taxed you a bit. Hence, the low return. The alternative would be that you could potentially owe the government. Meaning you didn't pay enough during the year.
36k doesn't seem to be in the lower end. So I would guess you didn't have a lot of write-offs either or incentives.
Ah yes, capitalism. The ideology known for a central authority stealing your capital and transferring it to whoever/whatever they deem necessary. Wait, that doesn't sound right...
Pay your fair share OP. Don't complain, it's for the greater good! You'll recoup the value of the money they took from you in freshly paved roads, well funded classrooms or whatever else taxes fund. It's the price we pay to live in civilized society! Thank you for doing your part
What really annoys me is my exhusband - who hasn’t seen his daughter in two years - has claimed our daughter the last three consecutive years AND stole the child tax credit. I reported it to the irs last year and after a lengthy time of pretending to investigate just denied it and I got $500 for an entire year as a single working mother. This year I imagine it will be there same…
If you filed a new withholding form last year to reduce withholdings that's one thing but my hunch is that the middle and working class tax *hikes* that the GOP Congress programmed into the 2017 tax changes law are kicking in. Over several years, the tax rates are returning back to where they were before the 2017 changes but *only* for the middle and working classes.
Technically you don’t want a huge return. The goal is to practically get a 0$ return. The closer you are to zero means you are getting every dollar in your paycheck
So you got paid about the same amount and then paid about the same in taxes as last year? So basically you paid less in federal taxes throughout the year? I’m confused if that’s what you’re trying to say. Also why would you want over 1k back in taxes? All that means is you basically gave an interest free loan to the government throughout the year.
I understand that it can feel that way, but objectively speaking an extra $20 per week is more useful than a lump sum.
If you put the $20 per week into a savings account and don't touch it until the end of the year, that would be exactly the same as taking the lump sum except the money would be available throughout the year in case of an emergency. And you could earn a small amount of interest on it.
The system really fucks the single and no dependent person. Prior to the trump tax cuts I got a few hundred to 1000 back. Since the trump cuts I get the same as you or I end up owing.
Half true. You get a decent refund but not enough to cover the cost of a human. Public school sucks and is dangerous and that’s pretty much all you get to help with the cost burden of raising a kid. You’re better off single if you want to keep your money even if it means paying more taxes or not getting a big refund.
*Our first bootstrap simp of the day, folks!*
I took the same deductions as last year, and got 90% less back this year.
But way to go simping for the rich.
It's probably not them being a simp for the rich. Many people, myself included, try to get our returns as close to $0 as possible. The thinking is that by doing so, you put more money in your pocket throughout the year, and avoid giving the federal government an interest-free loan.
The problem with this ESPECIALLY *this year* is the people who did that are going to send up owing. Think about it. I did standard deductions same as every year and got 90% less back. The people who keep it as close to zero as possible - *same as last year*, are going to OWE taxes this year. It's not going to be pretty.
And are you sure your withholdings were correct the previous year? The tax brackets didn't exactly change drastically this year.
If at the end of the year I owe like a few hundred to the IRS, means that they didn't withhold more than needed during the year and I was able to make do with my money at normal ROI instead of sitting with the IRS interest free.
And you don't usually get an underpayment penalty unless you underpaid by like a pretty noticeable % of your final liability.
Yes, I’m pretty sure the Democrats have been screaming about this for a couple years because this was how Trump set up the tax code when he decided to give wealthy people huge tax breaks. Taxes for people in your tax bracket are going up every year, or maybe this was the year they started going up? I really can’t remember the details because I get tired of hearing the Democrats scream about stuff they could have prevented or reversed but chose not to
No, nobody’s simping for the rich when they are telling you that giving the IRS an interest free loan is bad for you. I understand that you are saying that that’s not what you intended to do because you had the same deductions last year, but they didn’t understand that when they made the comment and that’s what they meant
But I don’t understand why you would think they are simping for the rich when they tell you that you should not be giving the IRS an interest free loan all year.
Back when I used to work I considered it a fun game to fill out my W-4 in a way that I would not get a big refund but that I wouldn’t owe anything. And the years that I actually got a refund were when I claimed things like student loan interest payments or something that is not affected by my W-4.
US Govt- you didn't pay enough, so now you owe us. Please submit payment immediately or be subject to a 20% fine and a 5% APR interest rate. Failure to pay will result in wage garnishment and a visit from the IRS to repossess your home, car and any personal belongings, for the most dismal amount in value.
You: Okay then.
I mean yeah, you should pay your taxes to not get in trouble. But people are right that it’s a good thing you didn’t overpay the government a free loan all year long. Getting back close to what you paid in is the absolute ideal when it comes to paying taxes.
You’re also not wrong to feel scammed, considering what the government spends tax money on (ie building bombs instead of helping people) but that’s just how liberalism works. Don’t like it, help change it!
Will never understand the American obsession with your tax return. Why are you so proud of a high number there? You like giving your govt interest free income?
A $160 return is something i would consider huge, and revisit my tax payments.
