So I filed my taxes yesterday and I was wondering about my return amount. Let’s start at the first year I filed taxes.
2015 - Net income 510k, tax returned to me was 53k
2016 - Net income 720k, tax returned to me is going to be 59k in August this year.
Now the last time my friend got his tax return, his net income was 800k and his return was 67k.
My question is, how does he get back way more money on only a 80k difference (his 800k and my 720k), which is 8k more than i’ll get back, where my 210k difference (510k in 2015 and 720k in 2016) only bumped my return up 6k.
I hope this makes sense and I would appreciate any insight to this.
Without seeing your exact tax return and your friend’s exact tax return, this is like comparing apples to oranges.
You and him may have different withholding amounts that were taken out by your companies/schools. You and him may have different interest amounts that went into your bank accounts (which were then withheld-tax at 20%). That’s just the simple questions. Other things could be whether he or you were able to deduct your rent (if your landlord allowed you to).
Anyway, it is what it is. In the nearly 20 years I’ve filed taxes, the people at the Tax Bureau on Chung Hwa Road in Taipei have been THE nicest people in helping out with the filing. They’ve even asked me certain questions about this and that to see if I could get more deductions.
In fact, nowadays, it’s all easy, because all the data dumping by your company/school and bank is done automatically. Almost nearly zero chance of error.
One hint of advice for those who have to file (if in person): Go to the local tax bureau the 1st few days of May. You will get ALL the time and help from the tax staff. At the end of May, it will be a logjam of people, and the staff probably will have less time (patience) to deal with individual problems. Just file early.
Deductions for “dependents” can also make a big difference. If your parents are over a certain age, you can claim them as dependents - I forget the exact ages, but it’s something like a medium-sized deduction if they’re over 60, and a bigger deduction if they’re over 70.
you can’t compare with your friend.
You would both have to have exact same salary, deductions (withholding), bank interest, etc. Again, comparing apples and oranges.
If you want, you and your friend can go into a tax bureau office together and let them tell you after they see the exact filing forms.
You really won’t get a complete answer in this forum.
I had a lot that I was going to say, but it’s already been covered above. It’s probably a difference in tax withholding rates or dependents. Even if you don’t have children of your own, you can still claim your parents (or possibly even grandparents) as dependents if you are providing support for them.
Also, you should focus on the total amount of tax paid, not just the size of your refund. The refund is really not nearly as important as how much total tax you are paying.