So now it's well after tax time, did you get the two to four thousand that Trump promised the working slob?

Hell no. I owed $2600 that I didn’t owe last year.

We got about $500 more than we did last year.

Yes I did and I honestly was not expecting to. My refund was around the same but comparing taxes paid from previous years it was around a couple grand less.

Nope. I owed $1100.

My taxes were about the same as last year, but since the tax reform, I started receiving about $200/paycheck more than previous. So that was about 5 months worth of pay…about $2000 more in take home with no change in my taxes.

How come it’s all over the board, some say they owe more than last year others say they took home more, why such the fluctuation ?

@SQUEEKY2 It has to do with taxes deduction like church and charities and the amount of paid into them. Also how much is withheld on payroll.

@SQUEEKY2 If you regularly itemize you got fucked. If your taxes are easy and you take the standard deduction you probably came out ahead.

Also, some people only are looking at their refunds and not what they actually paid.

In 2018 I got a check for $900 that I didn’t expect, and this year I had to pay a smidge. But, no, no big windfalls.

No idea. My tax situation is so different year to year. You all know I was tortured by the ACA cut-offs. I gave my employees almost $4k! To not owe over $8k in taxes. I actually did get back a check from the government of around $150. It doesn’t mean anything though. I can’t deduce if Trump helped me or hurt me. I’d have to input all of my numbers into the 2017 tax form to know.

My guess is a lot of people have no real idea like me. Too many factors. Lots of people don’t pay the same amount year to year. Mortgage interest changes every year, could you itemize? Are people counting interest and dividends? Etc.

I owed for the first time in my life. So much for helping the lower-middle working class.

People saying they had to pay, was the amount you actually owed the government for the year higher? The bottom line number, not the check you sent in April. Whether you owe or receive a check when you file doesn’t really tell the whole story.

I don’t make enough to pay income taxes, just self-employment tax. The amount (tax computation numbers) didn’t change. And the $900 I mentioned before? $600 of that was a credit I carried over from year-to-year.

@JLeslie Yeah, I’m still confused about how the whole thing works. I owed for the first time too ($12) but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. I’ve heard people brag about a $3000 refund but that’s not really a good thing. That means you paid $3000 in taxes during the year that you shouldn’t have.

Unfortunately it’s something I go through mechanically and haven’t noticed much difference over the years.

@Demosthenes Confused in what way?

@Demosthenes Not necessarily. Everyone I know (including myself) who got / gets a few thousand back got is due to the EIC…Earned Income Credit. If you have kids, it’s a great deal for poor folk. It’s like $1,000 a kid. The only catch is, you have to fall really low down on the income scale to receive it. In the 90s, when I qualified for it, you had to gross $12,500 to get the maximum. Below or above that you got less.
I did my own taxes in those days, and one year I was scrambling to come up with $300 more in income so I’d hit that magic $12,500 number.

@Dutchess_III Where was the EIC mentioned? Now, I’m confused. Your comment seems out of nowhere. I must have missed something.

Yes, you did.
@Demosthenes said, ”I’ve heard people brag about a $3000 refund but that’s not really a good thing. That means you paid $3000 in taxes during the year that you shouldn’t have.”. I was just explaining where most of those people’s refunds come from, and that it isn’t from over paying. I actually prefaced the comment with his name so you would know I was talking to him.

@Dutchess_III Where are your statistics on that? Plenty of people get back $3k or pay $3k and they make plenty of money. Right now I’m thinking about paying quarterly tax in September of a few thousand if I sell my land just in case to avoid possible penalties, but I may not owe it, and then I’ll get it all back most likely.

People who make a few hundred thousand a year sometimes pay in too much because they didn’t keep track well, or they got a big bonus, which is taxed at a very high rate, because it’s a huge payment at once, and $3k in tax at the time of filing is close to zero for them.

I didn’t say “all” @JLeslie.
Only @Demosthenes know what demographic he is referring to.

^^How do you know who he is referring to? Did he mention an income level?

I found this article from back in 2015, I became curious. The average tax return for people over $200k was $12k! That is shocking to me. I never would have guessed that. https://money.cnn.com/2015/01/13/pf/taxes/taxpayer-refunds/index.html

Just today I was talking to my sister and she said now they there is electronic filing she tries to get a refund so she doesn’t have to go to the post office. Previously, she preferred to owe a little. I agree with her about the convenience.

I was explaining one of the ways some people can get a refund without necessarily having overpaid in taxes. It’d not terribly complicated.

I guess when you stated everyone you know, I interpreted that as you saying a lot, or most people l, get a few thousand refund because of EIC. It’s just a misunderstanding. I guess you weren’t trying to say most people in general get money back for that reason. It’s just how I interpreted what you wrote.

Why are we even having this riduculos conversation?

Because I thought you were giving information that didn’t sound right, i.e., that most refunds have to do with EIC. I just explained that above. Why when I say I misinterpreted. which is basically admitting I misunderstood your intent, would you write another sentence to castigate me by calling the conversation ridiculous? Just want to be mean? Whatever.

I said most people I KNOW get thousands back due to the EIC. My kids are the only people likely to divulge their tax return amounts, too. For anyone else to do so would be tacky, obviously.
You have made it clear live in a more affluent world than most.

Can we stop now?

LOL. I guess you want the last word even when I have said it is my mistake. Go for it.

I’m not sure what is tacky if people are talking about tax returns and actually give numbers if they want to. You can’t tell someone’s income from how much they receive or pay at tax time.