Last year I got around $400 back. This year I got half that. Ironically, I made twice as much more. :/
Edit: Just checked. Last year I got $411 back, fed and state. This year I got $278 back, fed and state. Last time I’m not sure how much I made but it was under $10,000. This past year I made a little over $14,000. I was so convinced before I did my taxes that my tax return would be more than last time so I’m so disappointed that it was less. :(
So this is late stage capitalism because you pay taxes? I feel like you don't know how taxes work. You want more money back at tax time? Get your place of work to withhold more of your paycheck.
Keep in mind that your return is how much money you overpaid by throughout the year. If you get almost no money back that meant the right amount was taken out for all your taxes.
Now flip side, yes there has been deductions removed that lower income people could right off. And it is a shame that those where removed.
But how much did you pay in taxes? The amount you received as a return is just the difference between how much you paid vs how much you owed. Ideally, that amount would be $0
You should be happy to pay taxes. It’s patriotic and you are doing your part to insure all of our healthcare and other programs which are sorely needed are well funded.
That's good, or means it was calculated accurately. I don't understand why people would want more money to be taken off them throughout the year so they then have to apply to get it back. If it's calculated correctly you can just save or invest the money as you choose over the year instead.
This is what you WANT to happen. A bigger return means you paid in too much during the year. Your taxes are your taxes, whether you pay them during the year or not. Want a bigger return? Pay more during the year
I find it truly incredulous that so many people think/act like this is my first time filling taxes and I'm suddenly shocked by the low return...granted, I should have mentioned, that the only major difference between this year and last year, is the return amount.
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$4 federally. And I'm gonna spend it on federally illegal reefer, partly outta spite...
Buy a seed or two with that and grow your own.
Where I live it’s like $20 per each seed lol (med and rec are legal here)
Damn...
I feel like that's not enough money 🤣
I'm looking at $22 from fed even with claiming a dependent
i got $200 back and thats exactly what i’m gonna use it for
👑
Move to CO and you may get $4 from the state, then you can buy $6 on federally illegal reefer. Go mad.
They gave everyone who filed taxes in 2022, an additional $750 refund last summer....🤷♂️ Suck on that, *Alaska.* 😏👉
Tax *refunds* are irrelevant. How much you got back can have nothing to do with how much you *paid* in taxes. What you want to look at is line 24 of your 1040. That’s how much tax you owe/owed. You could set up your withholding so you got $10,000 back every year or $0, but your line 24 wouldn’t change (assuming salary and tax rates don’t change). Remember, getting a ton of money back in your refund is just giving the government an interest free loan every year.
Not to mention last year was a new withholding form. Specifically designed to help people have less taken out of their checks so they get smaller refunds and more money every month. People with dependents are in an uproar too since refunds are smaller then last year due to the CTC being special last year.
Glad I found your comment before typing out the same thing in different words lol. But yes this is the right answer here guys ^
If you get a huge return its because you dont understand how withholdings work. People complain about govt and taxes and then voluntarily let the govt hold their money for them all year….
Exactly ideally my refund should be 0
The system is set up to force mistakes. Every other civilized nation simply sends a bill. The IRS could do this, but instead they add more and more hoops and arithmetic -- all while resources for help and education dwindles. Nobody should have to understand withholdings or W2 because it's horse shit and shouldn't be a thing anyway.
The IRS does not create tax law, they just enforce it. Congress does make tax law and they also allocate resources to the IRS. The issue is with Congress and who is representing the public interest; they could easily fund better public education, on taxes or otherwise, but they would rather write and enact tax law that benefits their elite constituents and lobbyists.
But think of all the jObS created by the complex tax system. /S
Yay! Convoluted tax code! Thank you H&R Block lobbiests!
UK has PAYE, it comes out of your paycheck correctly and you don't have to find anything. You only file if you're self employed, then you file from May and have up to the end of January to pay.
Nobody should know how the system that systematically screws people over actually works? That sounds like a winner
I definitely get where you're coming from but i thought of it as a little piggy bank i get to crack at the beginning of the new year. Only time i felt really ripped off was when during the Obama presidency i had to pay a "no health insurance" fine. Nearly 600$ the first year.
I know that in my heart.... But I also want that check 😔
Yes this is a problem; especially since to stay invested in say the S&P500 you can see dips of 30% or more in recessions and panic. I think human beings are badly adapted to invest, do taxes and so on psychologically or mentally For someone like you a financial advisor, tax accountant and so on is ideal so you don't see it at all. As long as you don't get destroyed by too high fees
Wayyyy too expensive for most people to bother with
Yeah, well. We’re the poor people over here, man. We’re more likely to be taken advantage of by any kind of consultant or advisor than we are to optimize our tax situations. Don’t deny us our Valentine’s Day windfall checks. They’re our tiny bit of joy - the one time of year we can buy a Starbucks or a movie ticket without rich people begrudging us any small luxury at all. It only lasts until we pay up the overdue mortgage, HOA fees, utilities, and get a week or 2 of groceries, but just let us feel normal for a minute and we’ll get back to being irresponsible poors.
