Crazy Tax Return
We got our taxes done yesterday afternoon, and I must say, I was a little nervous. I always am, though. We try to make sure that throughout the year the taxes taken out of my Hubby’s checks are inline with our ultimate tax goals: Don’t Owe and Don’t let the IRS borrow our money for free for a whole year. Basically, we want to break even.
We typically end up close to even and the years that we have owed it was only a few hundred dollars. Not bad in my book; we get to keep our money during the year and owe little to no taxes in the end. Perfect. This year should have been the same, but it wasn’t.
We had all the “usual” forms with us, we qualify for the “usual” tax deductions and we are just regular people-no business or any fancy stuff. So, we get going along and the question comes up of our medical/dental/vision expenses. I know the drill and I had all the receipts tallied. $13,000. Wow, I know(this is typical for us though). We go through the usuals-charitable contributions, kids, etc. Next up comes work expenses. I had tallied up things like boots, uniforms, and office supplies for a total of $600. Then, he asks if my husband uses his vehicle for work. Yes. I hadn’t thought that would be a potential deduction, so we had to go through step by step with the accountant. Are you sitting down? $22,000! Yes, we got to deduct $22,000 for my husband’s truck that is probably worth less than that. How? Well, my hubby uses his truck for work and because he has to haul things and travel into construction areas he is required to have a million dollar insurance policy on the truck, which costs us $200 a month-that was deductible. Then there is the 40,000 work only miles he put on it last year and the cost of special maintenance for work (big tires and a tool box he had to buy and install). Amazing, I know.
After it was all said and done, the IRS owes us $12,247. This is the craziest and most amazing thing to ever happen to us. I have no idea what we will do with the money when we get it in two weeks. (look for a post about it when we figure it out!) I am just so shocked! My hubby was gripping me tight after that for fear I was going to faint!
I never would have guessed the truck was deductible. I thought because he needed it for work, it was just part of life. I guess I was very wrong. Usually even with our high medical bills, we never get a return, so I never would have thought the truck would make such an impact. Had I known, I would have adjusted my husbands withholding to account for it.There is no reason to let the government use our money all year interest free.
What I should have done is researched the potential tax implications of using a personal vehicle for work. I plan on learning from this mistake and will look at everything more closely and in the future will research before we decide on our withholdings.
Have you done your taxes yet? If not, you can check out these articles I wish I had seen a long time ago to learn about common and not so common tax deductions, and organizing and preparing your taxes:
Common Everyday Tax Deductions
Preparing for Greater Deductions
Organize and Prepare-Do your Taxes Quickly
Topics: Finance & Money, Life & Family |
March 5th, 2008
Congrats on the awesome return! I do our taxes each year and know there are little loopholes to get more back if we would pay someone to do them, but I am disabled and she doesnt use the suv but to go back and forth to work, so even with our mortgage interest, we just dont have enough to itemize so I figure why spend a couple hundred bucks for someone else to do them
Mike
Oh the Mike computer fund is always open for donations..ROFL hahaahhaa - not even a relative and I ask for money..muahaahahaa
March 5th, 2008
Wow! That’s amazing.
I’m sure you’ll put the money to good use, but be sure to spend a little on yourself and enjoy it.
March 5th, 2008
That’s a huge chunk of change. I’m glad you found that out. The cool thing is that besides the $12,000, you’ll get extra money from each check once you adjust your husband’s withholdings. Happy 2008 to you
March 5th, 2008
WooHoo! That is some amazingly fantastic news. It is nice to hear a story like this where someone actually gets more than what they expected! I think my wife definitely would have fainted!
March 5th, 2008
Wow I want you to do my taxes. Thats more than double the best return we have ever gotten. Enjoy your ‘gov bonus’. Sure you’ll do well with it.
March 5th, 2008
I was close to fainting! We have never had any kind of “windfall” like this before. I still have no clue what we will do with the money. It is just so overwhelming!
March 5th, 2008
Becky- yes happy 2008 for us! I am still so shocked over this!
March 5th, 2008
Wow! Congrats on the huge windfall. It really does help to have someone help with your taxes, doesn’t it?! We had a huge windfall this year as well (although not as big as yours!), so we’re also trying to figure it out. Congrats again!
March 5th, 2008
You should invest in your online enterprise. Some PPC in select markets can net nice returns. We have a system that has 15%avg ROI day in day out all day everyday all year :). Small percentage but at your possible level that of investment thats ummm….
13,800 in 30-60day window compiled to …. 28,480.81 on the low side in a year. AMAZING
lol we were excited about actually getting just 4k this year to do that with. big change when you step up above 10k
wow congrats.
just had to re-comment cause you dropped one as soon as my first
Peace
March 5th, 2008
Kaye-
Thanks! I am still in shock! I could barely type as I was writing my post! LOL
It is really exciting and I think we did learn a few lessons-hire a pro to do your tax returns and research before you set your withholdings! Now, because we are taking the tax pro’s advice and changing my Hubby’s withholdings, we will have a lot more money to play with each month. More for savings, more for paying down the house, etc. We are just thrilled!
March 5th, 2008
Hey There!!!
You asked to advertise on my blog through entrecard, so I had to give your blog a looksee before I said okay (can’t just let anybody advertise, you know?)
Big congratulations on your tax return!!! I say the first thing you should do is get your accountant a nice present for finding all that “lost money”!!! If someone told me that was my return, I would have fainted, no question!!!
I also saw how much you were spending for your medical bills. That has got to be a big disappointment to see how much money goes to that at the end of the year. Have you ever thought of a Medical discount card? I am an independent business owner of Ameriplan, a National Healthcare discount company that has been in business for over 16 years. With our medical card, that bill could have been as low as $2600. Since you are all about saving, think what you could have done with $10,400 of that money back in your pocket.
If you would like to know more about the company, please go to the website listed in my small profile. You could review it and put it on your blog as well, as I’m sure a lot of people would like to know how to save on their Medical costs as well.
March 5th, 2008
WOW!! And I thought I was getting a lot back this year!
If you’ve had hubby’s truck more than a year and didn’t deduct for it in past years returns, you can always file an amended return (1040x??) to get what you’ve got coming to you from past years too.
March 5th, 2008
Randall-that’s a good idea. He’s been using it since the middle of 2006, so I guess we could amend our 2006 taxes. Wow, if we end up getting even more back, I really will faint!!!
March 6th, 2008
We deduct my husband’s truck every year but this is the first year we’ve owed only two hundred dollars! We don’t have kiddos though so we don’t get that deduction. (though I hear their much much more expensive than that little deduction you get! hehehe)
March 6th, 2008
reatlitytrain-Yes, the kiddies can be expensive, but worth every penny!
March 6th, 2008
I am dreading doing our taxes. I think it’s because, for the first time, it looks like I miscalculated, and we are going to have to pay back.
Ugh.
You must feel good that it is behind you for another year.
Lisa
March 6th, 2008
Lisa-yes I am happy we got it over with for another year. Taxes are so scary, aren’t they?!
March 7th, 2008
Wow! That’s a lot of money. Isn’t nice when a small investment (the CPA’s fee) pays off HUGE? Have fun figuring out what to do with the money!
March 8th, 2008
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