Did you break even on taxes?

[riverwed070707]

Advice here is always to adjust your withholding so you come out even -- no free loan to the gov't and don't owe a big chucnk at once. So how'd you come out??

I was within $30... until I realized DH still qualified for the American Opportunity Credit or whatever its called because he was a FT student last spring. We ended up with a nice refund (about $2500), which I guess I can't complain about but I thought I was getting good at this! haha. On the plus side, cheers to knocking out 2 student loans instead of 1!

[bjl584]

I will find out how well I guessed in a few days.

Last year I owed around $1200.

[twest]

I need to change mine so we won't get back so much We got $4300.00 back. I did use it for a good thing. I fully funded my Roth for 2012.

[phantom]

We owe $1700 this year. It's going to be painful to part with that much money all at once, but not painful enough to get me to actually get me to make sure it doesn't happen again next year.

[riverwed070707]

I need to change mine so we won't get back so much We got $4300.00 back. I did use it for a good thing. I fully funded my Roth for 2012.

Good use of it! I was on the fence about this because I don't have a hard time throwing extra $$ toward debt through out the year -- if I get an unplanned bonus or OT it goes to something that needs to be paid off or general savings, I never use it to further fun our Roths. Only contributed $1200 to DHs roth for 2012. BUT we're a little ahead on retirement and ultimately I decided I'd feel better about getting rid of the SLs than having a fully funded Roth. Look forward to next year when there won't be anything left to pay off and it will be an obvious choice

[disneysteve]

I haven't even begun to work on my taxes so I haven't got a clue. Hopefully in the next week or so I'll be able to carve out some time to do that. We usually end up with a refund larger than I'd like because of some one-time event that I couldn't possibly have predicted a year in advance so changing my withholding wouldn't have made any sense. We'll see what this year brings.

[greenskeeper]

Normally +/- $200 or so, this year however...

We are getting a really large refund, due to 2nd child and wife only working 3/4 of the year.

So now to decide where to put the money....hmmm.

[breathemusic]

I got back about $1400 but half of that was from state taxes that I added in extra withholding since I owed last year, but then for one reason or another that was too much this year. I'd rather get money back that owe it, but I usually try to keep it from being that high of a refund.

[kork13]

I filed my taxes last week, and ended up with a $1900 refund -- I think the largest refund I've ever received since I started filing my own taxes ~6 years ago. I tried to adjust my withholding in August or so to prevent a big refund, but I guess I didn't do enough. The biggest factors for me were a few months of tax-free pay while deployed, moving back to the US from Japan this summer, and also buying a home in September.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I had an idea for preventing a big refund in future years... As long as I have withheld (for 2013) at least the amount of my total 2012 taxes due (after all deductions/credits/etc.), I won't be charged penalties for under-withholding and owing come next year? I know that I'm going to have a much higher income in 2013 (significant promotion this summer), so my thought is if I set it up to withhold about the same amount as my 2012 tax bill, I know I'll end up owing taxes next year, but I'll have successfully prevented a refund. (and yes, there would definitely be money to pay the tax bill next year--no worries there). Sooo.... is that a crazy idea?

[cascade11]

I deliberately over-withold so I have the option to purchase an additional $5,000 in savings I-Bonds per year in paper form when I file my returns. (total of $15,000 per year including $10,000 in electronic form)

[lindsay06]

I will get back $1200 for the second year in a row, woo hoo!

[wjcalderon]

This year I got $83 Federal and $194 State.

A few years back I got $50 from one and owed the other $48!

[Caoineag]

Ended up getting a refund but, since it can go either way for us every year, I start forecasting in the fall to try to keep us from owing an underpayment penalty.

[MonkeyMama]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I had an idea for preventing a big refund in future years... As long as I have withheld (for 2013) at least the amount of my total 2012 taxes due (after all deductions/credits/etc.), I won't be charged penalties for under-withholding and owing come next year? I know that I'm going to have a much higher income in 2013 (significant promotion this summer), so my thought is if I set it up to withhold about the same amount as my 2012 tax bill, I know I'll end up owing taxes next year, but I'll have successfully prevented a refund. (and yes, there would definitely be money to pay the tax bill next year--no worries there). Sooo.... is that a crazy idea?

Not crazy. Safe harbor rules for those with unpredictable income or with windfalls. If income is higher, the rule is 110%+. So you may want to look up if you need to withhold 100% or 110%. This makes life easy.

[MonkeyMama]

I thought we would owe $1,000, but ended up being about $600.

Our taxes are pretty boring and simple, BUT deductions can be rather unpredictable. I have not changed my withholdings in eons, and we had a decent refund a couple of years ago (lots of medical deductions).

For 2013 I did change my withholdings as we have a lot of downward pressures on our deductions. I'd just like to not owe more than $1,000 and to not to be penalized.

Our state has a habit of being insolvent, and so I try not to get refunds from the state.