Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Taxing Matters

I mailed off my state and federal tax forms this morning!

$3700 will soon be coming my way. I have plenty of places to put it, so it won't last long.

I have done my own taxes for years. In fact, I also wind up doing returns for my children, and some of my colleagues as well. I don't use software because I'm too cheap, though, for my kids, I use the free version of TaxAct available through the IRS website.

I wish I could guesstimate better because I do know that getting such a large return means the government got the free use of MY money, but it's surprisingly hard to gauge accurately. I claim three exemptions for my employer. I have decided to stick with that because I won't have any children to claim on my 2009 return. This will bring me closer to the $0 owed mark without (I hope) my having to pay taxes.

At any rate, this is the first time in my working life that I have ever gotten my tax returns filed prior to January 31st. Let's hope the tax refund folks are appreciative and equally fast.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome! I've also always done my own taxes too. I have to pay though so I'm not in any hurry to get it done.

Anonymous said...

An exemption is different from a dependent. Rule of thumb: for every $1200 you get back, you should claim one more exemption. Obviously, you have write-offs.
Is there a professional you can ask? Maybe HR at work? Or just stop by one of those H&R booths at Wal Mart or something and just ask that question.
You should be claiming 3 more exemptions, but if you want to play it safe, just claim 2 more or even 1 more. You can claim up to nine without an explanation to govt.
Again, discuss with a professional. It will give you more money weekly instead of annually. The govt has to borrow huge sums of money from China at high interest rates in order to send back those tax refunds, thus the reason why they frown on huge tax refunds.

Sharon said...

Yes, you shouldn't let the gov't keep your money, but oh how nice it is to get money back! That hasn't happened to us in a couple of years. We are still trying to figure out how many deductions would get us closer to $0, but so far we've been about $1,000.00 off, and end up paying...ugh. I probably won't do my taxes until April 1st.

Bouncing Back said...

Wow, your done with your taxes? Impressive! I'm waiting for one last 1099 before I do mine. I did use last night to gather together all my documents in preparation to do my returns.