What tax status do you use?

[SALvation]

This would be for Americans only...

What tax status do you use? I am married with no kids and both my wife and I claim 0. We get a huge amount of taxes taken from our checks but we also get like 4-5G back at the end of the year. Would I be better off claiming 1 instead of 0? What is your guys' marital status and what do you claim?

[Phoenix]

MU AHHAHAHAH!!!! I pay no taxes........................yet :(

[666vicious666]

Whatever job I work at I get paid under the tabel.............MUAHAHAHAHAHAH

(I've worked for my uncle and have not made enough at other jobs to be taxed)

[Grimmy]

ummm I have no kids (dog doesn't count :P ) not married or anything, I think I claim myself, hell I dunno, they take enough out, will tell ya that. I don't do that stuff, let my roommate do it, he is in the business & administration at school, so he does it in like an hour. :P

[666vicious666]

Sounds good :wave:

[Slice]

Uggg, let me ask my accountant. Although I think you need to claim at least yourself. Not sure where you are on the form. ;) Are you talking about dependents?

[Dan2]

What I pay a tax preparer to do is more than made up for with various deductions I didn't even know existed. Go with a pro! :)

[Grimmy]

Originally posted by 666vicious666@Jan 3 2003, 12:39 AM
Whatever job I work at I get paid under the tabel.............MUAHAHAHAHAHAH

(I've worked for my uncle and have not made enough at other jobs to be taxed)
so does that mean you work under tables and desks too? :rofl:

[666vicious666]

Yea, I've vacumed underneat tabels and desks.

[Sirc]

Originally posted by SALvation@Jan 3 2003, 12:19 AM
This would be for Americans only...

What tax status do you use? I am married with no kids and both my wife and I claim 0. We get a huge amount of taxes taken from our checks but we also get like 4-5G back at the end of the year. Would I be better off claiming 1 instead of 0? What is your guys' marital status and what do you claim?
We do the same thing. :)

Its nice to get a big lump sum. If we got it in little bits each month it would get frittered away.

And no Slice, you do not have to claim yourself. :wave:

[Slice]

Originally posted by OUTLAWS Sirc+Jan 3 2003, 01:32 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (OUTLAWS Sirc @ Jan 3 2003, 01:32 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin--SALvation@Jan 3 2003, 12:19 AM
This would be for Americans only...

What tax status do you use? I am married with no kids and both my wife and I claim 0. We get a huge amount of taxes taken from our checks but we also get like 4-5G back at the end of the year. Would I be better off claiming 1 instead of 0? What is your guys&#39; marital status and what do you claim?
We do the same thing. :)

Its nice to get a big lump sum. If we got it in little bits each month it would get frittered away.

And no Slice, you do not have to claim yourself. :wave: [/b][/quote]
No I am not talking about claiming myself. I know about that. ;) There are some other questions about married couples that I think have to do with what he is talking about. :)

[Sirc]

Originally posted by Slice+Jan 3 2003, 01:43 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Slice @ Jan 3 2003, 01:43 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>
Originally posted by -OUTLAWS Sirc@Jan 3 2003, 01:32 AM
<!--QuoteBegin--SALvation@Jan 3 2003, 12:19 AM
This would be for Americans only...

What tax status do you use? I am married with no kids and both my wife and I claim 0. We get a huge amount of taxes taken from our checks but we also get like 4-5G back at the end of the year. Would I be better off claiming 1 instead of 0? What is your guys&#39; marital status and what do you claim?
We do the same thing. :)

Its nice to get a big lump sum. If we got it in little bits each month it would get frittered away.

And no Slice, you do not have to claim yourself. :wave:
No I am not talking about claiming myself. I know about that. ;) There are some other questions about married couples that I think have to do with what he is talking about. :) [/b][/quote]
Hmmm, I&#39;m not sure what you are referring to, but both husband and wife can claim 0. Some would call it folly just because you could be saving the money instead and earning interest, but that don&#39;t happen with us in real life. :)

[666vicious666]

Isn&#39;t there a tax break for married couples?

[Sirc]

Originally posted by 666vicious666@Jan 3 2003, 02:10 AM
Isn&#39;t there a tax break for married couples?
No, there is a tax penalty for married couples. But they are phasing it out. :jammin:

[666vicious666]

Ah, good thing I&#39;m not married :P

[OUTLAWS WHOCARES]

Single and I claim 1

[Slash]

I claim myself, my wife, and each of my 2 daughters for a total of 4. I could claim less and get more back but because the interest on mortgage is deductible I still get a substansial refund. If you want to be sure and get a nice return, I would just leave it alone. Personally I would rather earn the interest rather than letting the government earn it. Do you guys own a home? If not that is an easy way to get money back&#33;

[SALvation]

Well we own a condo that we pay a mortgage on so we get to deduct all that interest also which makes for one nice return. Next year&#39;s return will be messy though as we plan on selling the condo and building a house this year.

