TAX question (owe too much upon filing)

[tigerwoodsyall]

Yes you could depending on how much money you make and other things.

Why not try to see if your itemized deductions are higher than your standard? Might be hard if you dont own a home to pay mortgage int. but it's worth a shot maybe? since your standard ded. I am assuming is 5450 it might not be hard to get your itemized deductions higher than that.

It really depends though on how much you made, deductions, etc...

[tigerwoodsyall]

Originally Posted by redwine

Well, I used a cpa twice and got little back but after using turbo tax I got lots back so I guess it depends?

Screw using a CPA if your tax return is simple. If you own a business it might be a diff. story though.

I am working at Jackson Hewitt right now and you won't beleive how easy some of the returns I get I almost feel sorry for these poor souls who will get charged a buttload for something they could have prob. done if they are half decent at following directions.

[redwine]

Originally Posted by tigerwoodsyall

Screw using a CPA if your tax return is simple. If you own a business it might be a diff. story though.

I am working at Jackson Hewitt right now and you won't beleive how easy some of the returns I get I almost feel sorry for these poor souls who will get charged a buttload for something they could have prob. done if they are half decent at following directions.

And I think thats the problem right there. People can't read or follow directions so they rather pay somebody to do it for them. I think turbo tax is really easy and covers everything. But as you said, if you return is complicated, if you own a business then I would invest in a cpa again.

[janetvj]

Unless you have a very complicated return - capital gains, net operating losses, business income or loss, etc., you do not need a CPA. Most people of average intelligence will be fine with one of the tax software applications. Also, there are a lot of unscrupulous tax preparers out there. Any preparer who promises a refund is to be avoided. Run like hell. By the time the tax people catch up with you the preparer is long gone, and you will be responsible for the tax plus substantial interest and penalty.

[foma]

Originally Posted by myanna555

HI

I only have 1 job where on my W2 I claim ZERO exemptions, for both Fed and CA income taxes. And after this year for some weird reason I calcuated on Turbotax with the standard deduction that I owe around 200 to the Fed and around 800 bux to the state
Is it even possible that a person who pays taxes every month with zero exemptions can owe such big amount of money??? I am shocked. Please let me know.... Shall I go to some financial institution?

thank you
Anna

If all you have is one W-2, you should be able to do your own taxes. Turbo Tax is easy to use. Did you put into Turbo Tax how much money was taken out of your paycheck to pay for taxes? That would be Box #2 on your W-2 (and Box #17 for state taxes withheld).

Depending on how much you made, it is possible that you will still owe. Plus, I hear that CA taxes are pretty bad so I am not surprised. Take it from someone who has already paid $20K in taxes and still owe $2k: be happy you owe less than me!

Also you didn't mention anything about the exemption amount. Turbo Tax should have automatically deducted that, however. The formula is essentially like this:

Gross Earnings
- Above the line deductions
= Adjusted Gross Income
- Exemption
- Standard Deduction
= Taxable Income

When you've calculated your taxable income, you can go to the tax table (irs.gov, search for Publication 17) and see how much you should have paid. The difference in "how much you should have paid" versus "how much you actually paid" (Box #2 in your W-2) will render either a refund or tax liability.