What are your Plans?

[DebbieL]

My goal (as always) is to not get a refund (or very little). I can never understand the mindset of people who want to give the government an interest free loan for a year. I'm not that fond of them myself, lol.

PS - I'm in Canada, so a different government than most of you.

[kilapapipa]

It is a common misconception that you can only claim the number of exemptions that match the size of your family. That isn't true. You can claim any number you want. A single person could claim 3 exemptions if that's what it takes to make the numbers work. A married couple with 2 children (so 4 people in the household) could claim 6 exemptions if that's what makes them come out pretty even on taxes. It isn't lying and isn't illegal in any way.

I used to get a refund and I talked to someone who claimed a percentage. Since my wife and I both teach, our income is very steady so I figured out the percentage that was being taken out and just started dropping it for a few years until we broke about even on taxes. As we had children, I was able to drop the % more. Lately, we got raises that moved us into the next highest tax bracket so I had to up the % a bit. You just write in a percent instead of a withholding number.

[Snave]

I don't know how things will work out this year for us. Last year we only had our mortgage for a few months b/c of a move and building of the new home, so I jacked up my exemptions this year knowing we would have the mortgage write-off. I did the math at the beginning of the year when I was messing with my paychecks and exemtions to try to maximize my pay and minimize my refund.

[cash330]

I don't expect much, but what I do get will go towards saving towards a down-payment on a house. I look forward to going from college student to homeowner.