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Tax Refunds


pettie4sox

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I think what happened is everyone’s take home pay went up last year and it is being reflected in the refund. Tax liability didn’t change, but since people expected a “tax cut” they assume there would be more take home and the same refund. Other people understand this better than I do, but I don’t think there was a way to avoid a reduced refund if you already don’t take withholdings. 

My wife’s w-2 got screwed up so I haven’t been able to file. I’m hoping the hit isn’t too hard. 

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46 minutes ago, G&T said:

I think what happened is everyone’s take home pay went up last year and it is being reflected in the refund. Tax liability didn’t change, but since people expected a “tax cut” they assume there would be more take home and the same refund. Other people understand this better than I do, but I don’t think there was a way to avoid a reduced refund if you already don’t take withholdings. 

My wife’s w-2 got screwed up so I haven’t been able to file. I’m hoping the hit isn’t too hard. 

This exactly, my return was less this year but I also paid a lot less taxes in 2018.

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21 minutes ago, Iwritecode said:

A lot of people that were excited about the fact that they were making more money last year are just now realizing the true cost behind it. Many are regretting the person they voted for a couple of years ago as well.

Just did our taxes. The decrease in our refund is about the same as the decrease in my taxes compared to last year.

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25 minutes ago, BigHurt3515 said:

People freaking out about their refund being lower don't seem to understand they paid less in taxes during the year. We paid 3% less as a couple in taxes for 2018 and our return is only a few hundred dollars less and I claimed 1 when previously claiming 0.

I completely understand math.

SALT was removed, job expenses were removed. Families of 4 or may have lower return due to difference in personal exemption versus standard deduction.

Most people its likely break even. But a lot of families are going to pay more for the reasons above.

If you understand the slight difference in tax code youll understand why people are upset.

They are paying higher taxes while other people got big breaks.

Edited by Soxbadger
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8 hours ago, BigHurt3515 said:

People freaking out about their refund being lower don't seem to understand they paid less in taxes during the year. We paid 3% less as a couple in taxes for 2018 and our return is only a few hundred dollars less and I claimed 1 when previously claiming 0.

Yes, but dont let facts get in the way of a good political pile on

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From what I understand, the main reason many people are seeing much lower refunds is not because they paid less taxes during the year (though that is true for many or most), but because the tax law went into effect so late in the game that the projection models used to advise on auto-deductions by employers didn't have a chance to be very accurate. They misfired.

 

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32 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

I guess people don't understand your refund was an interest free loan you gave to the government.  

 

No kidding. I don't see how people don't realize this. It giving the government free money while losing money yourself.

We try to cut it as close as possible. Last year we got a little back, this year we owed a little.

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49 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

I guess people don't understand your refund was an interest free loan you gave to the government.  

 

Our problem is we suck at saving money, so I see it as the government being my safety net that provides a yearly 4-5 figure advance.  Interest rates suck nowadays anyway.

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Psychologically, this "free money" argument counted on by those expecting refunds every year is really going to percolate.  Even if the actually tax paid is the same, the monthly small additional sums don't match up to the power of a huge one time refund in the way most think about it. 

This is really going to be damaging to Trump politically because a lot of his lower educated supporters will feel they got ripped off.  Intellectually, they won't understand if they dollar cost averaged that extra money every month into a Vanguard index tracking mutual fund, the return over time will be much greater than waiting one year and dumping a large sum into the market...not to mention the people underwater from Christmas overspending and counting on being saved in February or March.

It will be about as popular as Obama Care in 2010 with the upper middle class hot by the SALT caps...

Edited by caulfield12
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2 hours ago, LittleHurt05 said:

Yes, but dont let facts get in the way of a good political pile on

Bro, you single-handedly derail threads by making shit political.  Please stop as we don't need anymore threads closed on your behalf.

Edited by pettie4sox
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Basically what I'm seeing is I didn't get a tax cut, as I actually was put in a higher tax bracket...

The little money we got paycheck to paycheck from the "tax cut" was just chewing into the refund.  A true blue tax cut would be to receive that money and get the same refund...  is my thinking flawed here?

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43 minutes ago, LittleHurt05 said:

Our problem is we suck at saving money, so I see it as the government being my safety net that provides a yearly 4-5 figure advance.  Interest rates suck nowadays anyway.

This is the most accurate statement in the entire thread.  Most American's don't save at all.  They also don't typically get bonus money, especially in the lower brackets, so this is the one time a year that they can run into a large amount of cash in one setting.  While it might not be much to many people, it is a BIG deal to a lot of lower income households.

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15 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

This is the most accurate statement in the entire thread.  Most American's don't save at all.  They also don't typically get bonus money, especially in the lower brackets, so this is the one time a year that they can run into a large amount of cash in one setting.  While it might not be much to many people, it is a BIG deal to a lot of lower income households.

One of the issues is they made it seem like the $25 extra per paycheck was on top of their normal return. They should have read the fine print.

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