Is anyone else excited to do their taxes for 2011 or is it just me? I just got my W-2s! It cost David and I $747 to file our 2010 taxes. It’s the amount of federal refund we lost because we had to file separately.
It all has to do with income tax rates and exemptions and blah blah blah, no one likes that stuff as much as me.
This year, we have a trick! A “dependent” for tax purposes doesn’t have to be a child! Hell, it doesn’t have to even be a relative! Unfortunately it does have to be a human (no cats) and they has to pass certain tests to qualify.
We can’t be married for federal tax purposes but we can still combine our exemptions to game the system for a small advantage, if not for the full advantage that the married tax brackets would provide.
What do the numbers end up looking like? Given a rough projection, if we just file separate we’d lose out on about $2,200 worth of refund for 2011 compared to filing joint. Filing with the dependent claim, we only lose out on about $1,400! Huzzah! We’re losing, but less!
Unfortunately this trick is only going to work for 2011. Any other tricks people think they might know or be curious about?
16/01/2012 at 10:22 am Permalink
Love it! It’s so ridiculous the way politics and taxes collide (as you discussed in the previous blog). Game on!