s/o Anyone NOT get a refund?

ironmommy · January 2010

DH and I own our own business and because of the way the business is structured we are taxed personally for all profits. This means we have not had a refund for the past 5 years. Instead -- fun! -- we pay quarterly taxes all year long and still end up owing about $9,000 in April.

This year we changed our corporate structure and I'm hoping we won't owe any money, but I'm certainly not expecting a refund. Sucks. Anyone else not get this annual "gift" from the feds?

LynnJones · January 2010

It's not really a gift, more like they are giving you back the money you loaned them throughout the year We usually don't get a huge amount back like it seems most people do but that's how we plan it out.

Now if it was a gift, I'd be glad to take as much as they'd give us!

mary5198 · January 2010

I was a realtor for five years and had to pay quarterly taxes and NEVER got a refund - it sucked.

Meg&Jesse · January 2010

I am also wondering about changing your deductions and getting more money throughout the year. I wish I could convince DH to do this...I know he won't!

YouAreMyILoveYou · January 2010

I wouldn't call it a "gift".. they are giving me back something that was mine to begin with, lol.

I do like getting the refund, but would rather have the money I work hard to make given to me when I earn it... not in March after the gov't has earned intrest off of storing my money in their bank.

auslyn804 · January 2010

I try to arrange it so I don't get a refund. I'd rather have that money throughout the year than just in April. However, this year we bought a house, so I'm expecting to get something.

ABMcKinney · January 2010

We are in the same boat. Last year, for the first time in a while we got back a few hundred, but I don't expect that to happen again.

betsnup · January 2010

I pay quarterly taxes, too, so whatever we get in "refund" (and it's usually quite small) we just apply to my first quarter taxes. So we haven't physically gotten money back in a few years, although it has been nice having a smaller 1st quarter payment.

megontoast · January 2010

I never really got money back until we owned a house. Thanks to the ridiculous amount of interest we pay each year, we get a big break come tax time. Then, having a baby just added to that.

violetvirgo · January 2010

we will probably owe even though we both have the max with held. we did donate a lot to charity this year though and bought two energy efficient vehicles so maybe, just maybe we won't owe.

mrs.mickulz · January 2010

DH owns his own business and had a really shifty accountant for the first few years, so he owed BIG. His new accountant is much better and we were estatic that we only owed 2K this year.

For me, it's a little sad, because before we got married, I always got at least $1500 back.

Jessibell · January 2010

My withholdings are the same as they were before I married and had a baby and we own our home, so we get a nice chunk of change.

My parents usually owe about what I make in a year Surprise

the_mulva · January 2010

My pet peeve is someone who thinks a tax refund is a "gift"... it ain't. It's your stinkin' govt paying back your hard earned money w/ out paying you interest on it.

ToBeMrsT · January 2010

we try not to get anything or owe anything.

ElizC · January 2010

LynnJones:

It's not really a gift, more like they are giving you back the money you loaned them throughout the year We usually don't get a huge amount back like it seems most people do but that's how we plan it out.

Now if it was a gift, I'd be glad to take as much as they'd give us!

This. We try to keep as much of money as we can through the year. Getting your own money back is not a gift at all.

emiliemadison · January 2010

People amaze me with their lack of BASIC understanding of taxes. If you get a refund, it's not a "gift" from the government. It means that, oops!, you GAVE them too much and they so graciously held onto it for you (interest free, of course) and then just gave it back to you. The money was always yours and you could have had it the whole time, in your own account earning interest, with some changes.

And as a small business owner, you should invest in the knowledge of a CPA to help you figure out how to rework everything so that hopefully, your quarterly tax payments are correctly estimated so you dont owe $10K at tax time.

SBMBride406 · January 2010

I'm still paying freaking taxes from 2007 b/c my DH is financially illiterate. So, yeah, no refund for us.

carolinaem · January 2010

We probably won't. Looks like my dh changed the # incorrectly on his forms. We might even OWE money.

fIowerchild · January 2010

Once our incomes are combined on the tax return we usually owe, despite doing the maximum deductions. The next step is to get an extra flat $ amount taken out each pay period. I hate taxes. Seriously, we pay enough, we shouldn't have to owe.

megontoast · January 2010

emiliemadison:

People amaze me with their lack of BASIC understanding of taxes. If you get a refund, it's not a "gift" from the government. It means that, oops!, you GAVE them too much and they so graciously held onto it for you (interest free, of course) and then just gave it back to you. The money was always yours and you could have had it the whole time, in your own account earning interest, with some changes.

And as a small business owner, you should invest in the knowledge of a CPA to help you figure out how to rework everything so that hopefully, your quarterly tax payments are correctly estimated so you dont owe $10K at tax time.

what about people who have a mortgage and get a tax deduction based on how much interest they pay in the year? Or people who get tax credits for things they have done/purchased throughout the year? (hybrid car for example). There is no way to know ahead of time how much you will actually owe. If we didn't own a house, we wouldn't get a refund. I'm paying the appropriate amount of taxes from each paycheck based on what I make. The refund is based on things not having to do with my paycheck or how much they took out. So, to me it is kind of like a gift. The government didn't accidently take out too much.. I just did things to insure that I will lower the amount of taxes I owe.

I'm probably not making any sense. *sigh*

Rubygirl · January 2010

I wish. Before DH became an indep. contractor I'd try to get as close to 'break even' as possible so I wasn't loaning my $ to the gov. interest free. I expected that once he went w/o paying taxes throughout the year as a contractor that we would owe money. No such luck. I *think* because he actually loses money by working (another story altogether) our refund is about double what it used to be. If there are any accountants out there who know how to fix this, let me know. I already have the bare minimum amount deducted from my check.

emiliemadison · January 2010

megontoast:
emiliemadison:

People amaze me with their lack of BASIC understanding of taxes. If you get a refund, it's not a "gift" from the government. It means that, oops!, you GAVE them too much and they so graciously held onto it for you (interest free, of course) and then just gave it back to you. The money was always yours and you could have had it the whole time, in your own account earning interest, with some changes.

