Question for someone who's good at taxes.

[Lost_My_Mind]

So, me and my friend work at the same place, with the same job. We have almost the same amount of hours with me having about 3 more a week. At the end of the year I have about 8k income for the year 2009. (I know...). My friend already did his taxes, but I haven't yet, first I have to save up money because my employer didn't take any federal taxes out for me. That means i'll owe around 1,200. I qualify for the ETIC (earned tax income credit), so i'll actually owe around 800.

While doing his taxes online, my friend said "a rebate program" came up that gave him an additional 400 dollars. He doesn't know the name of the program. He refuses to call IRS because he's scared of......well, i'm not exactly sure what he's scared of. He says "they'll trace the call". All I was asking him to do was call and ask what the name of the program he got 400 dollars for was. He wont call. He only worked that one job. He doesn't remember how he filed taxes, nor what the name of that rebate he got was called.

Anyone have any ideas for tax rebates for low income people with no kids besides the ETIC?

 

[kered]

I have done my taxes already but I remember that there is something like you talk about and it was 400 bucks. I'm not sure but I think you have to make less than a certain amount and you can take that deduction. It had a separate line for this deduction or credit and you can be without children. There is a worksheet for it too so good luck!

You got me curious now so I'm gonna see if I kept my IRS workbook and look it up.

 

[kered]

Okay.....it's called a Making Work Pay Credit. You have to complete the worksheet to get it and of course jump thru a couple hoops too but depending on your answers you can get up to 400 dollars credit like your friend said..

 

[Lost_My_Mind]

THANK YOU!!!!! *bows*

 

[kered]

THANK YOU!!!!! *bows*

I don't know your living situation so just be sure to use the worksheet with honest answers or it may come back to bite you on the ass.

 

[Bugman]

While doing his taxes online, my friend said "a rebate program" came up that gave him an additional 400 dollars. He doesn't know the name of the program. He refuses to call IRS because he's scared of......well, i'm not exactly sure what he's scared of. He says "they'll trace the call".

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[BrightEyes1082]

Normally I would have my refund by now. But this year I'm filing
for the homebuyer tax credit, and due to so much recent fraud
surrounding the credit, they are now requiring additional documents
that can't be submitted via e-file, which means... yep... I have
to file by paper and snail mail!

 

[asutickler]

So, me and my friend work at the same place, with the same job. We have almost the same amount of hours with me having about 3 more a week. At the end of the year I have about 8k income for the year 2009. (I know...). My friend already did his taxes, but I haven't yet, first I have to save up money because my employer didn't take any federal taxes out for me. That means i'll owe around 1,200. I qualify for the ETIC (earned tax income credit), so i'll actually owe around 800.

While doing his taxes online, my friend said "a rebate program" came up that gave him an additional 400 dollars. He doesn't know the name of the program. He refuses to call IRS because he's scared of......well, i'm not exactly sure what he's scared of. He says "they'll trace the call". All I was asking him to do was call and ask what the name of the program he got 400 dollars for was. He wont call. He only worked that one job. He doesn't remember how he filed taxes, nor what the name of that rebate he got was called.

Anyone have any ideas for tax rebates for low income people with no kids besides the ETIC?

I think you calculated this incorrectly. By my calculations, (assuming that your 2009 income is exactly $8000) your total federal income tax should be zero if nobody else can claim you as a dependent, and $231 if someone else can claim you as a dependent.

If nobody else can claim you as a dependent, you should be entitled to a personal exemption of $3650 and a standard deduction (I'm assuming that you don't itemize deductions) of $5700. $8000 - ($3650 + $5700) = -$1350 taxable income. Since you can't have a negative taxable income figure, this defaults to zero and you would owe no tax.

If someone else (parent, guardian, etc.) can claim you as a dependent, then you are not entitled to a personal exemption. You should, however, still be entitled to a standard deduction of $5700. $8000 - $5700 = $2300 taxable income. Using the IRS tax table in the 1040EZ instructions, (see the links below) your federal income tax on a taxable income of $2300 would be $231.

Please note that you may also be entitled to additional credits (such as the Making Work Pay credit and the Earned Income Credit) which could further reduce your tax liability and possibly even entitle you to a refund. Yes, even if you didn't pay any federal income tax during the year.

The links below are to IRS form 1040EZ and the 1040EZ instruction manual. I would suggest looking these over carefully to decide if the 1040EZ is the appropriate form for your particular circumstances. If it is, take a shot at filling it out. It's pretty easy, once you get the hang of it.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040ez.pdf <-- 1040EZ instructions.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040ez.pdf <-- Form 1040EZ.

http://www.irs.gov <-- Official IRS website.


Oh and one last thing: Don't forget to file your state income taxes as well!

Good luck!


Disclaimer: I am a rhinoceros. I live in a zoo and eat hay. I love dollars, but I am not a tax professional. The above is provided for illustrative purposes only. If you need personal guidance, consult a licensed tax preparer or contact the IRS for assistance.

 

[Lost_My_Mind]

asutickler, you rock! Even though some things have changed since I posted this (i got a W2 from a company i forgot about since I only worked there 2 weeks in the first 2 weeks of jan 2009), I know I wont owe tax this year! Even without standard deductions, or exemptions, if you make less then $9,??? then you don't owe taxes. Whats even crazier is, I still qualify for ETIC so, I'm getting a refund of 380 at least. I'm still trying to figure out this whole "make work pay credit" thing. I know i'm eligible, I'm just having trouble figuring out how much i'd get from that.

There was a worksheet, to figure it out. Line 1 was your combined income for the year. The 1040ez pdf I was reading said you can round dollars up or down. So my final income was $8,492. Lines 2-5 were for income I didn't make. Stuff like war income, and some other stuff, none of lines 2-4 applied to me. Line 5 said add lines 2-4. Then Line 6 said "subtract line 5 from line 1". Now remember, 2-4 didn't apply to me, so they would be 0. So line 5 added up would also be 0. Then i'm supposed to subtract 0 from 8492. According to the calculator 0 minus 8492 = -8492. Yes, negative 8492. Whats that mean???

Then I found another worksheet in the other pdf asutickler sent me. The same thing happened there, even though its a different sheet. This one though asked if I had an economic recovery payment. If not, enter 0. I enter 0. Then it says "subtract line 10 from line 9. If zero or less, enter zero." Line 9 was 400, and 0 minus 400 is -400. So, that would be 0 again. Why does this one RELY on needing a economic recovery payment, but the other one doesn't??? Hmmmm......

Something fishy is going on here....

My original reason for thinking I'd owe 1,2?? was because if I would have owed taxes, I'd have fallen in the 15% category. Since i'm less then $9,??? I fall into a category that doesn't owe anything. I feel kinda awful that i'm even eligible for that....but still. This "make work pay credit" worksheet is confusing!

Taxes cornfuzzle me......

 

[Bugman]

I want to apologize to the OP here for my first post in this thread. It was rude and inappropriate. I should have done this sooner but I have been away from the forum until now.

 

[Lost_My_Mind]

I thought it was funny, because he IS that type of person. We'll be walking down the street, and he'll see a cop, and then after the cop is gone he'll say "OH GOD THAT WAS CLOSE!" and i'll ask what was wrong. He'll say "didn't you see that cop???".

So I'll say "yeah, but.....we're not doing anything wrong.......". He'll follow that up with "doesn't matter......they don't care, they'll make something up."

So yeah, I laughed at the video.