I’ve only done the refund estimator but looks like we’ll owe $120. We generally get a refund but try to keep it small. I’m assuming since a paychecks went up (minimally btw) that ate up our refund. Haven’t compared percentages yet so not sure how it stacks up year to year. Hoping we get a little back from the state.
How’d Everyone else do?
grapefruit / 4466 posts
Not yet. But I saw an article that a lot of people who usually get refunds aren't getting them this year because the new tax cuts hurt the middle class a bit. I'm not an accountant and don't know the details of the reforms but it wouldn't surprise me. Taxes are so depressing 
cantaloupe / 6086 posts
I filed on Sunday! Hoping they pay our refund before any further funding drama ... we did a little better than last year, I think because of the child tax credit since we got 3x and only had 2 kids last year. We took the new standard deduction so it was very simple to file since only DH works. According to TurboTax, our effective tax rate went down about 2%.
What I read about the refunds (which makes sense to me, but not sure of accuracy) is that taxes did go down for most, overall, but at the same time they reduced automatic withholding levels, and they lowered withholding more than taxes went down. So while in aggregate people are paying less, they saw it in little paycheck increments they probably barely noticed if at all, and will miss the big pseudo-savings of the refund. I can see what a big hit that would be, since we get a good refund on one income we plan to use that to pay for preschool, plane tickets, etc.
clementine / 874 posts
Despite running the withholdings calculator TWICE last year... we owe money. DH got two promotions in the last year and his most recent one involves a lot of overtime that I apparently didn't compensate for well enough. Sigh.
I ran a calculator for our withholdings this year based on DH's averaged pay over the last couple months and it is a little depressing to have two incomes that push us into the next bracket.
pineapple / 12566 posts
I’ve sent everything to my accountant, so I’m just waiting. I’m self-employed, so I always owe.
kiwi / 520 posts
We did good this year. Last year we only got a few hundred but hubby was working 2 jobs and was withholding at married for his main job. We changed his to single and getting much more back. I'm working on getting our finances in order and have little savings so I'm grateful for that chunk of money.
pomelo / 5257 posts
I haven’t done ours yet, but I’ve heard the withholding changes screwed a lot of people. Some I know are owing thousands more... so I’m a little scared
grapefruit / 4144 posts
We filed the Saturday before last. Our refund is anemic in comparison to the last 11 years ($6000 dollars less!) I am grateful that we are getting a return though.
pear / 1728 posts
We owed $300 which was a huge relief after owing $6k last year. We withheld more this year but my husband also got a big pay raise. We definitely benefited from tax reform.
grapefruit / 4361 posts
For the past 4 years we owed 0-1000, despite buying a home, having a kid, and medical expenses at 12% of income. I adjusted our witholding multiple times but it never made a real impact.
This year, thanks to a 2018 baby and 12 weeks of unpaid leave.... we ended up getting almost 5K back.
I feel like the witholding calculators NEVER work right at my job, maybe due to my massive HSA contributions. They always under-withold.
apricot / 264 posts
We got a slightly larger refund than last year. Probably because we had a full year’s worth of mortgage interest in our itemized deductions. But I also withhold at a single rate even though I’m married with 4 dependents. I’d much rather get a big refund annually because I would never save that amount on my own. I don’t have the discipline so this is basically my kids tuition fund.
pear / 1521 posts
We’re getting about $500 less despite having a second child and making less due to my maternity leave. I ran the withholding calculator for 2019 and assuming I did it correctly I think this will be the last year we get much of anything back unless I change our withholding. But grateful to not owe and still be getting something back this year!
nectarine / 2400 posts
What sucks the most more then not getting a refund is the fact that we should probably change out withholding but we can’t afford to make less money right now ☹️
grapefruit / 4492 posts
Finally filled ours last night. We owed the state less than $100 which is always to be expected. We actually got a noticeable increase in our federal return, which was a pleasant surprise
pomegranate / 3355 posts
We filed yesterday and were pleasantly surprised with our refund. We didn't expect to get much but I guess the new deductions or maybe our pre tax withholdings helped!
DH worked on commission last year so it's sooo hard to "plan" or calculate the right amount to withhold. This year he has changed positions so I'm sure we'll get a much more lean refund next year.
pomegranate / 3973 posts
We got more back then last year; the way the brackets changed actually benefited us. We use it as a forced savings so it's a really nice refund.
grape / 92 posts
We actually got quite a bit more back this year than usual. I'm not sure how but I'm not going to complain.
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