[ME BIGGD01]

i deduct everything off to the business. hell even toilet paper. if i get a nickel of my money back that gov&#39;t takes i am happier. this year being that my wife and i had a baby, will finally get some real money back. ever look at the tax you pay on bills every month? add that to the money the gov&#39;t takes from your pay check----ouch&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;


suggestion--hire a good accountant and he will pay for himself.

[OUTLAWS high ping camper]

My wife and I are DINKS: Double Income No Kids too.
I think we both claim 1.
My wife was only working 20hrs a week, for the past few years. Last year (2002) my wife started working 40 hrs a week, so this will be the first time we get to see how "that" effects our tax return......we should break even.....*hpc crosses fingers on both hands...and mumbles a prayer. :)

[Mr Clean]

This would be for Americans only...

What tax status do you use? I am married with no kids and both my wife and I claim 0. We get a huge amount of taxes taken from our checks but we also get like 4-5G back at the end of the year. Would I be better off claiming 1 instead of 0? What is your guys&#39; marital status and what do you claim?

This has kind of been answered already but I wanted to expand on it a little. When you claim "0" you get more taken out of your paycheck each pay period. You get that back at the end of the year after you fill out your tax return and find you&#39;ve overpaid. The question is would you rather claim yourself (that is, claim "1") and pay less taxes every pay period and have that money available to you, or claim "0" and let the government collect it and hold it for you. Despite what Sirc says in reality we pay less taxes and hold that money and make interest off of it. If you are good with your finances you should claim a "1" and earn interest off of YOUR money, IMHO.

Also, since you get to deduct that interest on the mortgage payment your getting some refund money back anyways, claim a "1" and keep more money&#33;

[SALvation]

This is what I get for reading The Motley Fool all day :D

The thing is I have claimed zero all my life and have gotten used to the reduced paycheck but nice year-end payback. The question is how much would I get more each week in my check? Currently, my taxes equal about 30.4% of my gross pay. So for every &#036;100, I get about &#036;69.5 after tax. Would claiming a "1" be that big of a difference?

[Mr Clean]

Damn, I gotta go to a meeting (I&#39;m at work). I can answer that for you, I think, but It&#39;ll have to wait an hour or so....if someone else answers it fine, if not I will later...

despite the fact that I hate the Wings&#33; :D

[Mr Clean]

Okay, Sal, here is a formula for you: (NOTE: A savings account, where interest is calculated and added at the end of the month to your balance, is basically an annuity)


For annuities, the formulas are similar as those for loans. If you need a certain amount of money in the future and want to put away some money every month (or in some other frequency), the formula is
P = &nbsp;Ar / ((1+r)^t-1)


where P is how much you put in the bank each period, r is the interest rate per period, t is the number of periods, and A is how much money you need in the future. If you know how much you wish to invest each period and want to find out how much money you have in the future, we solve this formula for A to get
A = &nbsp;P((1+r)^t-1) / r


Let&#39;s say you are paying &#036;2400 more in taxes a year because you claim "0" instead of "1". Assume 24 pay periods in a year, so that is &#036;100 per pay check, or &#036;200 per month. So p=&#036;200 (because interst is calcualted once per month on a typical savings account), assume a 3.0% savings rate on your account (for the formula that means use 0.03), and t=12 (12 months in a year, meaning interest is figured at the end of each month and added to the balance).

Plug and chug P, r, and t and A=&#036;2838.41. Compare that to &#036;2400 you get back on your taxes, for a difference of &#036;438.41. Not bad, eh?

NOTE: (1+r)^t means (1+r) raised to the t power. I couldn&#39;t get the t to show up as a superscript so I wanted to make sure everyone understood what that meant)

Step by step calc:
(1+r) = (1+.03) = 1.03, so
(1+r)^t = 1.03^t = 1.03 ^12 = 1.4258, so
1.4258 - 1 = 0.4258, so
P (.4258) = &#036;200 (.4258) = &#036;85.15, so
&#036;85.15 / r = &#036;85.15 / .03 = &#036;2838.41

Hope this helps.... B)

[SALvation]

I failed every algebra class I ever had but I understand I should claim 1 and put the rest in an account. Thanks for all your help.

[Sirc]

Originally posted by Mr Clean@Jan 3 2003, 12:20 PM
Despite what Sirc says in reality we pay less taxes and hold that money and make interest off of it. If you are good with your finances you should claim a "1" and earn interest off of YOUR money, IMHO.
I was speaking for myself only. I wasn&#39;t suggesting that anyone else should claim 0. :P

[Mr Clean]

(Mr Clean @ Jan 3 2003, 12:20 PM)
Despite what Sirc says in reality we pay less taxes and hold that money and make interest off of it. If you are good with your finances you should claim a "1" and earn interest off of YOUR money, IMHO.

I was speaking for myself only. I wasn&#39;t suggesting that anyone else should claim 0

I know, but there was no other way to say it without making you look bad.... :D