I found this calculator particularly helpful the year I got married. It let me calculate (generally) how much additional money my wife and I had to withhold to make up for the fact that we got married that year (it could have resulted in a devastating tax bill if we hadn't planned ahead).

I hope it's wrong, because it says I'm going to owe $1300. There's a lot that I think it doesn't account for, like the fact that New Jersey charges me state income tax even though I live in New York and only work there.

Once I figured out where to put mortgage interest, it came up with the number that I expected. My federal tax rate is 17%, and after the mortgage, becomes 15%.

It doesn't handle people with all sorts of special exceptions, but it looks pretty solid.

My refund typically comes out to about $40 every year. And I know people HATE to hear this, but you want to make it to where you either get a tiny refund or end up paying a small amount to the IRS. A refund may seem like "free money" when in fact it is the government/state paying back money you loaned/overpaid to them & money that you could have been earning interest on in a high yield online savings account or cd, etc. etc..

Now let the flaming commence from the "Refund = "free money!" crowd

If I'm going to take the time to find and fill out all that info on the IRS website, i might as well just do my taxes and know the exact amount I'm getting refunded.

re: FORGOTTENPASSWORD, I know my refund isn't free money, but it is forced savings that always comes in handy for paying off my swollen post holiday / winter vacation credit card bills.

Does overpayment = refund?

"Based on the information you previously entered, your anticipated income tax for 2007 is $86, and your projected withholding is $1,652. Your anticipated overpayment is $1,566. Since it's December, any changes to your withholding that you request on Form W-4 may not go into effect until next year." What does this mean?

@forgottenpassword: If you're good at managing your money, the you want to own as close to $1000 without going over it. This way you get your money sooner without hitting the penalty (the penalty only applies if you owe more than $1000 in consecutive years but if you're always under then you don't pay the penalty).

@ftablogger:
Yes, overpayment = refund. Its too late to change your witholdings so you'll just get that as your refund.

The IRS one is good but this one is a little easier to use. [turbotax.intuit.com]

Bunk - It say's i'll recive $700 married with two kid's.

Umm last 4 year's it's been around $4500 and my witholdings and income are within $500 of last year on the income side and $40 on the tax witholding side.

D'oh. Looks like I'll be paying $480. Quite amazing really, it seems I'm right on the edge of a tax bracket. When I did it the first time through, I was going to get back $40. Then I realized I didn't put in my salary correctly. I added the missing $1000 and suddenly I owe $480.

I love lending the Government money each year. I'm not competent enough to use that money to build up my savings and use the miracle of compound interest.

If you have pre-tax benefits, you'll want to factor those in to what you enter. If you simply put your gross in without deducting special situations like that it will mess you up.

it doesn't show earned income credit.