2019 Tax Refund

[NC84]

I'm trying to prepare to pay off some debt come tax time but I'm uncertain on how much I will get because of Paid Family Leave. I usually get about 7k with two dependents . I understand that the money isn't taxed. 10 weeks I was getting 55% of my normal income. Is it safe to say I would be looking more around 5k this time for a refund?

[Anonymous]

Just do a mock return and it should give you an idea. Plenty of Tax sites that spit out data after entering your info.

[MrCreditInternational]

I think Credit Karma can help you with that

[Anonymous]

YES do a mock return in TurboTax (or comparable program) and seriously change your withholding. It's ridiculous to wait all year to get all of that money back. 

I want to owe or get back a few hundred bucks each year - any more and your withholding is wrong.

You're wasting money paying interest on your debt while the government holds your money.

[iced]

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@Anonymous wrote:

YES do a mock return in TurboTax (or comparable program) and seriously change your withholding. It's ridiculous to wait all year to get all of that money back. 

I want to owe or get back a few hundred bucks each year - any more and your withholding is wrong.

You're wasting money paying interest on your debt while the government holds your money.

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Agree with doing a sample return - I find that trying to do an "eyeball" guess of what a return will look like usually misses something I didn't think of.

I would argue it's not universally wrong to get more than a few hundred back in a refund to pad swings in AGI, though there are probably extremes, of which I'll admit I'm one. You'd probably scream at me if you knew I got 5-figure refunds 4 of the last 5 years (and to be fair, that 5th year I missed with only a $9k refund), but I'm fine with that because it does pad the wild swings my AGI can take from year to year so I know I will not owe come April.

I'm happy staying single-0-while-married-with-kids until circumstances force me to change, not that I expect the IRS to start penalizing me for paying too much tax each year.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I want to owe or get back a few hundred bucks each year - any more and your withholding is wrong.

You're wasting money paying interest on your debt while the government holds your money.

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Just doing my part so that they can operate efficiantly, and they seem to need the interest more than I do. I'm not trillions in debt. lol

Plus i like getting a lump some at teh end of the year, because I'm kind of terrible at putting funds away via the Paychecks. So i just take my refund and deposit it all at once.

[Revelate]

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@iced wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

YES do a mock return in TurboTax (or comparable program) and seriously change your withholding. It's ridiculous to wait all year to get all of that money back. 

I want to owe or get back a few hundred bucks each year - any more and your withholding is wrong.

You're wasting money paying interest on your debt while the government holds your money.

---

Agree with doing a sample return - I find that trying to do an "eyeball" guess of what a return will look like usually misses something I didn't think of.

I would argue it's not universally wrong to get more than a few hundred back in a refund to pad swings in AGI, though there are probably extremes, of which I'll admit I'm one. You'd probably scream at me if you knew I got 5-figure refunds 4 of the last 5 years (and to be fair, that 5th year I missed with only a $9k refund), but I'm fine with that because it does pad the wild swings my AGI can take from year to year so I know I will not owe come April.

I'm happy staying single-0-while-married-with-kids until circumstances force me to change, not that I expect the IRS to start penalizing me for paying too much tax each year.

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Hrm, is it just at your strata that it doesn't matter fractional interest on 10K or whatever?

You wind up having to do quarterly payments anyway if you're off by a bunch.  Probably earned on the order of 1800ish (napkin math on portfolio performance over the first half of the year) by underwithholding a lot and making 5k payments every quarter to make up the ~20k shortfall if both gigs had run to completion this year.

Swings in AGI can be managed that way too every 3 months.

[iced]

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@Revelate wrote:

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@iced wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

YES do a mock return in TurboTax (or comparable program) and seriously change your withholding. It's ridiculous to wait all year to get all of that money back. 

I want to owe or get back a few hundred bucks each year - any more and your withholding is wrong.

You're wasting money paying interest on your debt while the government holds your money.

---

Agree with doing a sample return - I find that trying to do an "eyeball" guess of what a return will look like usually misses something I didn't think of.

I would argue it's not universally wrong to get more than a few hundred back in a refund to pad swings in AGI, though there are probably extremes, of which I'll admit I'm one. You'd probably scream at me if you knew I got 5-figure refunds 4 of the last 5 years (and to be fair, that 5th year I missed with only a $9k refund), but I'm fine with that because it does pad the wild swings my AGI can take from year to year so I know I will not owe come April.

I'm happy staying single-0-while-married-with-kids until circumstances force me to change, not that I expect the IRS to start penalizing me for paying too much tax each year.

---

Hrm, is it just at your strata that it doesn't matter fractional interest on 10K or whatever?

You wind up having to do quarterly payments anyway if you're off by a bunch.  Probably earned on the order of 1800ish (napkin math on portfolio performance over the first half of the year) by underwithholding a lot and making 5k payments every quarter to make up the ~20k shortfall if both gigs had run to completion this year.

Swings in AGI can be managed that way too every 3 months.

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Honestly, I'm not sure what strata we would be considered.

That said, the interest on $10-20k over the course of a year doesn't make a difference, and it's likely going to be invested or spent anyway so there's at most a year of opportunity cost lost.

On the other hand, each year we tend to have some payout, special dividend, or other amount that ranges from $20k-60k which isn't taxed at time of payment, so the overpayment pads that without having to think about estimated payments. It also allows us to sell small amounts of stock without worrying about the tax consequences there, either. Of course, if we were to cash out half a million for a down payment on a home or other expense, that overpayment isn't going to cover the entire gap so we'd still be stuck with an estimated payment.

That $10-20k isn't stopping us from capping out other tax-advantaged plans, saving additional amounts in after-tax accounts, and still meeting living expenses, so its not adversely affecting us. If we were to get to a point where we really needed an extra $1,000/month, though, we could re-assess.