Zen Taxation
My financial life is in perfect balance in harmony with nature — or at least with the IRS. For the first time in over 26 years of wage-earning and tax-paying, I have finally managed the impossible — I withheld from my paychecks almost exactly what was needed to satisfy my 2005 tax obligation.
Federal refund: $90.00
State tax due: $38.00
I will now accept your fawning praise. Wanna rub my calculator for luck?
This is an enormous improvement over past years where I have been off by as much as $2000 (in both directions, unfortunately). The W-4 dancing and related gyrations were finally worth it.
This almost certainly means that someoneat the federal or state level is planning to throw a legislative wrench into my perfect little world. Whoever said that the only certainties in life are death and taxes obviously never had to worry about the AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax).
Of course, I wouldn’t have to jump through all of these insane hoops if Congress would get on the stick and pass the Fair Tax Bill. But I’m not holding my breath — I’m more likely to see someone’s brains taken over by space aliens (and no, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes do not count).
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It took me about 4 years to get the right balance between withholdings and refunds. I am not a big fan of giving the government interest free loans, either. OK tax is a little screwy, and I ended up oweing them about 150 dollars my last year there. No State Tax here, so that worry is over. I have done much better on the Federal. I usually get back between 100 and 300 a year, though for some reason, this year I got back 900 dollars. Child Tax Credit maybe? The increase in standard deductions? Who knows?
I guess that’s why I handle luggage and not 1040 forms. Congrats on pretty much nailing it this year!