2 Certain Things...
So, you've probably heard of the saying... "There are 2 things certain in life... Death and Taxes"??? Well, it's THAT time of the year again... And while I used to ALWAYS look forward to this time of the year, (Oooh, NOT THE WEATHER) Taxes time I mean--because I always got some refund, it's TOTALLY different this year... I'm married now... and well, I thought since we're married and filing jointly that we're getting more refund back... WRONG!!!... Worse, actually--> We got slapped with what the IRS dubs as the "marriage penalty." Aaaggh!!!
So, instead of getting a refund... WE STILL owe Uncle Sam!!! Hmmm... how strange is it that I got a big refund last year and getting ZIP this time? (and same goes with Rob!)... You'd think they would give married couples a break? I mean, it doesn't make sense AT ALL! It's as if the system works towards the benefit of couples who co-habitate instead of getting married... or even divorcees!!! And you wonder why the U.S. has the highest divorce rates and the highest percentages of non-married couples living together??? Why... I think I just answered THAT question... It all comes down to taxes!!! LOL...
It's not even enough that they already took out a huge chunk of our paychecks every period... we still have to pay! Apparently, Rob and I made too much last year? Oh, please... give us a BREAK! They SHOULD look at taxes by age group as well... Ok, so we made a lot more than what our peers are currently making, but they overlook the fact that we are ONLY in our 20s!!! GEEZ!... And in this case, it's actually a bad idea for us to be planning "financial stability" first before having kids, because we get penalized for being married and having NO kids too!!!
But there were several factors that determined what our final bill was... and well, after tallying these up, it doesn't seem so bad afterall...
Perhaps you haven't done your taxes yet... (well, you have until April 15th)!!! You can either use Turbo Tax like we did and talk to an expert (mom helped us with ours... she's a CPA!!!), or you can check off the following deductions (which applied to Rob and I):
* Mortgage interest* Real Estate/Property taxes
* Sales tax for major purchases, such as cars, etc.
* Roth IRA or IRA contributions (which I have in ING... NOTE: 401K plans do not qualify!!!)
* Charitable contributions (such as clothes donated to Goodwill, volunteer hours and United Way or FSEC donations)
* Religious contributions (which we donated to the church where we got married at!)
* Tax preparations (i.e. Turbo Tax, H&R Block, etc.)
* Investment Expenses (i.e. Broker fees)
... And here are others which did not apply to us (Talk to a tax expert because these are with CERTAIN LIMITATIONS!!!):
* Medical bills* Child care expenses
* Gambling losses
* Hybrid car credit
* Job-related expenses which were not reimbursed by your company (i.e. Travel, food and lodging)
* Education at the College level or Continuing education (i.e. Grad school, Microsoft courses)
* Business-related expenses (if you're self-employed)
* ... and I'm sure there are a lot more!
In other news... I've sent out the invitations to Rob's karaoke party at our house on the 17th! Now, it's time to plan the menu... Mama, mom and I are doing all the cooking! It's going to be a lot of fun... We're expecting about 50-60 people... I'm just going to have to convince Rob to sing at least once!!! LOL... Good Luck to me :-)
So, what've we been up to lately, you ask? I know I haven't written much about what we've been doing and stuff... It's just been really really busy. It seems like I eat and breath basketball lately... Rob and my brothers have 2 games every week and when they're not playing, FSU has 2 home games every week and you can ALWAYS find us there... Other than work and pretty much relaxing when we're off work, there's really not much going on... Well, Valentine's day is coming up and Rob told me he'd love to cook for me... haha! I've been cooking almost every night, so he probably thought I should be getting some break that day... LOL We'll see... It's been a couple of years since he last surprised me with a 3-course meal which he prepared from scratch while mom walked him through on the phone :-)
And like I said on my other post, I've been catching up on my reading. I've finished "The Mermaid Chair" and am now reading "The Memory Keeper's Daughter." Great books, by the way, if you haven't read them yet... Well, I guess I'm off to another basketball game in a few!!! Hope you have a great week--what's left of it anyway :p
So, instead of getting a refund... WE STILL owe Uncle Sam!!! Hmmm... how strange is it that I got a big refund last year and getting ZIP this time? (and same goes with Rob!)... You'd think they would give married couples a break? I mean, it doesn't make sense AT ALL! It's as if the system works towards the benefit of couples who co-habitate instead of getting married... or even divorcees!!! And you wonder why the U.S. has the highest divorce rates and the highest percentages of non-married couples living together??? Why... I think I just answered THAT question... It all comes down to taxes!!! LOL...
