I know in years past I have found that going with the default witholding had me way over-withheld. But my tax situation is different also -- I'm a single head of household with two kids and a business... so. I started putting 15 deductions on my W2, which worked well until someone in an HR somewhere once decided that nobody *really* had 15 deductions. Since I am not in favor of lending Uncle Sam money at no interest I was not happy, especially as it took a while to convince the woman that I really did know what I was doing.
On 2/22/07, G Money <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 2/22/07, William Bowen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > That's odd, I've always operated under the principle that fewer > > allowances == higher withholding. > > > It does! When filing Single, your company withholds the full tax percentage > to cover everything you owe. If you claim allowances, the withholdings are > less, but if you itemize, you can make that difference up and still end up > with money at the end of the year. So generally, you are balancing your > allowances vs. your deductions to ensure you are where you want to be at the > end of the year. > > Once you change that status from Single to Married though, it throws the > whole thing into a shit spiral because suddenly your withholding percentage > is drastically reduced...right off the top. But what you actually OWE in > taxes, is NOT. Now it's becomes impossible for your deductions to make up > for your allowances, because there now is a huge gap between what you owe, > and what you've paid. > > It came as a frickin' shock to me. Make sure it doesn't happen to you. If > you have filed as Married, you'll want to check your Federal withholdings on > your next paystub, extrapolate that out for the entire year to get an idea > of what your percentage withholding is, then compare that with your tax > bracket %, adjusted for your deductions. > > > With a wife and two kids, I'm supposed to claim something on order of > > 9 allowances or the like--this according to the IRS calculator. > > > That can work out just fine if your deductions make up for your allowances. > That "Married" thing can really throw this off though...as I just discovered > :/ > > Not being one to trust gubmint math I claim "4" on my W-4 and have > > Married checked. Prolly should look into that, re-file my W-4 > > > Do it. Go to www.irs.gov and run through their W4 calculator. My wife and I > both filed as married, claiming only ONE allowance, and our estimated > shorfall for 2007 was over FOUR GRAND. > > sucks dude... > > > > also, how are you doing your taxes? paper and pencil? or turbotax? > > > > I've been using turbotax (basic) online for the last 4 years and love > > it! love it!! love it!!! > > > > My dad is a trained VITA (voluntary income tax preparer) for H&R Block...so > he's done my taxes for me for years. Problem is, i just hand him my tax info > at the end of the year and he runs the numbers for me. My only change on my > 2006 W4 was the marital status. There is no way it should have had the > drastic affect it did...and the only way my dad would have known if would > have been if i'd given him one of my pay stubs during the year...which > didn't seem necessary. > > Oh well...thanks for lettin' me vent. > > -- > She's a PhD in "I told you so" > You've a knighthood in "I'm not listening" > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Macromedia ColdFusion MX7 Upgrade to MX7 & experience time-saving features, more productivity. http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:228672 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
