I just did my taxes for 2002 last night and came to find that I still owe the Gov $1k!! Seems rather skewed that someone that was unemployed last year and made less than $28k throughout the entire year AND already paid $2600 in taxes should have to fork over another $1k to good ol' George W.

I think I'm gonna go by HRBlock and see if they can't whittle that down a little... There have to be deductions I can take here and there.

Just wanted to b**** a little. I feel better already...

- trs

I feel for you man. I have been dreading mine...pretty much in your same boat, but I did some contract work over the summer, and then had to use ALL of that money to live on from August thru January.

I am going to get nailed for sure...hopefully they'll give me a payment plan.

Filing tax returns always sucks. Sometimes it's good because you work out you're supposed to get a refund but other times as you've found out, it blows. It's always good to have a b**** sometimes though

- Trevor

Yeah - I did a little bit of contract work to stay afloat, too... and I think that's what might be bighting me in the ars. I just wish I had done a better job of saving receipts and records of things that I could have deducted. Hopefully I can get something down - there's no way I can afford an extra $1000 right now. There should be special considerations for all of us in the tech industry. Something like a "I have a tech degree and am therefore getting screwed by the economy" clause. hhhhh

- trs

or maybe a document stating something like "We, the government, are sorry that we missled you into believing that there ever really was a tech market to begin with. Truthfully, it was all a hopeless myth to which you, and probably all your friends, fell subject and we appologize. Please enjoy these complimentary 12 doughnuts and tshirt and relax. Tax due $0"

Hmm... A "I got screwed over by the tech economy" t shirt could be quite neat actually

- Trevor

hhh - yeah - if they just would give me that damn tshirt. I'd be MUCH happier. I'd feel a lot better about this whole thing if I knew that the taxes were being appropriated well.

I don't mind paying taxes...I just wish I never had to deal with them. IE, take what you need each paycheck and leave me the f$&k alone.

I got killed for 2K last year because of contract work. I reduced my deductions at my new salaried job and I'm praying it works out better this time around. I'll probably find out this week.

> I got killed for 2K last year because of contract work.

Yeah me too. I just did my taxes for last year, and here is a tip for the tech geeks out there:

DON'T TAKE CONTACT WORK UNLESS THEY PAY YOU A HELL OF A LOT OF MONEY.

There is a special self-employment tax that is just brutal, and I had to learn this the hard way. I got hit for about $2000 more than I would have as a non-contract employee, and I really didn't make that much. It definitely turned the project into a losing proposition for me.

I'm in the same boat as you, although I think I only owe about $500. The thing that bit me is that unemployment insurance is taxable and I chose not to have taxes deducted from my checks, so I have to pay it now. Of course, I'd still do it the same way, as I needed that money then more than I do now.

It does suck, though, that unemployment insurance is taxable. Maybe it's at least at a lower rate.

Is that because when a company pays you for contract work - they don't pay the normal taxes on that ammount as they would when paying an actual employee? This, coupled with the fact that federal/state taxes aren't also taken out of the gross ammount paid for the contract work, must account for the steep penalties. That's a tough lesson learned - either get paid a TON for contract work - or get paid under the table. hhhhh

- trs

Was your contract work for short term work?

*tears* after hearing about contract tax issues...

I don't wanna know, I don't wanna know

Oh - I could go on and on and on about what's messed up about unemployment. Here are a couple of my biggest gripes about that:

- Not only is it taxed but it is DOUBLE TAXED. It's taxed going in and then taxed when you withdraw on it.
- In the state of NM, the max you can withdraw for unemployment is $296 a week for no more than 6 months. This meant that the max I could take out was roughly a third of what I put in for the year and a half I worked at the company that dissolved with the rest of the dot-coms. And it was taxed to boot!!!

- trs

yeah

I agree with you about point one. I don't mind paying taxes, just try to make it fair and reasonably done. My favorite is that when you underpay (probably because you did the worksheet on your W-2 correctly instead of making up a rational number of exemptions), you have to pay a penalty, but when you overpay, you get no fee, interest, or anything. I still try to overpay so that I don't have to cough up at the end of the year.

