If so, what did you do to feel better? Bonus points if said activity didn't cost anything because, you know, taxes... 
I know if you owe money at the end of the year, it means you weren't giving the government an interest-free loan, which is a good thing. But still, when you think enough has been withheld to cover it, and it hasn't...
66 votes
pomegranate / 3895 posts
Boring answer, but I corrected my husband's withholding and that made me feel better. Or at least feel like I was doing something proactive. I also tried to identify what deductions were allowable (and which I was phased out of due to income) and make note of that.
watermelon / 14467 posts
It wasn't too bad, my federal at least. My state return has been a pain in the butt because the Dept. of Revenue LOST my return and had no record of it being filed. So our prepare had to re-file the notice proving that it went through. I'm so annoyed. It's the first year this has ever happened to us and she came highly recommended from some of T's coworkers.
cherry / 229 posts
@avivoca: Once my state also lost my tax return, and sent me a notice with a big late fee. They had actually cashed the check I wrote, too. I had to get a copy of the cancelled check from my bank, but once I sent it in they corrected it and no more problems, thank goodness...
@LBee: Yeah, I should look into fixing it. Not sure what happened, as withholding has always been more or less correct in the past.
eggplant / 11716 posts
Not my tax return, but just in general when I look at our paychecks and see how high we are taxed, I try to think about how happy I am to have highways, police officers, free public education, a (semi) working government, etc. It makes me feel like I'm doing my duty as a good citizen rather than angry that the government is "taking all my money", since I wouldn't want to live in a country without good roads, good free public education, etc.
pomegranate / 3895 posts
@hb3233: There should be a year to year comparison between last year and this year on your return. I used that to identify what was different and if changes needed to occur on our withholding or if it was a one time thing.
honeydew / 7622 posts
I don't mind giving an interest free loan and getting a good chunk of forced savings back,
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
No! I really needed it and used it to pay off our car which is so helpful.
cherry / 229 posts
@Anagram: Yes, I definitely want to live in a country with a functioning state! I have spent some time in places that don't have one, and it can be really, really bad...I would pay more to live in the US if I had to!
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
We owed money, which was a total bummer. I changed my withholdings so hopefully we won't owe for this year.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
In general no, I don't even flinch anymore. But I do wonder if there are deductions out there that I don't know about.
pear / 1946 posts
Yes....with Joy. It's the first year in a long time we've actually gotten money back. And a pretty significant amount too.
hostess / wonderful apple seed / 16729 posts
We got a letter from the IRS about a past year's tax return, so we have to pay. I realized that I should have taken my taxes to a CPA for the past few years instead of using a computer program. So we might not have a return this year because we'll be paying for back taxes. Live and learn, I guess...
I'm not crying about it because we have savings to pay for it, but I guess after years of getting refunds, it was just something different we have to deal with.
GOLD / cantaloupe / 6703 posts
Had to pay, but could have been worse. My Dh's withholdings were also wrong and we had to fix that so it'swill be better next time.
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
Still waiting to hear back from our CPA! We were waiting on a form so we couldn't get the documents to him to file until way later than we usually do, and I'm over here sweating worrying about the filing deadline.
Last year we changed our withholding so we didn't get such a huge return and I'm anxious to see what our new refund will be (or if we will owe!)
clementine / 955 posts
How much we pay in makes me super depressed, I don't want to give up any of my money lol.
clementine / 824 posts
Made we want to cry. It was our first year having to pay, and it wasn't just a little. 
pomegranate / 3272 posts
Yes but only because DH didn't change his withholdings to have more taken out of his check. We had this same issue last year and he swore he took care of it. It was a big shock since we had a baby so I figured we wouldn't owe anything with the extra deduction. 
clementine / 756 posts
My husband has spent so many hours on our taxes. I tried to talk him into just having somebody do them, but he wanted to do them himself. And he tries to get in every little deduction that he can think of, which is great and all, but takes forever! He was seriously debating last night if he could deduct the gas he used to drive to FedEx to ship out the breastmilk that I donate. I told him to just embrace his inner Elsa...
cantaloupe / 6131 posts
Usually April is painful because DH runs his own business. We pay our taxes ahead every quarter for the following year, but most years that ends up short, so we have to come up with the difference at the filing deadline, plus we still need to make quarterly payments in January and April, AND pay our accountant his acorn for doing all the filing. So we are usually really careful with our money from January until April to be ready to cut that big check.
THIS year for the first time, we found out we overpaid last year (mostly because I was on maternity leave and didn't make money), so not only did we not owe, the overage was enough to cover the April quarterly payment outright! So now it feels like we have this extra money (but we don't, its just going to go to DH's student loans, womp womp.)
apricot / 441 posts
you need an option for I don't know yet! Still waiting to hear back from our accountant, but I think we will be ok this year. We got some decent tax breaks!
pear / 1558 posts
We were pleasantly surprised to get a good sized refund, but then were disappointed the government got a free loan this year. We really need to see a financial adviser since a lot has changed for us & we don't feel as comfortable just going with the flow financially.
persimmon / 1286 posts
we got hit hard on a city tax that my husband's old employer outside the city didn't withhold for. we got a refund so that totally covered it, but just seeing how high the city taxes are broken out by month is crazy...especially since the schools are failing here (i'd be thrilled to pay city taxes if it was helping to fund a functioning school system!!)
persimmon / 1467 posts
Since I am self employed we always wind up having to pay state and local taxes. But it evens out with our federal return. This year our federal was a lot less than last year (DH changed his withholdings since we had a kid and that extra every month is making it possible to pay our mortgage, and I made a lot more than the year before...) But our federal was at least enough to cover the other taxes with a little left over.
The good part is I always set aside 20% of my income, just in case so that I know we will have money for taxes if we need it. We usually don't and then all that extra money can stay in our savings!
pear / 1521 posts
No, we finally got a good refund this year! I think next year we should be about even because last year I was on maternity leave and we had some credits that we won't benefit from again next year.
pineapple / 12566 posts
I'm self employed so I always owe. Although, this year was probably my lowest payment ever, so that did make me smile.
coconut / 8430 posts
Our withholding was wrong and we owe a ridiculously large amount of money. I'm changing my withholding ASAP so this doesn't happen again.
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