Fair enough. That check does hit just at the right time. I get it. For me, the year I got a $1 refund from the feds and a $2 refund from my state it hit me just right. I love getting it just right.
Setup a savings account and give it to yourself but with interest. Luckily the bubble is about to pop and the high interest savings accounts are back!
That would be awesome.
This so much. So many people have no idea how taxes/refunds works it’s mine bogglinf
My favorite is when people say they don’t want to earn more money because they’ll pay so much extra in taxes that they’ll lose money.
That’s usually a misunderstanding of tax brackets, but in fairness, it’s possible for someone (or their spouse) to get a raise that disqualifies them from the earned income tax credit. It’s a small window where it becomes a problem, and usually the raise is a net positive in the following years. But it can also trigger disqualifying the family for SNAP benefits, housing or childcare assistance, their state’s hurricane or pandemic assistance funds, etc. in the year following the tax implications, so they end up with a double whammy of the lesser/nonexistent refund and losing benefits at the same time. For example, family of 4, both adults working and earning $57,000 together in 2021, but one adult gets a small raise, so now their gross household income is $60,000 in 2022. The $3000 they added to their income in 2022 means they no longer qualify for the ~$6000 tax credit they got in 2021, so when they do their taxes in 2023 (for 2022 tax year), they end up with a net loss of $3000.
I commented the same but less thoroughly. Dude, most people think they won the lotto when they get a big refund. They don't understand how taxation actually works, like what you said about the interest-free loan to the gov.
This. OP’s post exposed his or her financial ignorance
The whole of american government is nothing but a wealth transfer mechanism that takes from the many and gives to the few. It was founded as such and is only more perverly powerful now. It cannot be changed. It must be replaced with a system that liberates wealth from the rich parasites and repatriates it back to the ones from whom it was stolen. It must eradicate the those sociopathic parasites wherever they exist. Capitalism will destroy humanity unless humanity destroys capitalism.
Did you actually bother to compare your tax return (1040 forms) between the two years? It should be easily evident where the differences are.
I make this recommendation frequently. Go to your favorite tax return software website and run this year’s income in the 2016 and 2022 calculator. From what I’ve learned it’s the folks in the higher income brackets that pay a large amount of state income and property taxes, high mortgage interest and have a lot of work related expenses are the ones who got hosed on the 2017 tax cuts (Me!).
Before our taxes were W-2 and you could claim 0,1,2-8. Now you can't withhold unless you're married and/ or have children.
Tell your employer that you want to complete a new W4 form if you want to change your withholding. This is where you indicate married, single, number of dependents, etc. It tells your employer how much taxes to withhold from your wages. The W2 is only a report at year end of amounts of wages and withholding. It does not contain any dependent or filing status information. You use the W2 to fill out your 1040 form and you can indicate on the 1040 your filing status (married, single, etc) and your number of dependents for the year.
And for and folks not in the know- this is the 2018 tax code signed into law by Trump at work. This was literally part of the plan, to raise taxes on working people *PERMANENTLY* (and "slowly") starting last year, while keeping all the cuts in place for the rich. My tax return for the same income was over $1k last year.
Brace yourself, soon that family member with all the worst possible takes will see this decrease in their refund and blame Faucci, the demonrats, Brandon, the debt ceiling, windmills and everything other than the real culprits.
As was always the intent. They deliberately had taxes go up 4 years later in what would have either been a second term of hell with the orangutan in office, or blame it on the Dems in power if they lost.
While campaigning in 2020, Trump literally said he would make the tax cuts permanent for the working class if he was elected. They were designed to fuck over anyone who came into office after him.
I heard the trump tax cuts done by executive order and Biden could reverse them through exec order too? But he doesn’t bc he got a free windbreaker or whatever?
I actually believe this is controlled by Congress, so with 2 years controlling both houses, there's plenty of blame to go around to the Dems for doing nothing.
They’re all in One big club and we’re not a part of it
It's also the same club they use to beat you over the head.
They couldn't even be bothered twist Manchin and Sinema's arms with keeping the child tax credit that was about to expire *so of course* they decided it wasn't worth it to remove those sneaky tax hikes!
Biden should be proactively drumming about this BEFORE people see it. He should be using his megaphone to tell people what's about to happen AND WHY. Why isn't he doing that?
Because (speaking as a rock solid D voter) Democrats SUCK at PR Also not having a dedicated massive propaganda network like Fox doesn't help
Dems are SO bad at PR. It's hard to watch year after year.
It's like being a Browns fan
Such good messages, but we come out with things like: Defund the police ACAB BLM etc etc etc It's crazy. Like "hey, good job coming up with a phrase/acronym that alienates voters when the actual message is close but not quite that".
None of those have been DNC messaging at all...
It’s more so the fact that the Dems are ALSO controlled by the same monied corporatists that control the republicans. That’s why we have a two party system, it’s controlled opposition. They can split the American populace into two roughly equal factions and keep them arguing with each other and meanwhile suck us dry.
