Why are fewer people getting refunds?

[dustoffer]

I don’t want to get a refund—I don’t want the gov’t to have anymore of my money interest-free. I paid a little over $1100 this year and that is money in my account and not Brandon’s.

[Dr. Evil]

Straight consumption tax of 15-20% on everything except primary residence should be implemented and IRS eliminated. This way rich drug dealers and all other nefarious characters have to pay their fair share with everything they buy.

[friscopaint]

Definitely some changes have been made.....wife was doing ours, personal, farm and business and I kept telling her that can't be right you have to be missing something.......no idea but it just stopped with more deductions doing nothing.........no telling what they have slipped in on us.......and how would we ever know.

[Greenheadless]

I don’t want to get a refund—I don’t want the gov’t to have anymore of my money interest-free. I paid a little over $1100 this year and that is money in my account and not Brandon’s.

Dis guy gets it.

[Greenheadless]

Straight consumption tax of 15-20% on everything except primary residence should be implemented and IRS eliminated. This way rich drug dealers and all other nefarious characters have to pay their fair share with everything they buy.

Where do you get 15-20% from?

[Blueduck]

Hey everyone has to pay to feed the illegals and college is free for most.

[60 Deluxe]

I think that the Democrats let the Trump tax cut expire. You know, the one that was a handout to the rich folks.

[Throwin Darts]

I don’t think many people understand that what matters is the total tax paid, not whether or not you got a refund.

[dustoffer]

I don’t think many people understand that what matters is the total tax paid, not whether or not you got a refund.

Absolute truth!

[E.TX.BOWHUNTER]

I would love for everyone to write 1 check on tax day, but move tax day to the day before Election Day.

I can dream can’t I?

[jerp]

I don’t think many people understand that what matters is the total tax paid, not whether or not you got a refund.

Exactly. The self employed and retired folks are generally well aware of how much they are paying in taxes. However I would bet that a significant percentage of those who are only paying taxes through payroll deduction have any idea what that number is - they just spend whatever lands in their bank account every two weeks via direct deposit.

[Matador]

Exactly. The self employed and retired folks are generally well aware of how much they are paying in taxes. However I would bet that a significant percentage of those who are only paying taxes through payroll deduction have any idea what that number is - they just spend whatever lands in their bank account every two weeks via direct deposit.

Didn't you know self employed people/rich people and business owners have "right offs" and don't pay their fair share of taxes?

[cehorn]

I think part of the issue is the new w4 form. It used to be a pretty simple form to calculate withholding. Now you have to have an accounting degree to figure it out. My wife still hasn't been able to figure it out and has underpaid three years in a row. Several other teachers at her school messed up the form as well and no federal taxes were deducted from their pay. I don't even know how that happens.

This happened to us and then almost happened again.

My wife switched districts a couple of years ago and the new district never took taxes out. She got a raise, etc so never noticed that her paycheck was high or that taxes weren't taken out. Luckily I still got a refund rather than having to pay (yes, I understand the whole interest free loan to the government but that isn't my hill) because I have extra taken out of my check. The next year we just had $300 taken out of her paycheck rather than try to correct the form and everything was back to normal.

Then, this year it almost happened to me. My company got bought out and when everything was switched over to the new company my first paycheck was $400 higher. This happened the same paycheck as annual raises, etc. so nobody else noticed. But, I had figured out what my paycheck should be with my new raise, etc. and thus noticed the $400 difference. I emailed HR and they said everything was correct multiple times after going back and forth. I kept after them knowing it wasn't and that if I didn't get it corrected it would be a $9k difference at the end of the year. We finally figured out there is a box to check on the new W4 saying my wife also works. Checking that and having HR recalculate my paycheck resulted in it being within $20 of what I had calculated. If I hadn't been paying attention or took HR's word for it next year I would likely have owed $7k instead of getting a $2k refund. That would have been a kick in the nuts and all due to a change in forms and not having 1 box checked properly (I never saw the form when the forms were transferred from company to company).

Exactly. The self employed and retired folks are generally well aware of how much they are paying in taxes. However I would bet that a significant percentage of those who are only paying taxes through payroll deduction have any idea what that number is - they just spend whatever lands in their bank account every two weeks via direct deposit.

I'm guilty of this a lot of times. I usually look every year when I file how much I ended up paying but then I go back to worrying about what each paycheck is....

[Chad_E]

It is truly disturbing how much my wife and I paid Uncle Sam this past year. I guess one way to look at it is to say we are blessed with good careers. The other is pure fury for how our money is used (aka, wasted).

...but, hey, I got a refund of $5k....

[Leemo]

Self employment…….
that’s where it’s at !