I owed about a grand; I may have claimed too many exemptions upfront on my last W-4 and gotten inflated paychecks, plus I moved from income tax state down to Texas mid-year. And Taxcut, HR Block's software; can't do state returns for partial years, so that's an extra pain in dee ace.
I had to pay 14 times as much as I did last year (Thanks, Obama j/k) but that was due to my absurdly low tax rate last year.
I have no withholding at all. I could have bought a nice used car with the check I had to write. However, I greatly prefer working it that way. 10 months of the year, I get the full paycheck for myself. For two months, I shut down and save everything for taxes.
I believe that withholding is one of the great scams the government paid on the people. If folks had to do what you did every year, the govt would be one heck of a lot smaller.
Yah, sometimes it's not so easy for some to get their taxes done correctly in February. Waiting on all of the paperwork from financial institutions can be a major pain in the ass, accountants, etc. I miss the online H&R Block days.
A hedge fund I invest in didn't get me their paperwork until April 8th. Other K-1s from other investment partnerships came in late March. Hence last minute scrambling for bigtexxx. And a mammoth tax bill.
Shouldn't you be making estimated quarterly tax payments? Also...had to write a huge estimated tax payment and file an extension. Too many investment partnerships that only send over estimated numbers in April. Have to wait to actually file over the summer.
Lost my job at the end of January and had to withdraw my entire 401(k). I tried to account for the big tax hit on it but then my tax bracket changed when I got divorced. Had to write a check around $800...