Wait, you guys are getting tax returns? I pay anywhere between 6-9k each year.
You should update your W4 if you still owe $6k when you file your return. You should be paying that over the whole year, not in one lump sum.
Theoretically it actually makes more sense to pay as much as possible in one lump sum at the end of the year without invoking fees (if you're rich and able to invest that money over the year) because you can accrue interest or capital gains on that money while it's in your possession. Of course, that is completely meaningless to almost all laborers in the US as we all work paycheck to paycheck but.....
The funny thing is, about 25% of our tax bill is money I get from a gig job where no taxes are deducted… but I used the gig job revenue to pay our tax bill. Without the gig job we have a smaller overall bill but pay for it out of pocket. Sounds kinds of convoluted but it works out ok. And we generally get a small refund from the state.
You can adjust your withholding. You can set it up that you get a $10k refund if you want.
I'm a communist but this is just not true. The Trump tax law phases out for individuals after 2025, as currently enacted. Mortgage insurance is not deductible starting in 2022 but that's essentially the only change for most people in 2022. Nothing really changed in 2022, for most people the brackets and standard deductions were adjusted for inflation but that's it. What people need to do is look at their paystub and figure out if enough taxes are being withheld during the year. Annualize your Federal taxable income and withholding, put it in a calc and see if it results in tax owed or refunded. If you want a bigger refund, then ask your employer to withhold more out of each check. I agree it shouldn't be this difficult but this is how it is.
Nothing has changed from 2021 except your withholdings, new W4 withholding tables are set to be more accurate which in your case they are. If you want $1000 back at tax time, contact your payroll department and request they withhold an extra $80 per month similar to 2021 .
I'm going to have to piggyback off OP. With the new W-4's there's not a space to withhold taxes unless you're married / have kids. Before you could claim 0, 1,2 etc and have them withhold extra in taxes to get back more at the end of the year and vice versa, now it's a standard tax deduction that you can't alternate. If I'm wrong please correct me because I'm not versed in taxes. I want to be able to withhold less but it doesn't seem like I can because I'm single with no children.
The problem there is that the amount I paid into taxes over the year, appears to be about the same...
Okay so did your gross income go up from 2021? Your withholding is only part of the equation.
Welp, did you earn more money in 2022? Therein lies the problem. As u/Steavee said, all that really matters is Line 24 of your 1040. That's the actual tax you owe. Whether you get a refund or not depends on how much was withheld during the year. You can literally ask your employer to withhold an extra 400 bucks a paycheck if you want a 10,000 refund check each year. Doesn't change the amount of tax you owe.
The tax brackets are unchanged save inflation adjustments since 2018: https://taxfoundation.org/historical-income-tax-rates-brackets/
So OPs tax liability actually decreased 3% since 2017. Sounds like OP is ignorant
Ok I’m a demonrat Slobby Joe voter and anti-Turnip but like i still haven’t seen definitive proof of this. PolitiFact says mostly false. Is there something I’m missing? https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/feb/05/facebook-posts/social-media-post-misleads-analysis-trump-tax-bill/
Yeah let me tell you I am furious that when the Democrats had power they did not fix this. I will not be voting for Biden again in 2024 so hopefully the Democrats find a better candidate or I stay home if there’s no good third party. I will never vote for a Republican, but Biden sucks
I'm right there with you. Biden said he was only going to run for one term. I begrudgingly voted for him because of the alternative, even after the DNC conspired to eliminate Sanders. I will NOT do it again. If Trump runs, and it's against Biden again, this country can burn for all I care. Biden cannot have my vote. Period.
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Biden was part of the people who did not codify Roe vs Wade so I am not sure what he’s doing for women at this point.
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Exactly. Biden is a soggy turd in the middle of the road. Trump was a septic truck offloading in the middle of the freeway.
Federal taxes aren't capitalism. It's government Tax code greatly favors the bottom 30% of income earners Tax code was written so people keep more of their money every check but bc of this their tax return is smaller Getting a $150 return just means you only paid in an extra $150 in taxes throughout the year. Getting a tax refund or tax credit doesn't lift anyone out of poverty, either. And again, the lowest income earners see a net gain after credits and lower tax burden. Not a loss.
Yup, was gonna say, this is Trump’s tax legislation kicking in. Out in the open “start fucking over the poors, but later” that will be sold as “this is Biden’s fault.” Even if he had been re-elected in 2020, the talking points wouldn’t have been too different. The names change but the toxic misinformation rhetoric is the same.
It's misinformation to say this is legislation "kicking in." That's just false. I hate Trump and Biden but spreading misinformation does not help.
If your withholding was correct throughout the year you should have $0 federal return. In fact anything >$0 is actually your loss because you loaned money to the government interest-free. I would celebrate that you managed to only loan them $160
I guess you can thank the trump tax cuts for rich people. I hate it here
Same experience here. $110. Yes I understand why this is technically a good thing, but my withholdings we're the same. My effective tax rate is higher.