And as a small business owner, you should invest in the knowledge of a CPA to help you figure out how to rework everything so that hopefully, your quarterly tax payments are correctly estimated so you dont owe $10K at tax time.

what about people who have a mortgage and get a tax deduction based on how much interest they pay in the year? Or people who get tax credits for things they have done/purchased throughout the year? (hybrid car for example). There is no way to know ahead of time how much you will actually owe. If we didn't own a house, we wouldn't get a refund. I'm paying the appropriate amount of taxes from each paycheck based on what I make. The refund is based on things not having to do with my paycheck or how much they took out. So, to me it is kind of like a gift. The government didn't accidently take out too much.. I just did things to insure that I will lower the amount of taxes I owe.

I'm probably not making any sense. *sigh*

Most of those things only lower your tax liability, they dont actually put money in your pocket. If you own a house and write off your mortgage interest and property tax or have children (the two most common and biggest deductions), it's not going to change drastically from year to year. You adjust your withholdings so that you are as close to "break even" as possible. It's fairly easy to figure out what you will likely owe from one year to the next if those things are already in place.

You (general you) are not a passive observer when it comes to your financial and tax situation. You must be an active participant in order to make good and appropriate financial decisions for your family. Some people see a tax refund as forced savings, and they choose to keep their deductions and witholdings so that they get the a refund. And that's fine, as long as they understand that there ARE options and ways to adjust things so that you dont HAVE to get a refund.

megontoast · January 2010

emiliemadison:
megontoast:
emiliemadison:

People amaze me with their lack of BASIC understanding of taxes. If you get a refund, it's not a "gift" from the government. It means that, oops!, you GAVE them too much and they so graciously held onto it for you (interest free, of course) and then just gave it back to you. The money was always yours and you could have had it the whole time, in your own account earning interest, with some changes.

And as a small business owner, you should invest in the knowledge of a CPA to help you figure out how to rework everything so that hopefully, your quarterly tax payments are correctly estimated so you dont owe $10K at tax time.

what about people who have a mortgage and get a tax deduction based on how much interest they pay in the year? Or people who get tax credits for things they have done/purchased throughout the year? (hybrid car for example). There is no way to know ahead of time how much you will actually owe. If we didn't own a house, we wouldn't get a refund. I'm paying the appropriate amount of taxes from each paycheck based on what I make. The refund is based on things not having to do with my paycheck or how much they took out. So, to me it is kind of like a gift. The government didn't accidently take out too much.. I just did things to insure that I will lower the amount of taxes I owe.

I'm probably not making any sense. *sigh*

Most of those things only lower your tax liability, they dont actually put money in your pocket. If you own a house and write off your mortgage interest and property tax or have children (the two most common and biggest deductions), it's not going to change drastically from year to year. You adjust your withholdings so that you are as close to "break even" as possible. It's fairly easy to figure out what you will likely owe from one year to the next if those things are already in place.

You (general you) are not a passive observer when it comes to your financial and tax situation. You must be an active participant in order to make good and appropriate financial decisions for your family. Some people see a tax refund as forced savings, and they choose to keep their deductions and witholdings so that they get the a refund. And that's fine, as long as they understand that there ARE options and ways to adjust things so that you dont HAVE to get a refund.

this is actually really good advice. thanks! we're obviously new to having kids and also fairly new to having a house (going on 3rd year). I'm going to look into adjusting my withholdings. I could use some extra on each paycheck!

CFO · January 2010

We adjusted our withholdings to allow for max use of our money every month, we tend to owe/receive nothing. Fine by me.

KristenBtobe · January 2010

We adjusted our witholdings this year (and check periodically throughout the year to be sure we are witholding enough) so we were anticipating not getting much of anything. But thanks to the Making Work Pay credit/schedule M we are getting an unexpected refund.

racegirl723 · January 2010

My DH is also self employed and we pay quarterly taxes, too. It varies year to year if we get a small refund or owe a little. We are usually pretty close with our estimated payments. I still hate tax season b/c I'm never sure of what to expect and just hoping we don't owe a ton.

krys2729 · January 2010

um, it's actually better to owe, b/c that way, the government isn't using your money as an interest-free loan throughout the year.

Paigeo · January 2010

We generally owe. Not a ton though. We both work and claim zero plus take out an additional flat amount each pay. If we didn't do that we would owe a lot.

ironmommy · January 2010

emiliemadison:

People amaze me with their lack of BASIC understanding of taxes. If you get a refund, it's not a "gift" from the government. It means that, oops!, you GAVE them too much and they so graciously held onto it for you (interest free, of course) and then just gave it back to you. The money was always yours and you could have had it the whole time, in your own account earning interest, with some changes.

And as a small business owner, you should invest in the knowledge of a CPA to help you figure out how to rework everything so that hopefully, your quarterly tax payments are correctly estimated so you dont owe $10K at tax time.

Because we are taxed on a retail store's profits, it really isn't easy to anticipate what we will owe. We pay based on our best guess, but our growth has been huge, and hence we end up owing a lot of taxes.

And that's why I put "gift" in quotes. I understand it's not a gift, but the way people talk about their annual refund makes it sound like it's found money.

LoriFalce · January 2010

Probably the hardest thing to adjust to when I married Matthew was saying goodbye to tax returns. I didn't file jointly for a couple years because I really enjoyed getting money back.

And quarterly taxes suck.