It's not even enough that they already took out a huge chunk of our paychecks every period... we still have to pay! Apparently, Rob and I made too much last year? Oh, please... give us a BREAK! They SHOULD look at taxes by age group as well... Ok, so we made a lot more than what our peers are currently making, but they overlook the fact that we are ONLY in our 20s!!! GEEZ!... And in this case, it's actually a bad idea for us to be planning "financial stability" first before having kids, because we get penalized for being married and having NO kids too!!!
But there were several factors that determined what our final bill was... and well, after tallying these up, it doesn't seem so bad afterall...
Perhaps you haven't done your taxes yet... (well, you have until April 15th)!!! You can either use Turbo Tax like we did and talk to an expert (mom helped us with ours... she's a CPA!!!), or you can check off the following deductions (which applied to Rob and I):
* Mortgage interest* Real Estate/Property taxes
* Sales tax for major purchases, such as cars, etc.
* Roth IRA or IRA contributions (which I have in ING... NOTE: 401K plans do not qualify!!!)
* Charitable contributions (such as clothes donated to Goodwill, volunteer hours and United Way or FSEC donations)
* Religious contributions (which we donated to the church where we got married at!)
* Tax preparations (i.e. Turbo Tax, H&R Block, etc.)
* Investment Expenses (i.e. Broker fees)
... And here are others which did not apply to us (Talk to a tax expert because these are with CERTAIN LIMITATIONS!!!):
* Medical bills* Child care expenses
* Gambling losses
* Hybrid car credit
* Job-related expenses which were not reimbursed by your company (i.e. Travel, food and lodging)
* Education at the College level or Continuing education (i.e. Grad school, Microsoft courses)
* Business-related expenses (if you're self-employed)
* ... and I'm sure there are a lot more!
In other news... I've sent out the invitations to Rob's karaoke party at our house on the 17th! Now, it's time to plan the menu... Mama, mom and I are doing all the cooking! It's going to be a lot of fun... We're expecting about 50-60 people... I'm just going to have to convince Rob to sing at least once!!! LOL... Good Luck to me :-)
So, what've we been up to lately, you ask? I know I haven't written much about what we've been doing and stuff... It's just been really really busy. It seems like I eat and breath basketball lately... Rob and my brothers have 2 games every week and when they're not playing, FSU has 2 home games every week and you can ALWAYS find us there... Other than work and pretty much relaxing when we're off work, there's really not much going on... Well, Valentine's day is coming up and Rob told me he'd love to cook for me... haha! I've been cooking almost every night, so he probably thought I should be getting some break that day... LOL We'll see... It's been a couple of years since he last surprised me with a 3-course meal which he prepared from scratch while mom walked him through on the phone :-)
And like I said on my other post, I've been catching up on my reading. I've finished "The Mermaid Chair" and am now reading "The Memory Keeper's Daughter." Great books, by the way, if you haven't read them yet... Well, I guess I'm off to another basketball game in a few!!! Hope you have a great week--what's left of it anyway :p
posted by Kerstin Joy Walling | 2/06/2007 04:59:00 PM
1 Comments:
ok, weird, number 1 ruco and i owe this year as well. im so sad because we were both just expecting a big return, and were so surprised that we owed money...bummer! secondly, im almost done with the memory keepers daughter, i cant put it down and have read it all day today! its making me kind of sad because it just seems like norah is always so sad, but i still cant put it down. ok, thats all. haha! youll have to let me know when you finish, and ill do the same so we can DISCUSS!
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