How much was your tax return and what did you do with the money?

Does kittens count? I have two of those !

 

Man, those mail order Russian brides are getting expensive.

 

I think the ones from souteast asia are cheaper these days. But I guess he wanted a blonde.

 

I'll be finishing mine this week. I expect to pay.

For those of you getting "refunds" are you getting them simply because you under-paid during the year? Because then you're just blowing your money away on funds you really aren't being "given" but rather on funds you let the government borrow for a while.

 

It seems somehow I'm getting screwed because - from what I've been told, and please correct me if I'm wrong - I deduct the $3000 I contributed into the Roth IRA from my annual income. Something along those lines (as far as what I can tell) is the difference between paying the gubment a check in 4 days vs. holding out my hand and demanding a fistful of cash.

 

You don't deduct anything for the Roth.

Roth IRA is with after-tax $ versus a traditional IRA (which may or may not be tax deductible based on income limits).

Let's assume you can deduct the $3,000 from income using a traditional IRA. Let's also assume that account grows to $20,000 in 20 years. You take that money out, you will be taxed on the entire $20,000.

If you put the $3,000 in a Roth IRA, you don't get a tax deduction. However, when the account grows to $20,000 and you take it out then, you pay $0 taxes.

The key determinants (other than meeting the income pre-requisites) are: how long you grow the money, and projected tax brackets now and in the future ( a guess obviously).

 

how are you having to pay now that you own your own home?

 

Okay, thanks all for bearing with my ignorance. This is the first year I'm including a Roth IRA into my portfolio, so I'm new and confused. Seriously, thanks for bearing with me gang.

I understand the part about INTEREST and how it affects my tax return. The part that's messing me up is CONTRIBUTIONS. Last year, I started this Roth IRA with a $3,000 contribution. My mom ... er, accountant ( ) said that I need to take the $3,000 out of my taxable income ... which I don't quite understand, 'cause it's income and I paid taxes on it. And I'm not even real certain how this has negatively impacted my tax return, but as it stands right now, supposedly I owe the gubment a couple bills and I'd prefer to not give them money - especially if they aren't entitled to it. Mom, CPA (she's not really a CPA) mentioned if I didn't have this Roth IRA I'd be coming out ahead ...

 

Well, first I need to file... hey, it's only Monday. Then, after several weeks, I'll know what to do with the return. If there is one.

 

I calculated this weekend I owed about $1,500. Then I realized I missed some deductions and now I only owe about $1,000.

 

Im sure your mom's a wonderful person but she has done a very poor job of explaining this to you.

What she might mean is that if you contributed to a deductible IRA in lieu of a Roth IRA, you would receive a tax deduction (this may or may not be true depending on whether you have a qualified plan at work and your income). A Roth contribution does not in and of itself affect how much taxes you pay.

 

okay the reason i'm mad that i owe is because i thought i had paid enough already in estimated taxes so i thought i was free and clear. unfortunately i forgot about the grand i got from the ChE dept at graduation and 2 grand i had in dividends/capital gains that took me from probably getting a refund to owing $341 (including the massive $7 penalty b/c i always hold off on paying estimated taxes until the 4th due date in january). so i suppose i should be glad i screwed them outta $341 for as long as possible but am mad b/c i thought i had already figured out that i had pretty much paid the right amount already.

 

and yes, if you put 3k in a Roth, then just ignore it and calculate your taxes as if you didn't do anything with the 3k. if you put it in a traditional IRA, then you can deduct the 3k from your income and then calculate your taxes.

 

I owed 13k. Not fun.

 

Congragulations, I hope one day I can owe that much, because that would mean I have lots of income!

 

i just filed taxes for 2002, 2003, 2004...

turns out I owe the state of NY but Im geting some Federal back.

all in all over the last three years, I am up 93 ducks.

(if the IRS doesnt coming asking for interest)

 

Ha 400 back.

 

I got back $518. $17 from the state. Saved it in the checking account.

 

im getting a little over 800, which isnt too bad....


my boss is gettin 17,000. yes that right, $17,000. he has 3 adopted kids, so that helps.

 

I would have gotten somewhere between 2 and 8 bucks back, so I just didn't file.