I mostly finished my taxes in Turbotax at this point all I need to do is file. From what I see we paid about $4.5k less in taxes this year.

Yeah we paid less but I don't see how this is going to stimulate the economy, on a daily basis I didn't change my spending habits (I'm still a cheap bastard) and I'm just applying more to savings/mortgage principle. And what even sounds weird: with the long term debt issues, I was ok with paying more in taxes, I don't want my kids to be burdened with my debt. Yes its a spending issue not a revenue issue, but they are on the same side of the equation.

It felt weird getting the standard deduction.

Small decrease (< 1%) in effective tax rate. Much of what we might have gained in lower rates was lost due to the cap on state/local income & property taxes. We're getting close to standard deduction territory, except for relatively vigorous charitable giving.

I did go from substantial refund to substantial payment to make; it seems that the way in which withholding is calculated left significantly more money in my paycheck that is now being extracted back by Uncle Sam.

I'm a CPA, this has been a fun discussion to follow (as has been the whole TCJA discussion by politicians and the media).

Fun times :)

One thing is obvious from people bitching and the coverage. No matter what you do with the rates, make sure you fix the holding so people get a bigger refund. All the noise makes it obvious that people equate the amount of a refund directly to the total amount paid.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

I am the except same situation, charitable giving is what gets us over the 24K standard deduction (Married, filing jointly, wife doesn't work)...writing the biggest check I ever written to the govt...trying to figure out the right withholding...1/3 salary, 2/3 commissions/bonus. The jump from 12% to 22/24 is not that big of a leap is punitive comparatively speaking.

+1 . People are morons.

Oh no, I'm getting $500 rebate instead of $2k. No dumb ass, your HR department is doing a better job withholding

Quick question - I see a lot of people complaining in the media about their medical deductions going away- but I cannot find anything supporting medical dedications going away. Can you confirm? (My Mother lives in locked memory care so basically has her whole income offset with medical deductions- which is well above the standard deduction - so this would be a massive shock to her finances). I’m still waiting for some paperwork to send out her tax info to her cpa.

Damn, I think you have a pretty good mortgage interest and property tax also. I mean I don't think your giving $24k. We donate about $5k-$10k a year and still take the standard deduction. Some years were close but not anymore. Guess paying off the mortgage and only having $3k in property tax will do that to you.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

Pretty sure they "Go away" cause they don't have enough to get over the new higher standard deduction. So all deductions "go away"

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

I'm an Engineer (CHOO CHOO) and its a fun discussion that seems to show how skewed on the income scale the population of this place are.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

I live in TN...I get over 24K this way...11K in mortgage interest (we are paying lots extra on our mortgage to get it paid off in the next 4-5 years), 4K in prop taxes, 7K is sales tax (which I may only get to write off a total of 10K in state taxes due to the changes), over 25K in giving (things we care about), and a few other small things. My W2 is screwed up so I haven't actually filed...but I've been imputing the estimated numbers. Based on all this, I in in the 24% marginal bracket.

Bottom line, 80% paying less, 20% paying more...I think I may be an outlier since I live in a low tax state. But the the new rates hurt when they ramp up, could we throw in a 16% rate between the 12 and 22, :)!...and many things that do me no good anymore (IRAs contributions, 2 kids in college - I pay the full ride). I am planning on working in the same role for 18 months (I will 56 then) and then seriously, down sizing my life. Its just not worth it and we live on much less.

+2

It is sadly believable that in America, people don't understand this. Did they notice they were taking home more every paycheck without their company giving them a raise? Good grief. The line on the form says, "this is your total tax." They need to learn to read it.

The media (left-leaning drivel media) are jumping all over this and feeding the "oh no my refund is lower" frenzy. I mean, why actually educate the general populous on the why, when you can control the narrative.

While in general I agree with you about actual taxes paid, but I'm just a case of one the ramp up in rates and losing thousands in deductions (went away) I am paying way more than I planned...what gets me I actually made less money in 2018 than 2017, I didn't adjust my withholding, I still thought I had a good handle of actual taxes I would pay...I am writing the biggest check I ever have. Many are going to be surprised. But the majority are paying less.

It is sadly believable that in America, people don't understand this. //

Every story I have seen on this, either prefaces it with it could be the withholding, or they have a guy on after the story saying that this is probably the case in most instances, so maybe you turn off you leftie news too soon?? (-; Anyway, it is not that big a stretch to think people are not going to notice $5, 10 or 20 bucks more a paycheck, it just isnt enough to really register. But add that up, 10 or 20 over 52 weeks, and that is a nice sum, one people can relate to. And certainly miss at the end of the year, regardless of the fact that they actually got it during the year in tiny increments..

One of the things I like about the Trump tax plan is that local and state taxes are not deductible. A rich person's federal taxes shouldn't be different based on where they live.

I agree with 1/2 of what you said.

A resident of a poorly run state (i.e. NY, NJ, CT, CA) should not have their federal taxes reduced because they chose to elect terrible state leaders who over-tax them.

The residents can chose to vote them out at any time and reduce their state tax bill.

Sadly, their overall tax bill will be lower thanks to the reduced rates for a large majority of the residents in the poorly run states so they won't vote to remove the terrible state leadership.

The new Tax laws are doing wonders for the Treasury. According to the WSJ:

"WASHINGTON—Federal tax revenue declined 0.4% in 2018, the first full calendar year under the new tax law, despite robust economic growth and the lowest unemployment rate in nearly five decades.
The Treasury Department said Wednesday federal revenue totaled $3.33 trillion last year, while federal spending totaled $4.2 trillion, a 4.4% increase from the previous year.
That pushed the U.S. budget gap up to $873 billion for the 12 months that ended in December, compared with $680.8 billion during the same period a year earlier—a 28.2% increase.
Treasury has attributed the weaker revenue collection to the sweeping changes to U.S. tax code that took effect in January 2018, including lower corporate and individual income-tax rates."
Additionally, the national debt has hit 22 trillion dollars.

Woo hoo!! MAGA!!

What's the expression? Make hay while the sun shines...

And 7 million folks are more than 90 days late on car loans....

Any idea how much of the change in the budget gap is a direct result of the fed increasing rates?

Any idea what the change in sales tax revenue at the state level was? Be curious if that offset the .4% decrease at the fed level. (trade one tax for another) but the combined change is more meaningful than each one separately.

Similar with me. I used Turbotax and I'm writing a bigger check than last year but my effective tax rate went down from around 21.5% to 18.5%. (Our withholding was a lot less than last year due to the changes.) Our income was significantly different (lower) so as an experiment I plugged in last years W-2's into this year's Turbotax. If our income would have been the same, taxes would have gone down by around $9k compared to last year. I was very surprised by this as I thought we'd get hammered by the cut in deductions. Standard deduction for us also for the first time probably since we bought our house in 1998.

We'll take the money, but I'm not so sure were the poster child for needing a tax cut.

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Kevin

http://kevinmetcalfe.dreamhosters.com
My Strava

And one of them is running for president....



Kamala Harris

✔@KamalaHarris




The average tax refund is down about $170 compared to last year. Let’s call the President’s tax cut what it is: a middle-class tax hike to line the pockets of already wealthy corporations and the 1%.


https://www.foxnews.com/politics/harris-fact-checked-over-nonsensical-claim-trump-hiked-taxes-on-middle-class

Average refund amount now higher than last year's. This is, of course, not being widely reported.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...funds-have-increased

So HR departments are doing a worse job of withholding.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

You let your HR tell you how to do your tax withholding?

But, of course, your question and my answer are off topic anyway. The issue of my post is the reporting.