We think we got screwed over with our taxes this year. It is the first year we filed jointly because we got married in May of 06. Basically, last year when we filed separately, we got back a total of $1400.00. This year, we got back 955.00.
2007-02-02 04:16:14 · 11 answers · asked by Beth G 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United States
You can usually take it to a competitor, ie; Jackson Hewitt will "re-do" your return for free and if there is a difference they will offer to do the Amendment for a price. If it is the same, you owe nothing.
www.irs.gov, "individual", withholding calculator, complete this and this will give you a better understanding of you and yours spouses combined earnings and witholdings...
good luck & blessings
2007-02-02 04:23:34 · answer #1 · answered by Wood Smoke ~ Free2Bme! 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Many people go to tax prepairers because they don't want to do their taxes, not because they are complicated, they just don't want to do it. If that is the case with you, check the numbers yourself. Read the tax booklet, it isn't that hard to understand for most lines.
For the ones it is hard, skip them for now and do the rest. If those numbers match the prepairers, you should be okay. If not, do some reading to see why not. Tax work is not rocket science. It isn't a five minute job, but most people could do it if they tried.
Before everyone blasts me, I will say that some returns are so complicated that even professionals mess them up. I'm saying that most people's returns are very simple and straight forward.
As others have said, last year's refund has NOTHING to do with this year's. Also, you can file as "married filing separately" status. Try that to see how it would change things.
2007-02-02 04:33:42 · answer #2 · answered by Mia R 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
did expenses change, did write offs change, did amount of savings change, did laws change, did % of mortgage or interest earned changed? did your stock, IRA, other funds change?
few hundred bucks is nothing to get bent over. I don't see any red flags with such a small difference specially when your filling status changed on top of it all.
if you just went to some hole in the wall like a H&R block office...then most likely you didn't get half of what you could have. I used to use those cheap guys till I went to a real accountant. Costs me almost 3 times more per year but this guy finds that much and more...so in turn he actually costs me less.
fact you are getting a return, there are 2 of you, and you have changed your filling status.....I'd be very happy if I was you.
plus don't forget you have local taxes, state taxes, city taxes that all could of changed as well in laws or rates that coulf of effected that total.
now if say you got $2k back last year and this year you owe $5k, then I would think something is up.
2007-02-02 04:22:20 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
First of all you might not have been screwed over. Our government has decided in order to give the big companies their massive tax cuts they must tax married couples who file jointly, people who made under $225,000.00, small buisness owners, and resturants in so called high risk areas! If you don't fit in any of these categories you can contact the IRS at irs.com or something like that & request a follow-up on your tax return for free!
2007-02-02 04:31:38 · answer #4 · answered by Lt. Kapshaw 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A couple of thoughts:
1) filing jointly sometimes combines deductions so you need to do calculations both ways and choose....if you are allowed, that is.
2) Why not get a tax program from Intuit and do the leg-work yourself, first? Then get a tax accountant to look it over....A lot less costly and you learn something new. No one will worry about your money more than....yep-you guessed it...You
Hope this is helpful.
PS: be kind to messengers.
2007-02-02 04:23:47 · answer #5 · answered by smiling_freds_biz_info 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The amount of your tax refund (overpayment to the US Treasury) is NOT an indicator of whether you "got screwed". Even if your filing status did not change it is highly unlikely that you would have overpaid the same amount this year. What exactly do you disagree with your tax preparer about?
2007-02-02 04:21:07 · answer #6 · answered by SDD 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Simple. Take your finished return to another tax preparer and ask him to review it. Most will do so at no charge. If he finds any problem, you can go from there. You can also ask your original guy to recalculate based on filing separately, and see if this is better for you. With computerized tax preparation software, this only takes minutes.
2007-02-02 04:22:17 · answer #7 · answered by Daniel Z 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Take your copies of your tax forms to tax specialist and have them go over the person's work it just might be worth paying say25.00 to get back a few houndred dollars more buy what ever you do don't delay because the government might audit you and they will want to see evey thing.Good luck!!
2007-02-02 04:25:39 · answer #8 · answered by Dondi 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Welcome to the wonderful world of "The Marriage Penalty." Most couples would pay less tax if they stayed single especially if they have similar incomes. It's not as bad as it used to be, but it's still a fact of life.
It's not likely that your "tax guy" messed things up. It's totally probable that Congress did, however. Complain to your Congressman or woman, but don't hold your breath!
2007-02-02 04:22:10 · answer #9 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
You were single last year. If both of your incomes increased , or other circumstances changed, this could be correct. I don't know your specifics, but look to see if anything else besides your marital status has changed.
2007-02-02 04:23:53 · answer #10 · answered by kam 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