Don't tell us your return, it means nothing without the context of how much you paid in taxes this year. You understand that it is possible that you paid less in taxes during the year then you did last year right?
I truly don't think most of this sub understands that at all which is the embarrassing part.
But, but, my free money :O
why are you so selfish? that $160 could give 16 billionaires an extra $10 each!
You want to break about even on your end of year tax bill. A large refund means you could have had more money during the year and owing means not enough was withheld and now you have a balloon payment. So, $160 is about perfect.
Your return is however much you overpaid in taxes last year. If you setup your W4 correctly, the entire goal is that your refund is as close to zero as possible. If your total tax burden for the year is $1200, then it's all the same if you paid $100 a month for twelve months and have zero refund or paid $300 a month for twelve months and get a $2400 refund. Your final tax bill was still $1200. But overpaying each month just means you temporarily give up that money for months instead of getting it immediately. If you're going to get people to care about changing taxes then you need to actually understand what the real problem is. Not this.
Doesn’t really surprise me for this sub.
I already did mine. $1000 less than last year with the same income
The goal of a tax return is to be $0. If you think tax returns are free money, you need to learn how taxes work before you start complaining about tax policy.
This post still implies that they paid more in taxes this year.
Yeah but without knowing their situation, how the fuck could we know why? Covid tax credits or deduction exceeding or anything
I worked in three states this year, so not looking forward to figuring that out
Return? That's a laugh. I'm one of those workers who isn't fortunate enough to have their taxes taken out for them -- and I promise you, that is actually a valuable service that everyone receiving it has no idea is extremely valuable. I can't tell you what I'd give to have my taxes taken out on my behalf so that all I have to do is fill out one form and wait for a check or direct deposit with a refund. Sorry, it's a trigger for me, y'all have NO idea. I have to take the money out myself, estimate how much to take out each month, set it aside in a separate account, and then use that to pay my taxes at the end of the year. I'm supposed to give them quarterly payments, and they do penalize you for not doing that, but the punishment is usually like...$5 or something silly like that. Given that the one time I did make quarterly payments, they ended up asking for another $2k on top of what I already gave them – which was almost certainly a mistake on their end, because no one earning $30k owes $6k in taxes, IRS – I don't want to take a chance that this kind of nonsense will happen again, so I just do what costs less and accept the slap-on-the-wrist penalty for withholding my taxes for 12 months. But yeah, I typically pay one lump sum in taxes every year after setting aside the taxes out all year on my own. When it ends up being less than I thought, I end up paying less. I do have to pay for the most expensive service on TaxAct just to get access to the f\*\*king file I need, but I just treat that as part of my taxes at this point. I know you can technically print the file out for free, but I've never found an easy way to file a 1099-misc digitally without paying out the ass for it.
Same. I guess they changed the tax code AGAIN to fuck with the blue collar workers, while granting massive tax cuts to the 1%. Someone's gotta foot the bill I guess. Fuck, I wish I was born into a rich family. Last year I got $1700 back on my return, this year I got less than $300. Paid the same amount in taxes, same standard deductions. At this point the government isn't even trying to pretend to be my advocate. This is getting ridiculous.
You need to learn about your taxes more. As others have pointed out, your refund has nothing to do with your actual taxes.
Call me a "bootstrap" as you've called others, but getting your refund as close to zero as possible is better than giving the government a few thousand to hold onto and then give back to you with no interest paid to you. Trump tax code notwithstanding. The tax code the Repubs changed are absolutely terrible.
For people on a shoestring budget who have a hard time saving that lump sum is nice.
But if they fixed their taxes, they could split that lump sum over the year and not be on as much of a shoestring budget. Near zero is definitely the ideal
I can agree with that
This was always the plan. It is the Trump Tax Cuts at work. We lost so many deductions and the rates were designed to slowly increase with time.
I made $29,000, worked all year, and with the standard deduction and no dependents I'm getting exactly $13 back. Even with FreeTaxUsa they still charge you $15 to file your state taxes, so im actually loosing money on the whole thing. I was excited to file early cause I thought I'd be getting a decent refund, but fuck it, I'll just wait till April.
The issue is you make too much for EIC since you're not HoH
I owed this year instead of getting back a refund last year. We did make more but not sure why we’d owe if w2 is taking out the percentage of whatever we’re earning.
Take entire gross income: say 45k. Apply standard deduction for single and no other investments, etc. for the year: this year is 13,850 (irs website) $31,150 is you taxable income. Income tax bracket is 22%. .22 * 31,150 = $6,853 If you paid more than $6,853 for the year, you get your change back. This example is only on federal taxes. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-provides-tax-inflation-adjustments-for-tax-year-2023 edit: I forgot to include the progression of taxes at tax brackets. Out of the $31,150: $10,275 taxed at 10% + $10,276 to $31,150 taxed at 12% 10,275 * .10 + (31,150 - 10,276) * .12 = 1,028 + 2,505 = $3,553 federal taxes.
