First time ever I owe taxes

It’s hard to give weigh in on this without knowing your agi over the last 4-5 years.

But sounds like you’ve gotten steady raises and never adjusted your withholding.

Church donations usually won’t have any effect unless you gave more than the standard deduction, which this year is 27,700 for married filing jointly.

Do you have a taxable brokerage or a bunch of cash in a High Yield Savings Account that is throwing off interest or dividends?

There isn’t any withholding in those and it can quickly throw things off.

Compare your 1040s. It’s not that hard.

If you have a question about one of the lines then come back and ask about it.

The question is impossible to answer with what you’ve given us.

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When I did my deductions, things I always got credit for now never move the needle. We give a lot to our church and certain charities and that always made a dent, but this year not $1. What am I missing?

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My guess is you take the standard deduction and have not realized until now that you cannot write off charitable donations, if you are looking for a reason your taxes are higher. When you are saying the charitable donations are not moving the needle a $1, that tells me you are taking the standard deduction. But if they benefited you last year then you had to itemize (after Trump tax cuts you can no long write off charitable donations if you take the standard deduction).

You must make a pretty decent amount of money if charitable donations helped you last year because you now have to itemize for that to benefit you. If you are itemizing, did you reach the AMT threshold this year? Also, given your presumed high income if you are itemizing, the child tax credit may be phased out for you. This would account for the $2800+ increase in taxes owed.

Generally speaking, taxes should not be higher this year than last year. The thresholds got a very large bump this year to adjust for inflation. All things being equal, you have to be making a decent amount more this year to owe more taxes.

I’m getting back close to 5k and owe the state $500. First time getting a refund in a long time. Usually owe between 7500 to 14,000.

After about 10 years of owing I asked my wife what she was claiming for taxes on her paycheck and she said zero and 1. Changed it last year and owe a couple grand and this year get a refund.

No kids and standard deduction.


Fixed to say refund

I’m gonna say FJB, just because.

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What am I missing?

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It's the illegals, man! Do you realize how much taxpayer money is being spent on these illegals, who flow into our country with the arms of the Democrats stretched to greet them upon arrival?
Someone has to pay for it, right? While our citizens struggle in this piss poor economy that Joe Biden thinks is wonderful, the illegals are flourishing!

People are getting hammered because W4s aren't being filled out correctly. It's a little more involved than it used to be.