How much is your income tax refund (or how much do you owe)?

[maptome]

Just did our taxes, and yay! We're getting a good refund!  How much is yours?

[jimblejamble]

Federal & state combined, we got $5100.

[stephbrownthinks]

We owe around $7500. Ouch. Last year we got around 4k back, and that was with no kids. Since we had a baby I figured we'd be getting a pretty decent return. Nope. 

[CameronsMama]

We're getting around $4k back, and I'm super excited. There are a few things we need around the house that we've been putting off buying, hoping to get a refund so I wouldn't have to cut the budget elsewhere...

[JesKace]

We got back 10,000+  but that was because of the mortgage interest, 3 kids, and the 1,500 energy credit for putting in a new heating system. DH also adjusted his with holdings to 0 so we'd get more back because it's the only way we can actually save some money and have a good amount at the end of the year to pay off some debt.  Unfortunately all of our refund is gone now, but most of it went to pay off things we did around the house though out the fall/early winter.  We put a whole new bathroom in our basement where there wasn't one before, installed a new HE heating system, and did some other cosmetic stuff.  I hate that all the money is gone, but I feel good knowing that almost all of it was put into doing stuff around our house :)

[Drummer's Wife]

I voted with the majority.  It pays to have a lot of kids.

[CatsCradle]

Voted more the $5k - but not because of kids.  We get most of our refund through property interest deductions and credits.  At our income level, we qualify for very little in child tax credits.  We're not rich either.  People in the "middle" tend to get the most tax burden (little or no deductions for kids; don't make enough to take big deductions like the wealthy get for donations and/or other wealth tax credits).  

[TiredX2]

I've been trying for years to finally get our refund to under $1K and this is the first year I finallly got it--- we're getting back just over $600.  There was a twinge of disappointment to not be getting a big amount, but logicallly I'm happy we didn't provide a  large interest-free loan for the year!

[chely7425]

We got back a bit over 10K... and our withholding are all correct.  We are a family of 5 with a taxable income of 24K a year so all of our return is child credits and EIC and stuff.

[cappuccinosmom]

I couldn't vote.  We zeroed out this year.  We owe nothing.  We get nothing back (except $1 from the state???? wierdness).

Which is kinda too bad in a way, because previously our tax refund went right back into paying our huge, huge property taxes and the insurance for our rentals.  We can pay them, but it's going to pinch more this year.

Last year we got $10,000 back, so from that to zero was kind of a shock.

[dawningmama]

Did you feel the difference during the year, cappuccinosmom?

I'm another one who is always trying to get to $0. This year was hard as we sold the house and had some job changes so I ended up padding a bit and we got back $715. We owe NY about the same amount we are getting back from NC, though, so I effectively zero'd out for state.

We no longer own a home so I'm trying to keep an eye on things this year since we may not itemize for 2011. That's gonna throw a wrench in things and, as of now, I'm probably over-compensating too much.

[Kyamo]

It really surprises me that the most popular poll option is getting more than 5k!!

We owe a lot, but that is because I have self employment income so there was no withholding on that. Before this year we would usually get money back, but less than $1000.

[mama to B]

Wow I can't believe how much some of you are getting back is taxes different in the us then Canada. Cause I'm pretty sure people don't get that kind of refunds around here. I coukdnt vote either cause I think I'm breaking even.

[SunRise]

I owe. I am self-employed. I do make the quarterly estimated payments, but "cautiously" underpay those. I end up paying 20,000 per year. That is with biz deductions, health insurance, one child, mortgage interest etc. THIS year though, my amount owed is half of that, around 9000, thanks to baby #2 and a full year of property taxes, mortgage insurance.

As of the beginning of the year I became an employer and using the irs government calculator, they advised me to claim 10 withholdings (although if I follow the instructions it worked out to 5-7 withholdings). This should get me an approximate $2000 refund next year. I was hesitant to do the 10 withholdings, so went with 9. I dont want to pay!

[witchygrrl]

I have to pay about $720. We had very little withholdings, and my deductions weren't enough. That total is for fed and state combined.

[Sharlla]

we got back 6700, it would have been more but I let x claim ds2 last year.  and no we aren't giving the government an interest free loan. they only took out around $200 for federal and that is only because a few of my checks were over 2k. 

[ancoda]

Federal we got back just over $8 thousand

We moved last year so we have two states. One we got back almost $1 thousand, the other we owe $15. 

[cappuccinosmom]

Did you feel the difference during the year, cappuccinosmom?

 

 Well, yeah, but it was because we had a completely different financial situation going on.  The previous year, dh had been employed for 8 months, and then not for the rest of the year.  2010 we were living only on rental payments and savings.  If he gets a job again, we will see how it goes with adjusting those withholdings.

[heatherdeg]

We owe $5,400 to Federal, are getting back $4,100 from NJ and we're owed $3 from IL (we relocated mid-year).  So NET, we're at less than $2k but I put our biggest burden and voted owing "a lot".

We shoot for getting back less than $1,000 but it was a CRAZY year (relocation money that is reported as income, inheritance money, sold house--so no mortgage/prop tax deduction for half the year--and we were in an insane COL area, so that was a huge hit).

I'd rather have the extra automatically transferred out of our main checking to save instead of waiting for a refund (and possibly using a cc).

[zebra15]

Got the refund and put it in savings... trying my best not to spend any of it...