tax help?

[spedrunner]

Ugh. I dont get it. I am single, a teacher, I do not make much

My situation is a bit weird at the moment, I can not claim that I own my home, so "rent" does not help me out

It sucks bc I pay a shit load in "rent", association fee's etc, But I can't really claim it , so it really serves as NO help

I have done my taxes on my own, because I really am simple.  No dependents, no ownership, etc

So I still owe , its not much, but I feel like I am doing something wrong. I feel as if i should not owe (lol we probably all feel this way)

so anyway, looking for some guidance

Should I go to a local tax place and have them do it for me, or fork out the $500 bucks and pay what I owe?

ANyone in a similar situation?

I am pretty UN knowledgeable with this stuff

[Deleted]

I'm not sure what you mean with "rent" in quotation marks.

Have you tried running your numbers through TurboTax and TaxAct. I know different programs might give you slightly larger numbers.

And breaking even or only owing a few hundred dollars isn't a bad thing. It just means that the right amount of taxes were taken out throughout the year. I've never owed, but I've never gotten more than a couple hundred back, which I like because that meant I was getting paid close to the max amount in my paycheck throughout the year.

Now if you owed 10k or something outrageous, I'd definitely seek out the help of an expert.

[tripleshot]

We always use turbotax. It's free to plug all your info in. You only pay if you file. Same with tax act. Tax act is a lot cheaper. I put our numbers in both to see if there was a difference. Even if you went to a professional, it shouldn't be $500 since your taxes don't seem complicated. TT and TA are very user friendly.

[underwaterrhymes]

What do you claim on your taxes? I'm married with a child so my situation is different but even with that I have to claim 0 and have additional money taken out in order to not owe.

If you're claiming 1 or 2, it's possible they're not taking out enough.

You're a teacher, right? Are you doing the more elaborate form and making sure you're claiming the money you spend on supplies?

www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc458.html

[Deleted]

Mar 5, 2015 8:18:31 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

What do you claim on your taxes? I'm married with a child so my situation is different but even with that I have to claim 0 and have additional money taken out in order to not owe.

If you're claiming 1 or 2, it's possible they're not taking out enough.

You're a teacher, right? Are you doing the more elaborate form and making sure you're claiming the money you spend on supplies?

Unless it's changed over the past couple of years, you don't have to use a different form as a teacher to get that credit. We used to use the 1040-ez and in Turbo Tax it came up right as an option to get the credit (I think it used to be $250).

But good suggestion. TurboTax makes things super easy though, so hopefully spedrunner you're using that. 

[spedrunner]

Mar 5, 2015 8:18:31 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

What do you claim on your taxes? I'm married with a child so my situation is different but even with that I have to claim 0 and have additional money taken out in order to not owe.

If you're claiming 1 or 2, it's possible they're not taking out enough.

You're a teacher, right? Are you doing the more elaborate form and making sure you're claiming the money you spend on supplies?

www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc458.html

yes I can only claim $250 for teacher expenses, its not much of a help (but a bit!)

[spedrunner]

im in a sucky situation. I "own" my home, however it was paid in cash by my parents, so I am paying them. It was good at the time of purchase for me (hot market paid in cash) Never changed things over

So i am paying a "mortgage" pretty much to my parents instead of a mortgage company. I did finally put everything in my name this year for my new purchase, but that wont help me out until next year

[peachykate]

I think you just need to change your W4 for next year so you might want to see an accountant so you can get out right going forward.

We used to joke that we wished we could take vet bill deductions.

[Deleted]

Mar 5, 2015 8:43:08 GMT -5 spedrunner said:

im in a sucky situation. I "own" my home, however it was paid in cash by my parents, so I am paying them. It was good at the time of purchase for me (hot market paid in cash) Never changed things over

So i am paying a "mortgage" pretty much to my parents instead of a mortgage company. I did finally put everything in my name this year for my new purchase, but that wont help me out until next year

Are you paying them with interest?

And do you claim 0?

[underwaterrhymes]

A lot of people when filling out their W4 end up using the worksheet and claiming higher than they should. Does your paycheck indicate what you claimed?

I would talk to HR and make sure you're claiming 0. Your paychecks would be smaller, but you might not owe.

If it's already 0, then you might want to have an additional amount taken out from each paycheck.

[spedrunner]

yes with interest
i claimed 1 i believe last year

[tealblue]

Do you have an amortization (interest) schedule for your mortgage payments to your parents?

If you do, you should be able to take the mortgage interest you paid them. The flip side of this: they will have to pick that interest up as income. (This should have been happening all along).

For a pretty simple return- w2, no dependents, nothing fancy except the $250 deduction for educator expenses... I wouldn't go somewhere. It's not necessarily wrong for you to owe a little bit. On your state return- can you deduct the property taxes paid? Some states allow this.

[spedrunner]

thanks everyone

[Kristinmo]

What is the tax rate you're paying? Take the taxes you're paying (those already taken out plus the additional amount you're going to pay) and divide by your gross wages from your W2. That will tell you a lot more than just the dollar amount.

[ninjabridemom]

I didn't claim anything until the kids came along, and then upped it to 2 only b/c we needed that money day to day. We'd get some back those years, but didn't owe (i think only b/c of the kids). This past year I lowered it to 1 and we're getting a lot more back (I also make a ton less than I used to).

So anyway those numbers can make a big difference. Since you're owing I'd change your w whatever to claim 0 if you can swing it.

[Deleted]

Mar 5, 2015 8:50:57 GMT -5 spedrunner said:

yes with interest
i claimed 1 i believe last year

Well then ditto tealblue's advice. Have you been doing that?

Also, moving forward, claiming 0 might help.

[Kristinmo]

Mar 5, 2015 8:50:32 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

A lot of people when filling out their W4 end up using the worksheet and claiming higher than they should. Does your paycheck indicate what you claimed?

I would talk to HR and make sure you're claiming 0. Your paychecks would be smaller, but you might not owe.

If it's already 0, then you might want to have an additional amount taken out from each paycheck.

Yeah those worksheets are crap.  We have 2 kids and own a house and we still can't claim more than 1 or we owe.

[underwaterrhymes]

Mar 5, 2015 9:13:55 GMT -5 Kristinmo said:

Mar 5, 2015 8:50:32 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

A lot of people when filling out their W4 end up using the worksheet and claiming higher than they should. Does your paycheck indicate what you claimed?

I would talk to HR and make sure you're claiming 0. Your paychecks would be smaller, but you might not owe.

If it's already 0, then you might want to have an additional amount taken out from each paycheck.

Yeah those worksheets are crap.  We have 2 kids and own a house and we still can't claim more than 1 or we owe.

I claimed 0 and we still owed like $3,000. we used an accountant last year and it was a lot better, but we still owed.

Now I'm a consultant and have to pay quarterly taxes. I'm a little nervous about what things are going to look like this year.