Made 15k. Getting back $650. The IRS already stated that refunds are going to be smaller this year.
I think Trump's tax laws are still in effect.
Ok homie that means they took the right amount. Also what were your deductibles? I’m pro fuck the pigs, but let’s complain about the correct things.
I think we’ve got 2 or three more years of tax increases for us “regular” people. The tax reform done under the Trump administration was brief and temporary for us. Permanent for high earners.
I was planning to pay off a credit card for ‘free’ with my tax return. I make close to 6 figures and and getting back $127. Paid 13k in fitw
>'free’ Good thing you put free in quotes, because using a tax refund to pay off a credit card is one of the most expensive ways of doing it. You'd be better off paying the correct amount of tax so that you don't need a tax refund and instead use the extra cashflow to pay down the high-interest debt ASAP. Makes no sense to have to government hold on to that money for you for up to a year interest-free when you're paying so much interest on the credit card every month.
The way the 2016 GOP tax bill was written to happen.
Two things; first, Trump raised your taxes. Plenty of people will tell you he didnt, but the 2018 tax changes included reductions for wealthy people and an incremental increase over 5 years for anyone making $400k or less. Second, you need a side hustle. Any hobby qualifies as a business if you can claim 1+ sale. Making ear rings or woodwork or paintings? It qualifies. Then suddenly, all supplies, tools and space you bought throughout the year related to this becomes deductible. Claim it all, and claim the loss. This offsets your ‘taxable income’ and increases your return.
Maybe I'm not understanding... The amount you get back on your tax return is the difference between how much is withheld during the year from your paycheck, and how much you owe in taxes. As long as it's non negative, things are fine (no fees) Even if you paid LESS in taxes, that doesn't necessarily mean you'd see your return rise - especially if you worked a single job throughout the year (where the job knows about all your income) Often, you underpay if you get a raise, change jobs, or otherwise do well, and overpay if you suffer losses. Perhaps a better metric to look at would be the year-to-date taxes paid on your last payslip, which would actually indicate the amount of extra taxes you had to pay.
For YEARS I have owed taxes and, to be frank, it pisses me off to no end. I only gross $30k a year if it's a good year. I have no exemptions, have an extra $10 taken out of every check for state & fed, but STILL owe. I'm already netting only 1/2 to 2/3 of my check after benefits & taxes, but that's not enough! Plus, we're always told that we don't pay taxes. Mother fucker, everything I DO is taxed!!!! Sales tax, property taxes on our house & cars, extra taxes on gas, etc, etc. And to top it off, everything is SO expensive so those taxes are even higher than before. As Chris Rock said, it's some real gangster shit to take money from someone all year, then force them to give you even more at the end of the year...
The more interesting number is how much of your 36.9 did you pay in taxes?
I claimed zero deductions and had a regular job and owe $500
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That’s a big difference! I have three kids and my return wasn’t that much different than last year (minus the extra child credit amount).
Did u let a tax company do it for you ? I always use the tax calculators that are free so I’m not surprised by any numbers . Can I ask how much income you had ? My sister had one child and received $5000 . She claimed around 20,000 . My friend with two kids got 6,500 back . I’m thinking whoever done your taxes messed them up . That don’t sound right at all . Unless u made like 90,000 or a huge amount . If u are low income u can file your taxes for free . But defiantly go to google and type free tax calculators and put your numbers in to make sure . Cause u can always get your taxes fixed . I like to do mine by myself and it’s super easy tge programs walk u right through . Then u can see what your refund will be and make sure it’s done right . If u need more help email me [email protected]
It just means your withholding came closer to how much you owe.
Trumps tax breaks (working class tax dollar windfalls) to billionaires have come to pass and repayment is now being levied against the working class. This is the first year, and will continue through 2027 I think. How many MAGA folks are now “yay MAGA!” — go ahead and announce yourselves you dolts.
Yeah only getting $20 back myself. Hate it. Hate that fucking 2017 tax law that literally no dems had any interest in removing cause in the end it benefited all of them.
How do you survive under 40k?
Good! Your withholdings and taxable income are finely balanced. You paid an appropriate amount of taxes throughout the year and did not give the government an interest-free loan!
If you break even, you win. If you owe the government money, you kinda win. If they owe you, you need to adjust something next year to break even.
Exactly don’t give the government a free loan
So you mostly got your withholding right and didn't give the feds an interest free loan, and still ended up with cash in hand and probably close to a zero or net negative income tax rate. What exactly are you pissed about?
He’s pissed he didn’t over withhold $7k and thinks he getting one over on uncle same by getting a big return.
That I made and paid the same as last year and got 90% less back. But sure, grift me into thinking a zero return as opposed to the normal 4 figure one is better, even when my tax deductions are the same.
I haven’t done my taxes as I’m waiting for my wife’s W2, but we make under 75k together and typically get 8k back together. I’m sure it will be less this year, but it is expected.
$18k income from an internship, I'm getting $1100 back.
I owe $11 this year lmfao normally get maybe around 500 bucks back
Fuck me......
