Average Tax Refunds Down 8.4 Percent As Angry Taxpayers Vent On Twitter

[EricMaundry]

Source: Huffington Post

Average tax refunds were down last week 8.4 percent for the first week of the tax season over the same time last year, according to the Internal Revenue Service. Dipping refunds are inflaming a growing army of taxpayers stunned by the consequences of the Trump administration’s tax law — and the effects of the partial government shutdown.

The average refund check paid out so far has been $1,865, down from $2,035 at the same point in 2018, according to IRS data. Low-income taxpayers often file early to pocket the money as soon as possible. Many taxpayers count on the refunds to make important payments, or spend the money on things like home repairs, a vacation or a car.

The IRS had estimated it would issue about 2.3 percent fewer refunds this year as a result of the changes in the federal tax law, according to Bloomberg. MSNBC reports that 30 million Americans will owe the IRS money this year — 3 million more than before Trump’s tax law.

“There are going to be a lot of unhappy people over the next month,” Edward Karl of the American Institute of CPAs told Politico. “Taxpayers want a large refund.” Some 71 percent of taxpayers received refunds last year worth about $3,000 on average, according to Karl.

Read more: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tax-refunds-down-84-percent-twitter-complaints_us_5c5e4576e4b0eec79b2379e4

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[dhol82]

1. There will be a lot more of them in blue states

NY, NJ and CA are just getting started.

[politicaljunkie41910]

14. Friday on MSNBC, Stephanie Ruhle was monitoring the Hearings taking place in the House and

she asked the older guy named David who usually does commentary on MSNBC, why didn't they phase in the new tax hikes/cuts like they've done in the past. David said that they had to do it the way they did because they had to phase in the new rates 100% on the lower income people FIRST so there would be enough revenue to give the higher income people 100% of their proposed tax cuts.

[dhol82]

30. Pigs

No offense to the porcine beings.

[EttuBrute]

41. Just Filed In Calif

We took it in the shorts. It's tough to leave $4,900 in write off on the table. So the write off becomes income. Bend over.

[IllinoisBirdWatcher]

2. Repeal and Replace the Repugnant Tax SCAM

Remember that as bad as the middle class rates are today, they will get worse when the middle class "adjustment" expires in a couple of years. The taxes cuts for the rich and corporations are permanent.

The MAGAts got conned big time.

[NCjack]

3. Be patient -- that tax cut Liar45 promised in last year's midterm

congressional campaign, well, it will arrive any day.

[Yavin4]

5. Will it be before the caravan or after? n/t

[Yavin4]

4. I'm in fear of meeting with my accountants this year.

In fear.

[The Truth Is Here]

6. I'm getting the same refund I got last year.

I'm being told that it will change next year. So I'm going to adjust my W-4 to withhold more money.

[klook]

7. Huge win

if you’re a billionaire.

[TeamPooka]

8. you ain't seen nothing yet.

[czarjak]

16. THAT'S the scary part!

[ck4829]

50. That's right

[dweller]

9. this stat was a story on our local news tonite

so I guess it had to make Twitter status before journalists actually feel the need to report on it ...

sad state of affairs when seeking, investigating, discovering actual hard hitting 'news' is Twitter fed like pablum to our news sources...

✌🏼️

[durablend]

10. MAGAts are fine with it

As long as the left gets "pwned" in the process

[Dopers_Greed]

11. Mine was $200 less than normal

Sucks, but I'll live. I usually just put my returns straight into savings.

Feel bad for those who depend on them to pay bills.

Maybe they'll realize they got got by the GOP scammers.

[TalenaGor]

12. I bought a house in 2018

Took out of my 401k to put the down payment.....

But when I went into TurboTax to start figuring it out there's apparently some tax law regarding either mortgage interest or something else that still under review so I'm holding on hoping that that Law will move forward otherwise I could wind up as of right now paying $2,300 :/

Which I do not have....

[Arkansas Granny]

13. I work for a small company with 14 employees. So far two of them

have made changes in their withholding because their tax return was so small or because they had to pay more instead of getting a refund. One for sure is a Trumpet (the guys warned him not to wear his MAGA hat around me ) and I suspect the other is as well.

I don't discuss politics at work, so I don't know if they have connected their situations with the Trump tax cut or not.

[cstanleytech]

15. They will probably find some way to blame the Democrats or immigrants if not some combo

of the two.

[Aussie105]

17. Winning . . .

that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when you were offered wonderful chocolate cake and got a shit sandwich instead.

Think not of this as a 'tax cut for the rich' but more as class warfare by stealth. You'd be closer to the truth.

Those people who voted for Trump - stiffed, your tax return tells the truth. Numbers don't lie. Winning. Sick of it yet?

If you didn't vote for Trump, hang in there. Eventually, things will get better. Hopefully.

