Alexithymia Antithesis

A simple tax program to know if you owe or are getting a refund?

OK, so I can be a bit nerdy sometimes.  In figuring out how much Kristen not working is going to affect us, I wanted to know how much money I can bring home.  So I looked at our total wages, looked at how much federal tax we have paid, and went through a simple tax calculation to figure out whether we will owe money or get a refund.  Since we would get a refund, I upped my allowances (Please note - there are IRS rules which help you determine the number of allowances you can take) so that I will bring home the max amount of money each check without having to pay taxes or getting a refund.  Wirh Kristen not working, I wanted to make sure that I was bringing home as much money as I can without paying taxes for next year.

Being the analytical geek I am, I played around with the numbers using my 2007 tax return as a guide on how to figure this out.  Then I applied my knowledge that I am learning in school right now and wrote a simple program for anyone to be able to put in wages, taxes, their filing status (single or married filing jointly), number of exemptions (self, spouse, and number of kids), and estimated or actual deductions.  As a result of this simple program, you will be told how much your tax bill will be for next year (based on 2008 federal tax tables) and whether you owe money or will receive a refund.

Now, there is some work to be done on your part but here is a simple way to do this. 

1. Wages - enter your taxable wages listed on your pay stub.  If you want to know what it will be for the year, mutiply your taxable wages for each check and multiply that by the number of pay periods left in the year.
2. Other income - look online to see how much interest you received this year from savings or from CDs.  Or better yet, just use a number similar to what you used on last year's return for an estimate.  (NOTE - this Other income is for interest only.  It does not include more complicated transactions for rental income, capital gains, etc.)
3. Federal taxes - look again on your pay stub to see what you have paid year to date.  Look at how much federal tax was taken out on your pay check and multiply that out by the number of pay periods left in the year.  Add that to your year to date total and you have your total taxes.
4. Deductions - This might be the tough one.  Enter 1 if you want to itemize and 2 for the standard deductions.  If you itemize, you will need to enter your total on another line.  You will need to add everything that you donated or gave to charitable organizations and any interest on your house.  There are also many other deductions out there as well.  Easy way to get a rough estimate is to use the number for last year's return.  If you don't itemize, it will calculate the standard deduction for you.
5. Filing Status - Enter 1 if single and 2 if married filing jointly
6. Exemptions - the total number of people in your house including self, spouse, and kids that you gave life to or legally adopted.

Then you will have your tax and whether you owe or will receive a refund.  Here's an example of what it looks like:

    

Sof if you want to try it out, here is a link for the program.  I would be interested in any feedback on this and hope it is helpful.  I must note that you may need to download a an application from Microsoft (I PROMISE THERE ARE NO VIRUSES AS THIS IS DIRECTLY FROM MISCROSOFT - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0856EACB-4362-4B0D-8EDD-AAB15C5E04F5&displaylang=en )

So try out the tax program and let me know what you think (I promise this is a safe program.  You can run the program from here without having to download)!

Download Taxes.exe (17.5K)

***DISCLAIMER - THIS IS NOT MEANT TO BE AN ACTUAL CALCULATION OF YOUR TAXES.  THIS IS ONLY USED FOR ESTIMATION PURPOSES!***

To work or not to work?

That's been the question we have been asking for weeks.  It's a question finances, priorities, and logistics.  Full time, part time, or no work at all?  What do we do with Landon?  Can we afford daycare?  How many days?  What is the point of Kristen going back to work?

I have always railed against a society which lives in debt, has an insatiable appetite for materialism, and has forgotten what is important.  I think our economy reflects a society which bought more than it could afford and thinks the American dream will make people happy.  In reality, the American dream is just a prison but most people don't know they are trapped because everything around them is decorated so nicely.  Most of people in this country have debt and many don't know how to live on a budget.  Yet we are shocked and surprised when legislators, who can't manage their own finances, can't balance a budget and can't keep the country from going into debt. 

Most of that should be the subject of another post altogether.  However, it is my thoughts on these things that have been weighing on my mind as we have been thinking about this decision.  When both of us were working and had more than enough, it's easy to believe what I did.  Now the idea of only one of us working challenges everything I have believed. 

So more money would be nice, especially with a new kid.  However, I HATED the thought of a daycare raising my child and seeing him more than his parents did.  I know everyone doesn't feel that way and that is fine.  To each his own.  I don't think Landon is ready for daycare.  Nor do I think we are.  He isn't on a set schedule yet, still has trouble with a bottle, daycare is really expensive, and finances still need to be worked out for all of this.

So the decision has been made.  Kristen has quit her job.  She still has to work her last 2 weeks and we are frantically trying to figure out what to do with him for those two weeks.  We can't put him in daycare because we are locked in for the whole year.  So now we need to scramble to find someone to take care of him.  But for the rest of this year at least, Kristen is not going to be working.  At the start of next year, she will look for something part time just a couple of days a week if things work out.  For now, we will work out the finances and deal with things being a little tighter now. 

It's the right decision for us.  It's the right decision for Landon.  And I even look forward to things being a little tighter and actually living out what I believe.