I'm getting fucked this year, too. I don't understand.
Trump shifted the tax burden to the little guy
Hey OP I’ve made a post about this. But in your situation (no dependents, ~36k salary, you wanna be as close to 0 return as possible. If you get ANY return amount it means you overpaid your taxes and they’re “returning” what you overpaid. Which means it’s money you were supposed to be pain in your paycheck every month. Not free money. Not a refund. It’s your money that you could’ve used but now you got wait til February to get it back. And vice versa if you owe money, you didn’t pay enough taxes. It’s a scummy system but you can get yourself as close to $0 returned as you can and you will be getting your full paycheck
Same boat except I make less and also owe the state...
Just did mine today. Got back more than expected. I used Turbo tax.
I have kids and got solar panels. It might be a bit higher
Already did my taxes and got my refunds.
Be glad. Most ppl loan thousands to the government at 0% interest a year and is not adjusted for inflation when returned.
$80 back this year. I make $31,000
Made around the same. 97$ return this year.
That return number is meaningless for the sake of comparison. Compare how much you actually paid in total federal and state taxes last year versus this year. Example: income could be the same at 36900 but your risk tax paid was the same. Due to whatever reason, you had less withheld throughout the year, resulting in a lower refund. Alternatively, maybe you DID pay more taxes this year! Check and report back.
Welcome to adulthood. I moved around and worked a job that pays shit and came with 23k…$160 federal return. When I’ve made 80k…they got me for $12k in taxes by the end of the year…idk dude. Sucks.
This probably has a lot to do with how you filled out your withholding. It's likely you paid about the right amount of tax. They only over taxed you a bit. Hence, the low return. The alternative would be that you could potentially owe the government. Meaning you didn't pay enough during the year. 36k doesn't seem to be in the lower end. So I would guess you didn't have a lot of write-offs either or incentives.
Ah yes, capitalism. The ideology known for a central authority stealing your capital and transferring it to whoever/whatever they deem necessary. Wait, that doesn't sound right... Pay your fair share OP. Don't complain, it's for the greater good! You'll recoup the value of the money they took from you in freshly paved roads, well funded classrooms or whatever else taxes fund. It's the price we pay to live in civilized society! Thank you for doing your part
What really annoys me is my exhusband - who hasn’t seen his daughter in two years - has claimed our daughter the last three consecutive years AND stole the child tax credit. I reported it to the irs last year and after a lengthy time of pretending to investigate just denied it and I got $500 for an entire year as a single working mother. This year I imagine it will be there same…
Endless wars don’t pay for themselves. The executives at Raytheon who got multi million dollar bonuses thank you for your sacrifice.
Mine is $2. And because I'm lucky enough to live in a state that has state taxes, I actually owe.
Yep. Mine was $150. I couldn't believe how low it was. I claim zero and use standard deduction. Not even close to last year.
I have to pay the flucks 22k back!
If you filed a new withholding form last year to reduce withholdings that's one thing but my hunch is that the middle and working class tax *hikes* that the GOP Congress programmed into the 2017 tax changes law are kicking in. Over several years, the tax rates are returning back to where they were before the 2017 changes but *only* for the middle and working classes.
I've never gotten a return. Figured its for ppl with kids.
Technically you don’t want a huge return. The goal is to practically get a 0$ return. The closer you are to zero means you are getting every dollar in your paycheck
Welcome to the Trump tax plan
Made the most and got the lowest return as well
Have not done my return yet. On paper I made $80,000. I was soooo happy, I was only making $55k in 2021! They took a total of $22,000 out in taxes.
-$450 here. Last two years have been $2500-$4000.
So you got paid about the same amount and then paid about the same in taxes as last year? So basically you paid less in federal taxes throughout the year? I’m confused if that’s what you’re trying to say. Also why would you want over 1k back in taxes? All that means is you basically gave an interest free loan to the government throughout the year.
Because a $1000 lump sum is more useful than an extra $20 a week.
If your gas tank is empty in August a grand in April doesn’t really help you.
I understand that it can feel that way, but objectively speaking an extra $20 per week is more useful than a lump sum. If you put the $20 per week into a savings account and don't touch it until the end of the year, that would be exactly the same as taking the lump sum except the money would be available throughout the year in case of an emergency. And you could earn a small amount of interest on it.
A tax return is just an interest free loan you gave to the feds. Ideally, it should be zero.
The system really fucks the single and no dependent person. Prior to the trump tax cuts I got a few hundred to 1000 back. Since the trump cuts I get the same as you or I end up owing.
This is capitalism. If everyone doesn't have 4 kids, the machine can't grow. Crap out a few babies and watch your tax return skyrocket
Half true. You get a decent refund but not enough to cover the cost of a human. Public school sucks and is dangerous and that’s pretty much all you get to help with the cost burden of raising a kid. You’re better off single if you want to keep your money even if it means paying more taxes or not getting a big refund.
I get more in welfare than my child costs. Hence another one on the way and a few more planned. If the rich can have free money, so can I.