[JayhawkSD]

18. You probably did not pay more tax.

The media is having a field day about refunds, but that doesn't really say much. The IRS dictated that employers reduce withholding in 2018. The real question is, what was the effective tax rate that you paid on your income?

And before you start flaming me as a Republican or a Trump supporter, forget it. I'm not. I despise the man. It's just that I use my brain as more than merely a button to prevent my spine from unraveling.

Look for a line that says "Adjusted gross income." On the 2017 return it's line 37. Write down that number.
Look for the line that reads "Tax." On the 2017 return it's line 63. Write down that number.
Divide the number on line 63 by the number on line 37. That is the "effective tax rate" that you paid in 2017.

Now do the same thing for your 2018 return and compare the rate to what you had for 2017.

It does not matter what the method was that determined those rates. Whether it was standard deduction, or itemized deductions, or states taxes were deducted, or you got credit for supporting your Aunt Sally is irrelevant. If the effective tax rate is higher in 2018 then you paid more tax. If it is lower then you paid less tax.

[Sherman A1]

22. I recall the information about reduced withholding

I made no adjustments as I had seriously overpaid in previous years and last year’s refund was too big for me. I like it to be as close to even as I can get, maybe I get a little back, maybe I pay a little, but I want it as close to a wash as possible. This year we will just see what happens and adjust from there.

[JayhawkSD]

39. You're still talking about the refund.

What was the effective tax rate you paid in 2017 compared to the effective tax rate you paid in 2018.

[Sherman A1]

45. Didn't say I wasn't talking about the refund or reduced with-holding

As to the effective rate I really don't know at this point until I get them back from my CPA as he has all the information.

[PubliusEnigma]

27. You're wrong, again. Why do you keep speaking as if it's from experience?

Many of us did pay more this year. How can you ignore real people actually paying more???

You remind me of the dude who incessantly defends the Nuclear industry, except the IRS version.

[MichMan]

34. Did you compare the exact numbers on the tax form as JayhawkSD suggested and do the math?

[PubliusEnigma]

35. Yes. I paid more. So did others. What now?

Will Jayhawk stop telling everybody that there's nothing to see here??

I doubt it. They're stuck in a World of Theory while the rest of us lose money in reality.

[oldsoftie]

38. So you paid more taxes on the same income as last year?

[JayhawkSD]

40. Then make the right complaint.

If you paid more taxes than complain about paying more taxes and I will sympathize with you. If your problem is that you paid more taxes, don't talk about refund, talk about paying more taxes.

[dhol82]

31. I live in NY

I ended up paying more last year (after being thrown into AMT after prepaying taxes) and will pay more this year
I don’t have withholding, I have taxes of more than $10,000 that I can’t deduct now.

[EarthFirst]

53. SALT deduction?

Near certain we’re in the same boat...

[dhol82]

56. Yup.

I know that they are trying for a work around but I don’t think it will happen in time for this year.
I already got screwed last year - that I’ll never get back.

[roamer65]

19. NY, CA, NJ and New England are getting really shafted in the GOP tax scam.

I don’t blame anyone from those states complaining about it.

This abomination is punitive on blue areas of the country.

[not fooled]

20. One way to see the effect

http://taxplancalculator.com/]

Gives a side-by-side comparison of taxes owed before & after the tax scam.

[Bengus81]

29. Thanks for the link....Married couple with no children and making $50k combined

Get a refund of $51 per month or about $11.70 per week. WOW...that would score you a couple of combo meals at Mickey D's each week. Like they said on the Bush Tax SCAM,you can get a new Lexus or in the middle class a new muffler.

Myself and my wife both retired will get a TAX SAVINGS of $2.69 per week under the Trump Tax SCAM!! Oh thank you President Trump,I'm overwhelmed.

[MichMan]

32. I was hoping that we would come out OK

Looks like we will get a cut of just over 2K compared to last year

Married couple with no dependents. Haven't itemized for at least a decade, so the increase in the Standard Deduction really helped our situation.

[CagingRain]

54. Same here.

Single, no deductions other than standard.
"You save $2,422"
The year before (2017) kicked my butt. No job, no health insurance. Lots of hospital bills. Had to cash out a pension to live and they taxed the hell out of that, then hit me with 5,000 early withdraw penalty on top of the no healthcare penalty. I filed but couldn't pay, so this year should get me back to even.

Here's to starting over.

[Achilleaze]

21. republicans screwed American taxpayers

Again.

[workinclasszero]

33. Like always

Will this latest *** raping by the GOP against the non rich finally wake up the sheep?

[ck4829]

49. Yep

[Maxheader]

23. Didn't the new laws limit itemization?

Contract engineering...Used to be if you had a home..and were over 50 miles
from it, you could itemize "away from home" expenses..for 1 year, and the
2nd year the job was considered your tax home...Wonder if that first year
exemption is still legit?

