[1803] in Depressing_Thoughts
Re: Taxes sux (again?)
wdc@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (wdc@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Tue Jan 29 15:56:40 1991
Taxes suck more than you can possibly imagine.
There are a couple things you can do to prevent this withholding
problem: Take fewer deductions on your W2. But chances are, you are only
taking one deduction, and the additional withholding would screw you out
of spending money that you'd get with your refund, but probably could
use (or get interest on) during the year.
Spend a few dollars on charitable donations. (It's too late for that this
year.)
Tax shelters. Too complicated, and you get screwed like I did when
the IRS changes it's mind and says that the shelter is invalid.
The real problem is that the IRS probably changed the rules during
the year making it hard for MIT to properly compute withholding.
The good news is that although you may be penalized, the penalty on
a $500 difference between what you paid and what you owe shouldn't
be too much.
Best advice: You can probably avoid paying quarterly taxes, but do
a dry run of computing your 1040 before Dec 31 and pay early, or donate
or do some other sensible thing.
Crazy advice: You may be able to get out of the penalty if you can
show that you took the same number of deductions as last year, and that
nothing significant in your finances changed, other than your employer
mis-computing withholding.
-wdc
(Let me tell you about my taxes some time...)