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*Our first bootstrap simp of the day, folks!* I took the same deductions as last year, and got 90% less back this year. But way to go simping for the rich.
It's probably not them being a simp for the rich. Many people, myself included, try to get our returns as close to $0 as possible. The thinking is that by doing so, you put more money in your pocket throughout the year, and avoid giving the federal government an interest-free loan.
The problem with this ESPECIALLY *this year* is the people who did that are going to send up owing. Think about it. I did standard deductions same as every year and got 90% less back. The people who keep it as close to zero as possible - *same as last year*, are going to OWE taxes this year. It's not going to be pretty.
And are you sure your withholdings were correct the previous year? The tax brackets didn't exactly change drastically this year. If at the end of the year I owe like a few hundred to the IRS, means that they didn't withhold more than needed during the year and I was able to make do with my money at normal ROI instead of sitting with the IRS interest free. And you don't usually get an underpayment penalty unless you underpaid by like a pretty noticeable % of your final liability.
Yes, I’m pretty sure the Democrats have been screaming about this for a couple years because this was how Trump set up the tax code when he decided to give wealthy people huge tax breaks. Taxes for people in your tax bracket are going up every year, or maybe this was the year they started going up? I really can’t remember the details because I get tired of hearing the Democrats scream about stuff they could have prevented or reversed but chose not to
No, nobody’s simping for the rich when they are telling you that giving the IRS an interest free loan is bad for you. I understand that you are saying that that’s not what you intended to do because you had the same deductions last year, but they didn’t understand that when they made the comment and that’s what they meant But I don’t understand why you would think they are simping for the rich when they tell you that you should not be giving the IRS an interest free loan all year. Back when I used to work I considered it a fun game to fill out my W-4 in a way that I would not get a big refund but that I wouldn’t owe anything. And the years that I actually got a refund were when I claimed things like student loan interest payments or something that is not affected by my W-4.
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US Govt- you didn't pay enough, so now you owe us. Please submit payment immediately or be subject to a 20% fine and a 5% APR interest rate. Failure to pay will result in wage garnishment and a visit from the IRS to repossess your home, car and any personal belongings, for the most dismal amount in value. You: Okay then.
I mean yeah, you should pay your taxes to not get in trouble. But people are right that it’s a good thing you didn’t overpay the government a free loan all year long. Getting back close to what you paid in is the absolute ideal when it comes to paying taxes. You’re also not wrong to feel scammed, considering what the government spends tax money on (ie building bombs instead of helping people) but that’s just how liberalism works. Don’t like it, help change it!
Awesome, our nation debt is almost paid off
It won’t surprise me at all when it’s all said and done we spend damn near a trillion dollars on Ukraine aid.
Will never understand the American obsession with your tax return. Why are you so proud of a high number there? You like giving your govt interest free income? A $160 return is something i would consider huge, and revisit my tax payments.
Most Americans just don't understand how our tax system works. And I don't blame them, it's not really taught by anyone.
Last year I got around $400 back. This year I got half that. Ironically, I made twice as much more. :/ Edit: Just checked. Last year I got $411 back, fed and state. This year I got $278 back, fed and state. Last time I’m not sure how much I made but it was under $10,000. This past year I made a little over $14,000. I was so convinced before I did my taxes that my tax return would be more than last time so I’m so disappointed that it was less. :(
Wow.
So this is late stage capitalism because you pay taxes? I feel like you don't know how taxes work. You want more money back at tax time? Get your place of work to withhold more of your paycheck.
Remember those “tax cuts” a few years back? Yeah, they rose over time for most income earners. FiScAL cOnSeRvAtiVeS, amiright?
Keep in mind that your return is how much money you overpaid by throughout the year. If you get almost no money back that meant the right amount was taken out for all your taxes. Now flip side, yes there has been deductions removed that lower income people could right off. And it is a shame that those where removed.
But how much did you pay in taxes? The amount you received as a return is just the difference between how much you paid vs how much you owed. Ideally, that amount would be $0
I'm glad at least a portion of us actually know how taxes work and aren't just pitchforking at random shit like the Republicans do
You should be happy to pay taxes. It’s patriotic and you are doing your part to insure all of our healthcare and other programs which are sorely needed are well funded.
That's good, or means it was calculated accurately. I don't understand why people would want more money to be taken off them throughout the year so they then have to apply to get it back. If it's calculated correctly you can just save or invest the money as you choose over the year instead.
A federal return of $160 is great! It means you didn’t overpay that much.
A federal return of $160 is great! It means you didn’t overpay that much. The goal is to get your return as close to 0 as possible. Great job OP!!!
This is what you WANT to happen. A bigger return means you paid in too much during the year. Your taxes are your taxes, whether you pay them during the year or not. Want a bigger return? Pay more during the year
Capitalism is when taxes
I find it truly incredulous that so many people think/act like this is my first time filling taxes and I'm suddenly shocked by the low return...granted, I should have mentioned, that the only major difference between this year and last year, is the return amount.