I'm in NC. Our max per week was just under $400, I think, and there was a cap on that, too, of six months. But that got extended by three months shortly after my six months ran out. Then it got extended by another three months long after that three months ran out, and well after I had a job. However, I was still able to apply for it in arrears and I got a nice big lump sum all at once (which went to pay for bills), or I would have if they hadn't sent me 13 different checks in 13 different envelopes. Tellers at the bank look at you funny when you make that sort of deposit.

Hey, I haven't looked into the retro unemp. checks from the extension. I just assumed it was all well and done after I became re-employed. I might have to check that out. Although - it's now been over a year since I began withdrawing so I bet they'll just turn me away.

- trs

I always try to make it so I pay. If I work it right I will end up having to pay less that 500.00. This year I will get back 404.00. This isn't too bad but I would rather not let the gov use my money interest free. This year I am claiming 9 dependents and it should work out that I will break
just-about-even.

I totally understand that viewpoint, too, and it's a tack I would take if I could afford to pay a big lump sum at the end of the year, but I usually can't.

Buy a house... I used to get screwed in taxes, then I bought a house and re-arranged my paycheck to pull out the maximum for taxes. Last two years I've gotten close to 1500 dollars or more back... It's a good investment (already have over 50k in equity after refinancing to pay off my car and I only bought 2 years ago) and the government loves home owners... Granted I don't do contract work and have a somewhat stable tech job.

Well, the goverment likes people who pay interest on real estate loans.

My problem is going to be in finding a bank that's willing to give me a mortgage.

That's precicely my problem, too. Not to mention that since I'm now making roughly 1/3 of what I used to, it's going to be a while until I can even afford a mortgage. I suppose I could father a lot of illegitimate children as well - that should up my deductions!

- trs

In reply to:

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Granted I don't do contract work and have a somewhat stable tech job.

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Is there such a tech job?

Uhm, so you made 28K and need to pay 2K6 taxes on that? That's less than 10%. Damn, wish I lived in the US. I pay over 50% taxes on what I earn overhere !

Are they taken out before you get your check?

I was wondering how long it would take for someone from outside the US to chime in on the topic. What other taxes do you have to pay in Belgium?

Also, plus my 1k - I have to pay about 13% which is over what I should pay based on my tax bracket. Which I wouldn't mind so much if I had an extra grand laying around.

That's what he has to pay in addition to what was taken out of his paychecks throughout the year. The actual number is probably more like 35%.

Edit: Okay, I don't know if my memory is poor or what, but it looks like taxes for this year are a lot less than I remember. It starts at about 10% for people with little taxable income and goes up to about 38% for the most affluent, with the median probably being somewhere around 20%.

I don't know how other countries deal with it, but in the US, you're taxed on taxable income, which is the amount of money you earn, minus deductions for certain things, like dependents, real estate interest, charitable contributions, medical expenses, etc. Largely, though, you can't use those deductions unless you have a mortgage, as you have to get over a certain monetary amount of deductions before you can really use them, and the interest on a house payment is pretty much the only way for the average citizen to get to that point. Otherwise, you take a ``standard deduction'', which estimates some of that stuff per person in your family.

In reply to:

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Is there such a tech job?

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During the last two years my company has tripled in size, our group alone (healthcare) has gone from about 20 employees to 110... We recently aquired about 4 more contracts for the government... So yeah, I don't think we're going anywhere and I keep getting raises....

Granted they work us like slaves, but it's pretty stable...

had to edit that, threw out probably TMI, don't wanna be getting myself in trouble (politics of governmental software contracts)

When I left the UK I was paying 42% tax on anything earned over 28K! ($42K) That is excluding the social security equivelant (National Insurance).
Top that with a 17.5% sales tax and the fact that 99% of your gas/petrol is tax, or how about being penalized for having a mortgage or being married, but you get the picture.
Don't even get me started on the whole illegal immigrant thing.....