Anonymous
Post 04/15/2019 17:18     Subject: Re:AGI of $360,000 -- paid $20,000 less in taxes in 2018 than in 2017
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the helpful analysis, OP! Based on your post, I went over our returns. My situation and results were similar. I used turbotax.


We only saved $10k on similar income. Net net a good year -- especially because of spectacular stocks returns.


Interesting--this was one area that saved us on taxes this year given how bad 2018 was for stocks overall. Did you time it really well to sell before the December crash?


We didn't sell anything. Made investment in december 2017 that worked very well in 2018 and invested more in the valley of december 2018 which is what I meant by spectacular returns...bought AAPL at $142 and it's around $200 already!


Right, but if you didn't sell it, you don't have any stock returns on that yet, spectacular or otherwise, and thus it wasn't relevant to your 2018 taxes.


Oh Lordy.

We have over $200k of unrealized capital gains in investments made since December 2017. Very real if you check our brokerage account, and very relevant to the tax story because tax reform is a major driver why they happened, but if you prefer to live in gains-free LaLaLand feel free to
Anonymous
Post 04/15/2019 17:14     Subject: Re:AGI of $360,000 -- paid $20,000 less in taxes in 2018 than in 2017
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the helpful analysis, OP! Based on your post, I went over our returns. My situation and results were similar. I used turbotax.


We only saved $10k on similar income. Net net a good year -- especially because of spectacular stocks returns.


Interesting--this was one area that saved us on taxes this year given how bad 2018 was for stocks overall. Did you time it really well to sell before the December crash?


We didn't sell anything. Made investment in december 2017 that worked very well in 2018 and invested more in the valley of december 2018 which is what I meant by spectacular returns...bought AAPL at $142 and it's around $200 already!


Right, but if you didn't sell it, you don't have any stock returns on that yet, spectacular or otherwise, and thus it wasn't relevant to your 2018 taxes.
Anonymous
Post 04/15/2019 16:13     Subject: AGI of $360,000 -- paid $20,000 less in taxes in 2018 than in 2017
We were lucky too.

Made more, paid less.
Anonymous
Post 04/15/2019 16:11     Subject: AGI of $360,000 -- paid $20,000 less in taxes in 2018 than in 2017
You are lucky. We make about $200K and paid about $7000K more. Nothing changed.
Anonymous
Post 04/15/2019 16:04     Subject: AGI of $360,000 -- paid $20,000 less in taxes in 2018 than in 2017
My experience is very similar to OP. We ended up writing a larger check, because payroll withheld less, but once I looked at the total tax owed and how much less was withheld, was like...oh...

Initially as I did our taxes, it "felt" like a tax hike due to how much I owed in the form of a shortfall.

Then I went and looked at the details...
Anonymous
Post 04/15/2019 15:36     Subject: Re:AGI of $360,000 -- paid $20,000 less in taxes in 2018 than in 2017
I just looked at our 2017 returns to compare. 2017 AGI was 250,564 and we paid 43,416 and 2018 AGI was 251, 765 and we paid 36,650 in 2018. We have one kid and live in DC.
Anonymous
Post 04/15/2019 15:18     Subject: Re:AGI of $360,000 -- paid $20,000 less in taxes in 2018 than in 2017
Anonymous wrote:That’s weird because we make double what you do but it was a wash for us. AMT went away but loss of SALT was a killer.

We live in NY which I think is comparable to MD for taxes.


Same for us in Virginia.
Anonymous
Post 04/15/2019 15:14     Subject: Re:AGI of $360,000 -- paid $20,000 less in taxes in 2018 than in 2017
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the helpful analysis, OP! Based on your post, I went over our returns. My situation and results were similar. I used turbotax.


We only saved $10k on similar income. Net net a good year -- especially because of spectacular stocks returns.


Interesting--this was one area that saved us on taxes this year given how bad 2018 was for stocks overall. Did you time it really well to sell before the December crash?


We didn't sell anything. Made investment in december 2017 that worked very well in 2018 and invested more in the valley of december 2018 which is what I meant by spectacular returns...bought AAPL at $142 and it's around $200 already!
Anonymous
Post 04/15/2019 13:20     Subject: Re:AGI of $360,000 -- paid $20,000 less in taxes in 2018 than in 2017
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the helpful analysis, OP! Based on your post, I went over our returns. My situation and results were similar. I used turbotax.


We only saved $10k on similar income. Net net a good year -- especially because of spectacular stocks returns.


Interesting--this was one area that saved us on taxes this year given how bad 2018 was for stocks overall. Did you time it really well to sell before the December crash?
Anonymous
Post 04/15/2019 13:13     Subject: AGI of $360,000 -- paid $20,000 less in taxes in 2018 than in 2017
Anonymous wrote:Wow, I felt ok about only having to pay a few hundred more on our same 170k income but now I am disgruntled as hell! Comparison truly is the thief of joy.

Pretty much same here! Damn, OP.
Anonymous
Post 04/15/2019 11:14     Subject: AGI of $360,000 -- paid $20,000 less in taxes in 2018 than in 2017
Anonymous wrote:Congrats on not paying your fair share of taxes and eroding our countries economic health by skyrocketing the deficient for your 3 kids. I hope they have trust funds and connects or they and their grands kids are going to be less well off than you are. But who cares about them and everyone else...go buy your gaudy Tiffany silver or vacation in Aruba in March or whatever useless thing you do with your existence.


I'm in the same boat as OP, and I was outraged when the tax bill passed. I didn't choose this. Direct your bitterness toward political reform.
Anonymous
Post 04/15/2019 11:13     Subject: Re:AGI of $360,000 -- paid $20,000 less in taxes in 2018 than in 2017
Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the helpful analysis, OP! Based on your post, I went over our returns. My situation and results were similar. I used turbotax.


We only saved $10k on similar income. Net net a good year -- especially because of spectacular stocks returns.
Anonymous
Post 04/15/2019 11:04     Subject: AGI of $360,000 -- paid $20,000 less in taxes in 2018 than in 2017
Congrats on not paying your fair share of taxes and eroding our countries economic health by skyrocketing the deficient for your 3 kids. I hope they have trust funds and connects or they and their grands kids are going to be less well off than you are. But who cares about them and everyone else...go buy your gaudy Tiffany silver or vacation in Aruba in March or whatever useless thing you do with your existence.
Anonymous
Post 04/15/2019 10:22     Subject: AGI of $360,000 -- paid $20,000 less in taxes in 2018 than in 2017
Anonymous wrote:Is your tax amount just federal or fed and state combined?


OP here. That was federal tax.

For state taxes, our amount paid did not change -- we paid $27,000 in tax to the state of Maryland -- in each year of 2017 and 2018.

Anonymous
Post 04/15/2019 09:55     Subject: Re:AGI of $360,000 -- paid $20,000 less in taxes in 2018 than in 2017
Anonymous wrote:That’s weird because we make double what you do but it was a wash for us. AMT went away but loss of SALT was a killer.

We live in NY which I think is comparable to MD for taxes.


NY has much higher property taxes compared to MD. Seriously. SALT is really hurting NY and NJ.