@sylvan8798 - can you pay via a web check/bank transfer?
I just paid my car tabs due in January. It is $100 RTA - when we itemized, I did not bother with small stuff, but heck I am so mad I am hell-bent on using every deduction available to me this year.
I actually paid my 2017 - 2018 property taxes in November. H got an unexpected fee. I had already contributed the maximum that I can shelter into S17’s 529 for the year. I was going to pay off credit card debt but decided to prepay the taxes instead. I hope this will help me. I am also going to pay my January mortgage before the end of the year to get the extra interest deduction.
My question - do you only get the $500 exemption for people between 17/18 and 24 if they are enrolled in college? My 2 drop out sons live with me and don’t work, though that WILL be changing soon.
Why are so many troubled with the withholding? For most people’s tax situations its not that hard to figure out. Certainly don’t need the IRS to do it for you. There are a number of online calculators. Figure out your tax owed and divide by the number of pay periods. Withhold that amount each check.
Who knows what they will owe next year? Not I… my situation is fairly complex, and I doubt the online calculators cover it all. Plus, there isn’t even a form to fill out yet to say what to withhold.
I am going to rely on my company to send me whatever forms I need to fill out. I am much more concerned with H’s income because he’s self-employed. I have always just taken no exemptions, despite having numerous dependents, so that I wouldn’t have to bother with paying estimated taxes. That worked, but I am now concerned about how to account for H’s taxes. He has literally had years where he’s earning $150K and years where he’s earned under $10K. I think you have to account for 90% of what the last year’s tax was, so I will have my account let me know what to do, but I am nervous.
Right. In the past we have itemized. Not sure whether that will be to our advantage…or not moving forward. We have a tax Profile that includes wages earned plus retirement income.
Maybe it’s going to be easy for YOU to figure this all out given new tax bracket %ages, and the like…but for others, it’s going to take some information…none of which is year available. TBH, I’m not confident the tax tables for 2018 will be available when we are expected to complete our 2018 new W4 forms.
Aren’t the tax tables available now? The brackets are available. If there are no tax tables you can get to one with the brackets.
@yourmomma, have you ever actually filled out a W-4? Your questions and suggestions don’t show familiarity with the process.
It doesn’t ask how much you want withheld per pay period, it asks how many dependents you have and what credits you can claim. But the current form is based on the old credits.
With the threat of penalties if you under-withhold, I expect that there will be a LOT of over-withholding in 2018 until the full extent of the law is understood. Then withholding should drop down for 2019.
I have no memory of what it was like after the Reagan tax code changes in 1986–we were much younger, with much less money and a far less complex financial situation. So I have no idea if there were the same kinds of struggles with figuring out how to adjust, not in terms of strategy but in terms of figuring out estimated tax and the like.
@MomofJandL Do you know why they ask those questions? It is so they can use the tax withholding tables to overestimate what tax you will owe and have it withheld from your check. The are doing the same calculation, just using your paycheck and the exemption info you put on the W4.
If you want to reflect the new tax rates into your check come January, you can change your withholding to a set amount based on your estimation of taxes owed. Otherwise, what they will do is use the current rates thru say Jan and reset everything in Feb (or whenever they get the new tables established). It’s your choice.
I plan to prepay my property taxes next week. My big question remains 2018 property tax based on the 2017 assessment.
In Massachusetts, the fiscal year is July 1-June 30. In our town, assessments are done in December.
There was an article in today’s Boston Globe but no clarity.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2017/12/21/homeowners-rush-prepay-property-taxes-before-gop-limit-state-local-tax-deductions/Vkq0WowoVchLDWmdsH2OpN/story.html
Not all towns are accepting payments for Q1 and Q2 of FY 2018, which payments are due 8/1 and 11/1. Mine is.
I can certainly prepay and deduct the bills issued in Dec 2017 for Q3 and Q4 of FY 2017 with payments due 2/1/18 and 5/1/18. This I’m fairly certain of.
However, because the next assessment isn’t done until Dec 2018, the preliminary tax bills due 8/1 and 11/1 are equal to 1/4 of the total 2017 assessment, exactly.
Pub 17 says that to be deductible, the tax must be “imposed” on you (my quotes), and it must be paid in the year deducted.
Whether it’s deductible in 2017 seems to come down to whether the tax shown on the bills due 8/1 and 11/1 is “imposed” by the 2017 assessment in which case prepaying them would be deductible, or whether the tax is “imposed” by the invoice to be mailed out in June of 2018, in which case it isn’t.
I currently plan on prepaying the whole year, but I’m open to listening to good arguments why I should only prepay the first half.
@SlithyTove Actually the closest would be the Bush tax cuts in the early 2000s. With every tax change they have to change the withholding tables. They modify the calculation when the new tables become effective. So now, they’ll just use last years tables for say Jan. until they get the new tables calculated for possibly Feb.
@intparent With a complicated tax situation, the withholding tables won’t cover it either. Learned that one the hard way. You should be able to work with HR/Payroll to get a set amount withheld each check – there is no IRS form.
^^^ They will give me a receipt. They are anticipating doing this for a lot of people and have already started.
CA resident, property taxes paid ahead through Wells Fargo escrow. Maybe WF is trying to make up for misdeeds, but they were awesome about paying the taxes early–had a special office set up to handle it, even letting our escrow balance go negative for a couple of months to do it, no fees attached. I called them braced for a hassle and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was.
I have no HR, I am a small business owner. Stop assuming – you know nothing about your fellow posters. And HR can’t help with this without direction from the IRS. I worked on a major tax bill enactment a few years ago – it is complex behind the scenes.
So, @yourmomma, your answer to my question is no. Got it.
For everyone In NYS:
“Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday said he was signing an emergency executive order removing legal barriers to the pre-payment of 2018 property taxes…”
http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Cuomo-signs-order-allowing-pre-payment-of-2018-12450905.php
If the calculation used by completing the W4 form was SOOOO perfect, my husband and I would NEVER have had to pay a dime when we filed in April. Our taxes withheld would have been spot on. Even declaring zero exemptions, and having more withheld…it still was a moving target from year to year.
Some years…we got $3000 refund…and some years we had to pay that much more when we filed.
If the W4 calculation had bee so spot on, we should,have been able to use two exemptions, and it would have been close…but it wasn’t.
We jockeyed back and forth for years…and finally had an additional amount withheld each pay period. But without the exemptions…we are now back to ground zero.
I have absolutely NO faith that the calculations using our W4 info will be accurate enough for us come April 2019.
@intparent @momofjandl Sorry for trying to help. Only been doing this stuff for 30 years. Good luck to you.