[Bengus81]

24. I did the math on that " Trump doubled the standard deduction" LIE the other day........

First off $12,000 isn't doubling the SD from 2017,it would have to 12,700. THEN the real "gotcha" that FOX news will never tell those idiots is that Republicans and Trump KILLED off the personal exception deduction ($4,050) that people got in addition to the SD in 2017.

Add both of those together and they equal 10,400 in 2017 (was going up to 10,500 in 2018 till republicans killed it) for a single filer. For 2018 taxes it's 12,000 or an additional $1500 deduction. So...if your in the newly created 12% bracket that takes you to $38,700 in income then you get a tax cut of $180 or 3.46 per week.

I'm sure loads of Trump loving republicans had visions of a huge,brand new 2018 tax year $6,000+ write off. Sorry,Trump FUCKED you over and why it's been called the Tax SCAM. But to Republicans in Congress $3.46 per week IS a meaningful tax cut.

[GlennRuss]

25. My refund went up significantly

I have four kids though, and it seems the benefits are aimed towards big families while single filers take a hit. We also paid in about 70 dollars less a week, but that really didn't help considering our insurance skyrocketed and prices are steeper.

[Bengus81]

26. You can add to that list of getting NOTHING---retired/fixed income singles and married people

Like me.........

[CountAllVotes]

42. We didn't get anything either

Had to crack two CDs early for home repairs in 2018.

The withdrawal penalty was forfeiting a year's worth of interest.

This type of penalty used to be easy enough to write off. However, now it is considered taxable income! You need to file some other form actually write it off. I let it go as TurboTax wanted another $25 for a different edition.

It was not worth it to file the other form as the penalty was not that big. If it was big, I be beyond pissed!

I never suspected we'd get a refund, never!

Needless to say I won't be buying any more CDs! No $ left for such things anyway!

& recommend!!

[LisaL]

28. Silly peeps.

It's rich who are getting tax breaks, not you.

[Bengus81]

36. BIG diff between a tax cut and a MEANINGFUL tax cut.........

And that's what always happens with these Republican tax SCAMS. Sure,you might get a "cut" but it's meaningless when it comes to $3.00-4.00 per week for retired very low/fixed income.

Hell my cable/Internet increase that just started will eat up one week of that "cut",then comes all the other utilities,food prices--gas will be going back up in the spring,etc,etc.

[oldsoftie]

37. What did they not understand about a tax CUT? You pay less, your refund will also be LESS.

I bet they all announced that their paychecks were bigger during the year.
Jeeze!!

[EricMaundry]

43. Sure. But that is hardly all of what is being talked about here

[oldsoftie]

46. Oh yeah, the tax cut that could be put into law without congress ever being in session!!

[Cold War Spook]

44. We don't pay income taxes because of VA disability and Social Security,

but when we did we very rarely got a refund. We are not a bank, we do not loan money especially to the government. We set it up so we owed them the most we could and did not get a penalty. I don't remember all we did, but I think the main thing was to pay at least as much through withholding as our taxes were the previous year.

[oldsoftie]

47. the smart way to be! But I always loved at a refund as a "forced savings acct"

I KNOW it wasnt getting any interest, but it was better than me blowing it thru the year!

[ck4829]

48. K&R

[dlk]

51. What Else Could Have Been Reasonably Expected from a Known Con Artist?

Seriously, no one should be surprised.

[QC]

52. This is like being angry b/c the Nigerian Prince didn't put the money

in your account, even though he promised to.

[ROB-ROX]

55. I am 66 and my refund was down 33%

I am not someone who is missing 8.5%. I am paying for my house so I have that deduction. The big miss on refunds is we do not get to deduct ourselves. I think 50% of the GOP voting drones may notice the missing refund cash because of the GOP plan to make the rich richer AGAIN......

[Yavin4]

57. Will you people just be patient.

We said "trickle", not a "steady stream". The trickle is coming. Just wait for it.

[Bengus81]

58. Bottom line...IF the standard deduction would have DOUBLED as Trump STILL claims.......

Then single filers not itemizing would be taking a $21,000 write off--which would be $10,500 MORE than what it would have been for 2018 if the Tax SCAM wasn't passed.

The personal exception (that Trump and republicans KILLED) was slated to go up to $4150 automatically in 2018. That combined with the SD ($6350) would have been $10,500. What you REALLY got with the tax SCAM is a write off of $12,000 vs $10,500 yet Trump tells his lemmings that it DOUBLED.

Total,100% FUCKING LIE...................

[Jimbo S]

59. Irrelevant

All that matters is Line 10 of your 1040. The change in any refund is a reflection of over-withholding/under-withholding.