Estimated tax for 2015
 

Not sure if i am being daft or not. I am using an online calculator to figure out roughly what tax we will be paying this year. I have calculated our salaries separately, using married filing separately 0 dependents. When i combine our salaries and calculate married filing joint, 0 dependents, the answer is very different than the sum of the first two calcs. I can see that filing separately vs joint will make a difference, in which case how do i calculate my single tax bill?

Thanks

Re: Estimated tax for 2015
 

If you're "married filing jointly", you don't have a "single tax bill". What are you trying to achieve? .... Are you calculating how much tax you need to withhold? :unsure:

So long as the two of you have enough withheld in aggregate it makes no difference from whom it is withheld.

Re: Estimated tax for 2015
 

What Pulaski said.

It's good that you're calculating both ways to see which works better for you financially. Are you saying it's financially advantageous for you and your spouse to file "married filing separately"? That's unusual, because filing "married filing joint" usually gives you some tax breaks at the end of the year on your tax return.

Rene

Re: Estimated tax for 2015
 

Thanks both. Definitely more advantageous to go as married filing joint. I am trying to work out what tax should be withheld on a one-off workplace payment (bonus). We contract payroll out, and i dont know how they calculate the tax, but they seemed to withhold more than i was expecting. When i questioned it, they more or less asked how much i wanted to withhold

Re: Estimated tax for 2015
 

That's how it is here. You tell them how much to withhold and its your responsibility if its wrong. I started off overpaying substantially and am slowly normalizing it closer to breaking even. Even so, I ended up overpaying by quite margin again this year still though that was more related to SS deductions than anything else.

Re: Estimated tax for 2015
 

On a bonus it's fairly easy to estimate - its the amount of the bonus x your marginal tax rate.

If you're married filing jointly everything from $73,801 to $148,850 is taxed at 25%, and the next band upto $186,350 is taxed at 28%. So if you expect your annual income excluding bonus, but after deductions (mortgage interest, charitable deductions, etc.) to be $138,850, and you're expecting a $25,000 bonus then you should withhold 25% of $10,000 and 28% of $15,000, which I think works out as $6,700.

Re: Estimated tax for 2015
 

Thanks Pulaski, that is very helpful. Just to be clear, that is the purely the Federal tax Withholding? Do I need to be estimating SS, Medicare and state (SC) tax as well?

Re: Estimated tax for 2015
 

Bonuses are typically considered "supplemental wages". They are subject to the taxes your salary is subject to. In South Carolina, supplemental wages are taxed at 7.0% (state tax).

Re: Estimated tax for 2015
 

I don't recall ever seeing an option to set or change withholding for anything other than Federal income tax. My state income tax has always been close to balanced anyway, so I have never worried much about it. That said, I have noticed consistently that $100 of bonus increases my net pay by (only) $58, so other things are being withheld, but I have never looked at exactly how much is going against the different headings. ..... Thinking about it, several percent is my 401k deduction*. I presume some is state income tax.

* I don't mind the extra bump in my 401k, ..... and I get company matching funds on the 401k money that comes out of my bonus! :thumbsup:

Re: Estimated tax for 2015
 

In many states you can change your withholding for state taxes too.