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I made over 130K last year...

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I have not done my taxes yet, but think I will be owing about $5K due to interest and dividends and some capital gains. There is no tax withheld during the year on a brokerage account and I prefer not to pay estimated tax, if I can avoid it. Will see what my CPA says when he starts on them in late March.
Can't do it earlier as K1 forms do not come out until then.
 
Pliablemoose said:
You've heard how to turn a Democrat into a Republican?

Make them earn and save $100K.

Worked like a charm for me.
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LOL Yeah, when you're young, idealistic, and don't have squat, it's easy to think that everyone should share for the betterment of everyone else. Once you start making real money, see where a lot of it is going in taxes, and still feel as though you don't have squat, it's easy to drop that liberal stance! 😉
 
vi edit said:
:awe:

That summed up my Tuesday night.

100k and above proper fucks you on deductions/credits. Student loan interest...gone. Roth IRA's start getting phased out. Child credits gone.
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we went the other way this year, year 1 of stay at home mom and two kids, no more firstworldproblems?!? hah. ironically, with the kid tax credits and subsequent changes to the w4 exemptions, we still bring home about the same amount of money as before.
 
airdata said:
LOL...

He needs to make 100 times that to be close to being a 1%er : D


Wonder if he's going to pay a higher percentage tax than Mitt Romney?
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i can say i paid far less this year pecentagewise than mitt romney.. that doesnt mean i dont aspire to be in his fiscal shoes however.
 
What a ridiculous tax system. You pay almost nothing in taxes at the bottom. Then it fucking SKYROCKETS after 100k, to the point of people making a single million in a year paying upwards of 50%. But then as you start raking in hundreds of millions that percentage drops like a rock.

Sure does suck being in the middle.
 
Yes, say goodbye to most credits and deductions once you start making real money. I see so many bs posts about how much they make yet they claim they deduct student loan interests. Same with Roth IRA.
 
The OP would probably smack the tea party guy who's wearing a t-shirt that says "freedom isn't free".
 
Wife pulled in 296k last year and the amount of taxes we paid was sick... CPA is doing it for us as we have to deal with amt...
 
For the record, 1%er starts at ~$350k

ponyo said:
Yes, say goodbye to most credits and deductions once you start making real money. I see so many bs posts about how much they make yet they claim they deduct student loan interests. Same with Roth IRA.
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I agree with your assessment that most posters are talking out of their butts.

However, it depends if you are talking gross or AGI. With deductions, you can make significantly more gross without losing the ability to claim those deductions. In the following example, I am assuming married status, as that is what I file and I'm not looking up the single status numbers.

Example - These are deductions my wife and I make:
Max 401(k)s: +$34k ($33k last year, of course)
Mortgage Interest: +$10k
Qualified Educational Expense: +$4k
Medical Insurance Premium: +$2.5k

Additional ones you can take (that I know of off the top of my head):
Dependent Care: +$5k
Flex Account: +$5k

That's not even scratching the surface of tax deductions, and you are looking at over $60k in deductions not including student loan interest. RothIRA starts phasing out at $159k, so with these deductions, you could be grossing $219k and still be fully qualified for your Roth.
 
steppinthrax said:
Just did my taxes last night. I'm so pissed how much tax I'm going to have to pay. I'm no longer eligibile for many deductions. I haven't even gotten to the AMT part yet!!!!!! Depending how this pans out I might switch political parties.....
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That's what you get for working for your money. Someone has to pay for that 15% capital gains tax rate for unearned income. Mitt Romney thanks you for the subsidy.
 
Lower-paying jobs are always available, which might let you get out of taxes completely. 😛

Or of course, make it up to the higher income levels so you can afford good accountants to get you (mostly) out of taxes that way.


I'd like to try a progressive tax, except it won't have brackets. It would be equation-driven. 😀
Plug in income, get out tax rate. Done. No funky brackets to play with.
 
ponyo said:
Yes, say goodbye to most credits and deductions once you start making real money. I see so many bs posts about how much they make yet they claim they deduct student loan interests. Same with Roth IRA.
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Yep. Most all deductions are phased out and you have very few left you can take. Then creeps in AMT.
 
halik said:
Which deductions are you not qualified for?

My comp is coming in at a bit more than that, no idea what I'll owe/ can write off. So far I've got a job related move, grad school loan interest and taxes paid last year. Possibly sales tax paid on a car I bought in Feb.

You're looking at like 30K in federal right?
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You start losing child credits, childcare credits, and Schedule A deductions can actually be reduced. That's on top of the AMT.

But, you know, you shouldn't whine about it because obviously you are not paying your fair share. Think of all of the services you benefit from that allow you to make that $130K. And think of all of the services lower income folks can't/don't utilize because they don't make enough money. Wait, does that make sense?
 
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alent1234 said:
i'm personally through with turbo tax. it's like $50 to use it, plus filing fee plus state and if you want the audit add on it's extra.

$150 for a CPA is just close enough for me to use a CPA like I did last year for the first time in years
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TaxAct works well for me. I think it is about $15 for 1 State and Federal filing with eFile for both.
 
Elbryn said:
we went the other way this year, year 1 of stay at home mom and two kids, no more firstworldproblems?!? hah. ironically, with the kid tax credits and subsequent changes to the w4 exemptions, we still bring home about the same amount of money as before.
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If I made $40k instead of $60k it'd be worth it for me to stay home. It'd drop us a tax bracket, take off a $1500 a month daycare bill, and just be easier on everyone in the morning and scheduling. But I'm over the hump in terms of payoff. And when you factor in retirement benefits, and ability to be re-employed at the same level after taking a 5 year break it just wasn't in the mix.
 
I remember when I got my first job. My return just got smaller...then i got a raise, the next return got even smaller...

Meanwhile, my fiancee made less than me, but she got bigger refunds. In the end, a 20K difference in salary was not really a 20K difference in salary.
 
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