Huge (for us) tax bill. What went wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Biden tax hikes. Build back better…

Actually, around here, the problem is the Trump “tax cuts” which screwed blue states by eliminating the SALT tax deduction.

Why should other states subsidize your life? Pig.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just tell the IRS how much to withhold. If I owed 25k. I would just add 2k each pay period. The IRS knows nothing about your investments.

Dear lord, that’s about the equivalent to what my DH brings home a month.

What was the purpose of this statement? Are you trying to make the OP feel bad? I don't think these was any need to point out that your DH makes much more money than the OP's DH. It is completely irrelevant with respect to answering her question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Biden tax hikes. Build back better…

Actually, around here, the problem is the Trump “tax cuts” which screwed blue states by eliminating the SALT tax deduction.

Why should other states subsidize your life? Pig.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just tell the IRS how much to withhold. If I owed 25k. I would just add 2k each pay period. The IRS knows nothing about your investments.

Dear lord, that’s about the equivalent to what my DH brings home a month.

What was the purpose of this statement? Are you trying to make the OP feel bad? I don't think these was any need to point out that your DH makes much more money than the OP's DH. It is completely irrelevant with respect to answering her question.

I'm pretty sure you misread what PP said. She was expressing shock at having to wihold an additional $2k, as that's the same as her DH's take home, meaning that would leave him with 0 take home. Not sure why you're attacking PP for the obvious display of empathy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Biden tax hikes. Build back better…

Actually, around here, the problem is the Trump “tax cuts” which screwed blue states by eliminating the SALT tax deduction.

Why should other states subsidize your life? Pig.

You're kidding, right? By your logic, we should have zero deductions. "Why should other people subsidize your mortgage? Pig." "Why should other people subsidize your charitable contributions? Pig."

At least be intellectually honest if you're going to be a dick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Biden tax hikes. Build back better…

Actually, around here, the problem is the Trump “tax cuts” which screwed blue states by eliminating the SALT tax deduction.

Why should other states subsidize your life? Pig.

You are aware that blue states and especially blue municipalities heavily subsidize 'real america,' right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just tell the IRS how much to withhold. If I owed 25k. I would just add 2k each pay period. The IRS knows nothing about your investments.

Dear lord, that’s about the equivalent to what my DH brings home a month.

What was the purpose of this statement? Are you trying to make the OP feel bad? I don't think these was any need to point out that your DH makes much more money than the OP's DH. It is completely irrelevant with respect to answering her question.

I'm pretty sure you misread what PP said. She was expressing shock at having to wihold an additional $2k, as that's the same as her DH's take home, meaning that would leave him with 0 take home. Not sure why you're attacking PP for the obvious display of empathy.

I did indeed misread it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Biden tax hikes. Build back better…

Actually, around here, the problem is the Trump “tax cuts” which screwed blue states by eliminating the SALT tax deduction.

this, it's also trumps "tax cuts" that messed up everyone's withholding a few years ago (thanks to TCJA getting rid of personal exemptions)

[Anonymous]

The SALT tax deduction limit of $10k started in 2018 so not new this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the OP is missing something. We have been told that the gross pay is consistent.

I would want to know what your total tax liability was in 2021 compared to what you are seeing for 2022. That will tell you/us if it is a withholding issue, or something else.

This. Forget what was witheld, and look at the total tax liability each year. By all accounts from OP, they should be nearly equivalent.

If the tax liability is about the same, and your gross pay is about the same, AND your net pay is a little lower because you upped your witholding.... there's no way you actually owe $25K more this year.

[Anonymous]

The IRS tax calculator is great. I started using it last year after an unexpected $8000 tax bill. Right now between DH and I we claim 0 exemptions and have around $450 additional withheld biweekly. And we itemize (total is around 41K in deductions each year) and have two kids. I find it obscene that the auto withholding is so far off.

That said, 25K seems like something is really off. If this is turbotax or another tax preparer software, try doing it by hand at a high level. Once I really screwed up my return because I refinanced our mortgage and then the bank sold the mortgage (possibly twice that first year) so I entered three or four different mortgage statements, the dates were confusing and I was somehow being penalized for having two houses (which I do not have).

Alternatively, look at the "forms" tab on the software and see if some entry looks off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The IRS tax calculator is great. I started using it last year after an unexpected $8000 tax bill. Right now between DH and I we claim 0 exemptions and have around $450 additional withheld biweekly. And we itemize (total is around 41K in deductions each year) and have two kids. I find it obscene that the auto withholding is so far off.

That said, 25K seems like something is really off. If this is turbotax or another tax preparer software, try doing it by hand at a high level. Once I really screwed up my return because I refinanced our mortgage and then the bank sold the mortgage (possibly twice that first year) so I entered three or four different mortgage statements, the dates were confusing and I was somehow being penalized for having two houses (which I do not have).

Alternatively, look at the "forms" tab on the software and see if some entry looks off.

Good advice, but it's not obscene that the withholding can't automatically account for your spouse's income. It's just a byproduct of the fact that our tax code treats a married couple as one unit for income tax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the OP is missing something. We have been told that the gross pay is consistent.

I would want to know what your total tax liability was in 2021 compared to what you are seeing for 2022. That will tell you/us if it is a withholding issue, or something else.

This. Forget what was witheld, and look at the total tax liability each year. By all accounts from OP, they should be nearly equivalent.

If the tax liability is about the same, and your gross pay is about the same, AND your net pay is a little lower because you upped your witholding.... there's no way you actually owe $25K more this year.

Multiple people suggested this and OP has yet to return and verify whether the tax liability was significantly different. Either OP made a mistake and prefers not to come back to explain it or it’s a weird troll post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just tell the IRS how much to withhold. If I owed 25k. I would just add 2k each pay period. The IRS knows nothing about your investments.

Dear lord, that’s about the equivalent to what my DH brings home a month. It’s not even worth him working as we are losing then $35k a year on childcare.

Lol if the genders were reversed DCUM would give you so much grief. Why is it assumed that the entire cost of paying for child care would come from what your husband brings home and not you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Biden tax hikes. Build back better…

Actually, around here, the problem is the Trump “tax cuts” which screwed blue states by eliminating the SALT tax deduction.

Why should other states subsidize your life? Pig.

You are aware that blue states and especially blue municipalities heavily subsidize 'real america,' right?

+1. Kentucky gets the most money back from the federal government. The SALT tax unduly impacts people living in small towns (think parts of Westchester County NY - like Rye, Broxville, and Mamaroneck) that provide a lot of municipal services for a small population + don't have a large retail tax base + have good schools.