fundy tax returns

[Guest Anonymous]

It costs a heck of a lot more than $1000/year to raise a kid - you could maybe spend that much to care for a breastfed infant with mostly handmade and hand-me down clothing, an inexpensive car seat, a borrowed crib, $100 or $150 worth of cloth diapers, and a parent or other caregiver at home (i.e. no paid child care). There wouldn't be a lot left over for toys, books, or other enrichment items and activities.

We added up what we spent on our kid while I was pregnant and during her first year. It's downright frightening, especially when you include the insurance deductible and out of pocket portion of the hospital bills. Of course we could have done it for cheaper and now we have most of the gear that would be needed for future babies too, but it's still crazy! We spend more than $12,000 a year on child care alone.

Seriously :!: I didn't know it was so expensive to have kids :shock:

[GolightlyGrrl]

I checked, and the deduction per qualifying child for 2011 wa s$3,700

The Duggars have 18 childen at home.

18 x 3,700 =66,600

Rather odd, don't you think?

And did they get $1000 in child tax credits for those 18 kids totally $18,000 or is there some type of cap for so many children? I'm too lazy to read the tax code.

But I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of fundies are getting more out of the system than they pay into it. And let's not forget, some of them have been on public assistance. They just don't want anyone else to get public assistance.

[Rosa]

Your tax software can, you know, just print out the whole thing, as if you did it on paper, you know?

It didn't seem to offer that option (we did the cheapest on the list this year, I don't even know what it was called, because we had ALREADY done the work and then found out there was no way to file our state taxes ourselves because of the rule change.). Before that we used Turbo Tax. Both seemed to want to ask questions in plain English like "Did you sell any stocks or bonds?" and "Did you have farm income?" and not say why.

Last year I used the state free e-file because unmarried I was under the income limit, and it was just an interactive PDF of the regular tax form.

[Rosa]

Also, I'd say it's pretty indisputable that the majority of people have no idea of the mechanics of income tax, because every time things like refundable credits vs. deductions, or how tax brackets work, comes up, there are a whole bunch of people who pay income taxes every year and have no idea how they work. Even doing my own on paper every year, because of the little charts in the back of the tax booklet, I didn't know how tax brackets worked until a few years ago.

[Kitchen Princess]

I checked, and the deduction per qualifying child for 2011 wa s$3,700

The Duggars have 18 childen at home.

18 x 3,700 =66,600

Rather odd, don't you think?

Odd?

You don't take the standard deduction (which is a deduction from your gross income, thereby reducing the amount you are taxed on, not the total amount of taxes) if you itemize. They don't have a mortgage but they have lots of business interests, and therefore I bet they itemize.

The child tax credit is a credit towards the taxes you owe, so they would pay $1000 x number of kids under 18 LESS in taxes, after all is said and done.

The standard deduction is for you, your spouse, and everyone else you support. Everyone gets it. I don't hold it against the Duggars for taking everything everyone else is entitled to.

[Kitchen Princess]

It didn't seem to offer that option (we did the cheapest on the list this year, I don't even know what it was called, because we had ALREADY done the work and then found out there was no way to file our state taxes ourselves because of the rule change.). Before that we used Turbo Tax. Both seemed to want to ask questions in plain English like "Did you sell any stocks or bonds?" and "Did you have farm income?" and not say why.

Last year I used the state free e-file because unmarried I was under the income limit, and it was just an interactive PDF of the regular tax form.

If your form is an EZ, there's not much to explain anyway. TurboTax and the other big names all allow you to fill out the form as if it were a piece of paper. Or you can do the interview process, and click on the "help" at any time for clarification. I always use the interview, then print it out, save a PDF on my hard drive, in the cloud, and go through it with a fine tooth comb. Our printout is usually an inch thick because of our businesses and rental properties.

[Rosa]

I always itemize, or at least do the itemizing schedules to see if I should, but I was using the free TurboTax last time, so it might not have had the option. I only switched over because the state first encouraged and then required it.

[demgirl]

Odd?

You don't take the standard deduction (which is a deduction from your gross income, thereby reducing the amount you are taxed on, not the total amount of taxes) if you itemize. They don't have a mortgage but they have lots of business interests, and therefore I bet they itemize.

The child tax credit is a credit towards the taxes you owe, so they would pay $1000 x number of kids under 18 LESS in taxes, after all is said and done.

The standard deduction is for you, your spouse, and everyone else you support. Everyone gets it. I don't hold it against the Duggars for taking everything everyone else is entitled to.

I think the OP meant it was odd because the numbers came out to $66,600. As in -- 666.

[Kitchen Princess]

Oh! lol. I didn't notice.

[nolongerIFBx]

I was in a church that taught that you should donate or at the very least tithe on your return. Since it was unexpected money you didn't "need" it (so donate it to the church) and it was an "increase" so you were obligated to tithe on it. Even my parents didn't fall for that as they were educated enough to know that it was actually money they had paid in and since tithe was paid of the gross income, the money had already been tithed on as well. And usually we DID need it.

[Guest Anonymous]

I was in a church that taught that you should donate or at the very least tithe on your return. Since it was unexpected money you didn't "need" it (so donate it to the church) and it was an "increase" so you were obligated to tithe on it. Even my parents didn't fall for that as they were educated enough to know that it was actually money they had paid in and since tithe was paid of the gross income, the money had already been tithed on as well. And usually we DID need it.

I'm glad your parents thought that through! However I can see how a lot of people would fall for that. It seems a bit sneaky of the church to say that you should tithe on this, when you have technically already done it! I guess the churches aren't as nice as they seem - oh wait, they don't seem nice anyway :lol:

[Letgo]

I checked, and the deduction per qualifying child for 2011 wa s$3,700

The Duggars have 18 childen at home.

18 x 3,700 =66,600

Rather odd, don't you think?

Surely John David earns more than that with his towing business; that would allow them to avoid that number. Also, do any of the 18 year old+ children receive any of the TLC show money? There could be others who earn too much to be deducted.

[Guest Anonymous]

Boob and J'chelle might get round it by keeping all the money to themselves :lol:

[Olive Plant]

What I don't get is that all of these people will willingly accept government funds to help support their kids, but they all hate socialism. Totally hate it. Do they not understand that government handouts for social "good" like producing future citizens is socialism? But they'd be incensed if we got government handouts or refunds for something like birth control. Because birth control = sex, and we can't have the government condoning sex!

Clearly, they don't get where kids come from.