Last year the average tax refund was over $3,000. I haven't heard whether it will be higher or lower this year, but it's likely to be in the neighborhood of $3k. Which brings us to the questions of the day: are you planning on getting a tax refund and how much will it be?
I am planning on getting one, though I'd like not to. I try to plan to receive zero back (and have zero to pay) each year, but in bonus years that's a problem. Why? Because they take out an unusually large chunk of money from bonuses. Translation: they are going to owe me a good amount back. I'm not sure what it will be, but I'm guessing it will be more than $3k.
How about you? Are you planning on getting a tax refund and if so, how much?
I expect to owe around $5,000, despite having upped our withholdings this year...I'd much rather owe more than get a refund, but this year we may have to pay a penalty. As our passive income grows we'll likely have to start making quarterly estimated tax payments, which I don't look forward to.
You should check with your HR department to see if you can get a reduced amount of withholding on bonus checks - I've had them even eliminate withholding on bonus checks in the past. The reason they withhold so much from bonus checks, assuming they're larger than your standard paycheck, is that the withholding seems to be calculated as if the bonus check were a standard paycheck, to be received every 2 weeks (or however often you're paid) all year. It's even worse if the bonus is paid within and on top of a regular paycheck.
Posted by: Jonathan | February 23, 2011 at 11:30 AM
I received < $500 back. I try for zero, but taking on fewer freelance projects meant I overpaid earlier in the year.
Posted by: Rae | February 23, 2011 at 11:36 AM
It looks like we will owe over $3,000 this year because we got caught by the AMT. Otherwise we would be getting about $1,000 back.
Posted by: Texas Wahoo | February 23, 2011 at 11:46 AM
I will be getting about $700 back because we had more deductions for the rental than I expected. I expected to pay about $200-$250.
Posted by: Ginger | February 23, 2011 at 11:49 AM
I usually owe a couple hundred or get a small refund. This past year we had some large medical deductions and a credit for insulation(fertility treatments not major illness)and will get a $3300 refund. I stopped having tax withdrawn in the summer from my checks but we kept my wife at normal levels since her HR dept is a PITA to deal with. Yes I've already submitted my return.
Kind of a drag putting normal withholding back on my check.
Posted by: Tim | February 23, 2011 at 11:51 AM
Two years ago I received over $5,000! (Yeah, I need to increase my allowances...)
Year 2010, I'm hoping to get at least $2,000 and hopefully $3,000. Unfortunately, I tooks come stock gains, that will prevent me from getting more back this year.
Year 2011's return will even be smaller(or at least I'm hoping!)... I may even have to send in estimated payments! It really depends on the market...
Posted by: Money Reasons | February 23, 2011 at 12:14 PM
My taxes arent done yet but the preliminary estimate is that I owe between $5k to $10k. My wife and I have single and zero on our withholdings.
The bad thing about a higher income is two fold - not only do you pay a higher rate but you also lose out on the deductions/credits which lower income folks get. I don't mind paying taxes but the US system is not equitable even considering our progressive rates. Those at higher rates should get the same deductions/credits that those at a lower rate get. Everyone in this country should have some shared responsibility to fund the gov't. Besides that it's so corrupt with special interests. A flat tax or consumption tax would be more fair and simpler to manage in my opinion.
Posted by: texashaze | February 23, 2011 at 12:22 PM
I second texashaze's opinion. Give us a national sales tax and eliminate the IRS and the tax preparation industry. It is ridiculous that the tax code is so complicated that college educated people feel compelled to buy Turbo Tax or other software to deal with it.
Posted by: Paul | February 23, 2011 at 12:30 PM
We are expecting a income tax refund. It will go right into savings, for our property taxes. Sigh.
Posted by: Keith | February 23, 2011 at 12:33 PM
I will receive about $4500 (I left my job half-way through 2010 and was a broke grad student the rest of the year), which will all go towards about $6k in credit card debt. I have a plan to pay down the rest of the debt and hope to pay it all off before the 2011-2012 school year starts. We'll see!
Posted by: AL | February 23, 2011 at 12:57 PM
Take a look at the above posts. Nobody knows what their tax bill amounts to. Our leaders main goal in life is to remain in power. Keep the sheep in the shearing line at any cost. Flat tax. Are you kidding?
Posted by: W A G | February 23, 2011 at 01:05 PM
Haha, W A G has it right...do any of us actually know what we're paying in taxes for 2010? Not what our refund or additional contribution is...but what we pay all year? My estimates for state and fed tax combined (not even including payroll taxes or sales tax! Another $10k easily!) is around $26,000 for 2010, even after $20k in deductible charitable contributions. I haven't stated my income here, but that amount in taxes is shocking. If most people looked at their total tax bill, rather than just subconsciously thinking that they are actually getting money from the gov't in the form of a refund, there would be a whole lot more tax revolts around the country.
I also second texashaze's comments...The amount of time my wife and I spend trying to factor in tax considerations to every investment we make is mind-boggling.
Posted by: Jonathan | February 23, 2011 at 01:32 PM
We'll probably get a refund. We've gotten them the past couple years. I haven't tried to add it all up yet so I don't know for sure if we'll get one or how much it will be. We have rental properties and the tax situation gets a little complex so its not easy to just plan for $0 refund. If our rental expenses are high or low for a given year then that will throw things way off either way.
