Taxes.. i'm so lost

[jIM_Ohio]

take the amount you got back in a refund ($1000?) and divide by the number of pay periods (12, 24 or 26? ). This is amount you need coming out to be a "0" balance when doing taxes next year.

I would not worry about raise until 2008 taxes are filed.

I believe federal milage allowance is $.415/mile. If company reimbursed less, you can claim the difference.

[bandelove]

Also, about my allowances i'll also be off work for 3 months unpaid. I'll have 2 weeks paid from my vacation. Someone told me i should claim exempt for my last few paychecks.

[creditcardfree]

I'd try this calculator to determine your allowances. You will have a dependent for this year so I think you need to claim at least two. However because of the child tax credit you may need to claim another 2, just for this one child. That brings you up to 4. Most likely you will still get a refund based on that number next year.

Here's the calculator. PaycheckCity.com - Form W-4 Assistant

I like your plan of saving your refund. It's always good to have money set aside. Children come with unexpected expenses, but lots of love.

[anonymous_saver]

Originally Posted by bandelove

What do you suggest i increase my allowances to? My salary is 30k but i'm getting a 6k increase at the end of March. I think right now i'm claiming 1. As for doing my taxes online i ended up using TaxACT and it was easier than i was thinking it was. Pretty straight forward. I cant claim my mileage if i was reimbursed right? I have 2 office locations that i have to travel to 4 times a month and what they reimburse me pretty much covers gas and enough left over for a new set of tires each year.

Also, I have a subsidized loan and just graduated in in Dec so i havent had any interest build up yet since i dont have to pay until around may. I paid off about $2500 as soon as i graduated and i'll pay off the last 2k at the end of my grace period. I'm a saver so i'll be putting whatever i get back from my refund into my ing account.

IRS Withholding Calculator

Go to this link to figure out how many allowances you should be taking for this year. It may be complicated for you, but maybe not since you seem to have a good grasp of your finances.

I would say that off the top of my head you will be able to claim at least 2 or 3 for next year. One for yourself, one for your child, one for being head of household (because you will have a dependent).

You can also go to http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf to use the standard W-4 form to calculate how many allowances/exemptions you should be using.

Good luck.

[creditcardfree]

By looking at the W4 worksheet directly, I think you will want to claim 5. Maybe 6 if Head of Household applies to your situation.

1 yourself
1 single and have only one job
1 dependent
1 if head of household
2 child tax credit ( 2 for each child if income under $55k and single)

maybe more if you itemize.
let us know what figure you get when you try the calculators.

[bandelove]

Thanks for all your advice, you've all helped me out so much. I have a curve ball to throw though. Since i've been in school and just graduated in Dec i was under my moms insurance for medical. However, to maintain benefits i enrolled in online classes and do bare min to avoid getting dropped. My mom just found out that i can have my baby covered under her insurance as well up until age 23 assuming im still in school, but she will have to claim us both as dependants. I can get insurance through my work but it's around $375 a month for the best plan and has a deductable of liike $500 witha max of $2600, i have to double check though. My moms plan has a $100 deductable. Now, we still have to work out the numbers and decide what makes more sense but i was wondering if i were to go with her plan and she claims us both next year, should i still claim 3-5 on my w4 or is that not allowed? She's claiming me this year as a dependant although this confuses me because i'm not putting down that i am a dependant on my taxes. How is this going to effect me? I dont think i'm making much sense so sorr if i have just confused you

[jIM_Ohio]

Originally Posted by bandelove

Thanks for all your advice, you've all helped me out so much. I have a curve ball to throw though. Since i've been in school and just graduated in Dec i was under my moms insurance for medical. However, to maintain benefits i enrolled in online classes and do bare min to avoid getting dropped. My mom just found out that i can have my baby covered under her insurance as well up until age 23 assuming im still in school, but she will have to claim us both as dependants. I can get insurance through my work but it's around $375 a month for the best plan and has a deductable of liike $500 witha max of $2600, i have to double check though. My moms plan has a $100 deductable. Now, we still have to work out the numbers and decide what makes more sense but i was wondering if i were to go with her plan and she claims us both next year, should i still claim 3-5 on my w4 or is that not allowed? She's claiming me this year as a dependant although this confuses me because i'm not putting down that i am a dependant on my taxes. How is this going to effect me? I dont think i'm making much sense so sorr if i have just confused you

Assuming you followed our advice, and the online tax center was answered truthfully (not implying anything, just giving myself a disclaimer), then you have nothing to worry about, tax return wise.

There are two ways to figure out withholdings. One is to figure out the number of allowances based on how others suggested you do that. The other is to take your refund ($1000) and divide it by the number of times you get paid (12,24,26,52?), then go to line on form to withhold this much less in taxes on W-4.

The paycheck city site can do this for you.

[motherof1child]

Great stuff in this post thanks everyone!

[Drumm]

I just ran across this thread and saw so many people mentioning TurboTax and H&R and some others that I thought I would mention the tax help program that I used, it's called TaxBrain. What's great about it, at least in my opinion, is that it's web-based, so you don't have to spend tons of time downloading software that just might slow down your computer. The process is pretty painles with a short questionnaire, and based on your answers they gather all the forms and schedules you'll need. It's an e-file, of course, so your refund comes pretty quickly, too. It's not free but it's definitely a lot cheaper than some of the other tax prep things I've seen. My two cents, anyway.

[Elgin526]

Originally Posted by bandelove

Thanks for all your advice, you've all helped me out so much. I have a curve ball to throw though. Since i've been in school and just graduated in Dec i was under my moms insurance for medical. However, to maintain benefits i enrolled in online classes and do bare min to avoid getting dropped. My mom just found out that i can have my baby covered under her insurance as well up until age 23 assuming im still in school, but she will have to claim us both as dependants. I can get insurance through my work but it's around $375 a month for the best plan and has a deductable of liike $500 witha max of $2600, i have to double check though. My moms plan has a $100 deductable. Now, we still have to work out the numbers and decide what makes more sense but i was wondering if i were to go with her plan and she claims us both next year, should i still claim 3-5 on my w4 or is that not allowed? She's claiming me this year as a dependant although this confuses me because i'm not putting down that i am a dependant on my taxes. How is this going to effect me? I dont think i'm making much sense so sorr if i have just confused you

She can only claim you as a dependent if you qualified as one in 2006. If you did qualify as a dependent, and she claims you, then you need to check the box "yes" when it asks if anyone can claim you as a dependent. Read the IRS rules to figure out if you qualified as a dependent last year. If you don't qualify, she shouldn't claim you and you don't have to answer yes. If she does claim you then she could get into trouble if audited.