Good News! You Got A Tax Cut! Bad News! You Might Want To Adjust Your Withholding!

CNN points out that while it’s wonderful to be getting the “Making Work Paytax credit right away through your employer adjusting your withholding — some people might end up getting more credit than they really are entitled to — meaning they may end up owing money at the end of the year.

CNN says:

Those most likely to be overpaid are:

Anyone who holds more than one job. You will get paid the Making Work Pay Credit twice, up to $400 ($800 for a joint filer) from your first employer and up to $400 ($800 for a joint filer) from your second employer.

Joint filers whose spouses work. Each spouse will end up being paid the credit for married couples by each of their employers.

There’s a twist, too. Because of the way the withholding tables were set up, each working spouse may be paid up to $600 this year — instead of up to the $800, Mezistrano said.

In other words, the husband would receive $600 at his job and the wife $600 at her job, for a total of $1,200. Since they’re only entitled to $800 total as a couple, that means they would have to pay $400 back to the IRS — or see their refund reduced by that amount.

Anyone who receives income from a rental property or investment, such as interest and dividends.
Your employer only knows about the income you earn at the company. If you receive other income that increases your modified adjusted gross income — or even pushes you past the income limits for the credit — you may end up owing the IRS some or all of the credit you received in your paycheck.

Anyone who started receiving their credit at the end of Febuary or anytime in March. The withholding tables are structured so that payments starting in April will add up to $400 for single filers and $800 for joint filers by year end. If payments start sooner than that a tax filer may actually receive a bit more than he’s due by Dec. 31.

Conversely, if your employer doesn’t start your payments until the end of April or in May — there’s no penalty if an employer doesn’t meet the April 1 deadline — you may end up getting a little less of a credit than you’re entitled to, in which case you can claim the rest when you file your 2009 tax return.

Wondering if you’ve got your withholding right? Use this IRS calculator to find out. The CNN article has more information about the credit, who is eligible, and who isn’t.

Here comes your stimulus bonus [CNN]

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