Posted by: jim | February 23, 2011 at 01:40 PM
We'll be getting a refund of around $1200, which is about where we prefer to keep it. That gives us a little buffer as we slide in and out of deduction phase outs. We did a small Roth conversion this year and withheld a little extra since we weren't sure where that was going to put us between brackets and phase outs.
Posted by: KMI | February 23, 2011 at 02:26 PM
We got back almost $7000. I've already adjusted some for this year and may do more adjusting later. Most of that was because we had our first child. Upping our household to 3 also qualified us for the EIC, which I hadn't anticipated. As a military family we have a rather low taxable income since part of our income is in non-taxable allotments. We're anticipating a reenlistment bonus this year (to be paid out over a number of years.) I'm not sure yet how that will alter our taxes for next year.
Posted by: kjaxx | February 23, 2011 at 02:49 PM
We're getting back ~ $7500 Fed & state. We knew this would be high for 2010, but we buy and sell real estate so we try to pay in more to help offset the large lump sum payment required when we sell a property.
For 2011 we'll end up owing again.
Posted by: beachin' | February 23, 2011 at 02:51 PM
My wife and I will be getting back a slight refund (something like $1000.00). I was really shocked to see how much we ended up paying in taxes though…
Ok so my first gut reaction was, “Are we seriously PAYING more in taxes this year than we EARNED working our entire senior year of college”... But then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Wow. This country has protected me, educated me and given countless poor boys and girls like myself a multitude of opportunities to make something of ourselves through hard work and perseverance. Thank you God for this wonderful land!
Posted by: Nate | February 23, 2011 at 03:15 PM
We're getting back about $300 from the Feds and then I'll write a check of $200 to the state.
Posted by: Kimberly | February 23, 2011 at 03:23 PM
No the federal, state, and local government gladly spent all my taxes.
Posted by: Tyler | February 23, 2011 at 03:42 PM
We're getting about 1000 from fed and owe the state about $150. Effective tax rate was about 13%..a little higher than most other years because we didn't have many credits.
Posted by: Tim @ Faith and Finance | February 23, 2011 at 05:28 PM
Wag, well done.
It is amazing to me come tax time how many people start to let the tax tail wag the dog. Everyone suddenly needs to buy a house.
Game over wrt taxes. I've heard that most people work until about April 15th to pay for state, federal and local taxes. How's that for irony?
Posted by: Easychange | February 23, 2011 at 05:44 PM
Yes, and the refund will be locked away, never to see the light of day for another 20+ years. The refund will be forced to work hard for me, spending it's time compounding and growing. :)
Posted by: Squirrelers | February 23, 2011 at 07:11 PM
I received about $4,700 back this year, including both state and federal. Like FMF, I usually try to hit zero or even owe a bit, but this past year I opened my own law practice in May after working at another firm before that and I lost quite a bit of money in start up costs and growing pains. The money will just go towards a gargantuan property tax bill that's coming up at the beginning of April, so it will essentially be transferred from the government to pay for the education of other peoples' children.
Apropos of some of the other comments, this year I used Turbotax for the first time because of my schedule C filing and, I have to say, our tax system is truly insane. I despise the income tax and would like to see a VAT in lieu of (not in addition to) the income tax. Yeah, all the deductions were great, especially for the self-employed, but half of 'em don't make any sense.
Oh, and I know how much I paid in federal income tax this year: 0. I loved it, although since my income was down about 90% starting in May I can't "afford" to pay zero income tax every year. But after many years of paying tens of thousands in income tax, it was nice to take a year off.
Unfortunately, property taxes never take a year off. Other people need me to pay for their childrens' education, and I haven't convinced them yet to do it themselves. :-(
Posted by: Todd | February 23, 2011 at 10:29 PM
I received $144 on my Fed return and owed $145 on my state return. That's about as close as I've ever calculated to my zero goal.
Posted by: rrn | February 23, 2011 at 10:31 PM
Nope...paying in about that much.
Posted by: CJ | February 24, 2011 at 12:28 AM
So my total 2010 federal tax this year is $15,388 of which I still owe IRS $367 so I had to write them a check. I paid $4417 to state of VA for taxes and they owe me refund of $536. I put $22,000 into my TSP (govt 401K) fund in 2010 so I did not have to pay taxes on that since it is tax deferred. I try to keep any refund amounts small.
Posted by: Kathy F | February 24, 2011 at 01:01 AM
I'm probably getting between $3 and 4000 back combined federal+state--typical. My total tax bill is astonishingly large, getting larger since my house is almost paid off, even though I'm in a lot of tax shelters. Other than taking tax implications into account when investing wherever poassible, there isn't any point in getting upset about taxes.
Posted by: KH | February 24, 2011 at 04:56 AM
I did a bunch of consulting this year, and never submitted quarterly payments, so I'm paying about $3100 after all is said and done.
Posted by: Mike | February 24, 2011 at 02:03 PM
Nope. If we get anything, it'll be because of my husband's grad school credits. But I think my blog profits will eat that up...
Posted by: Crystal @ BFS | February 24, 2011 at 04:07 PM