Comments on: How Much Money Do You Have to Make to File Taxes?

By: Greg

Greg — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:18:17 +0000

I’ve been divorced for 3 years now. On my divorce papers it says that I can claim my daughter on my taxes until my ex wife gets a job. Then we switch each year on claiming our daughter. My ex has remarried and I pay child support. Well the 2008 tax year she worked. I’m not sure how much she made last year. My deal is if my ex does a joint return then that means her husband can use my daughter on their tax return? My ex lives in a really small town in Arkansas and I live in San Diego. Do I go by what just my ex made, or can she use what she made (which I’m pretty sure isn’t that much)? I just don’t want to be screwed on my taxes. Any help would be great.

By: Madison

Madison — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:54:38 +0000

@ Funny about Money: Yep, you read it correctly. All the income includes retirement plan distributions, tax exempt interest and other exclusions from income. Here's more info from the IRS: Are Your Social Security Benefits Taxable?

By: Weekend Linkage - February 7, 2009

Weekend Linkage - February 7, 2009 — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:22:40 +0000

[...] How Much Money Do You Have to Make to File Taxes? @ My Dollar Plan [...]

By: Funny about Money

Funny about Money — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 01:08:34 +0000

Waitaminit. Do I understand this correctly?

If HALF your Social Security plus ALL your gross income from other sources = <$25,000, you don’t have to file a tax return? In other words, you wouldn’t pay any income taxes?

ALL gross income? Does that include capital gains taxes on drawdowns from a regular IRA or 403(b)?

That sounds too good to be true.

By: Madison

Madison — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:08:58 +0000

@ Roman: Wow, sounds so easy! How do they know how much self-employment income you have to prefill it?

By: Roman @ FinancialJesus.com

Roman @ FinancialJesus.com — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:32:16 +0000

I always laugh a little when I see articles about paying your taxes in the US.
It just seems so difficult.
In Estonia (look it up on a map!) where I live it is a lot easier:
When the yearly tax paying period starts you need to log into your account at the government’s website. All the information is already pre-filled and calculated for you. You just need to click “next” a few times and make sure there are no obvious errors and if you should get something back – it will be wired to your bank account by the next day.
Dealing with taxes takes about 5 – 10 minutes a year.
So no one really bothers to write any articles it as well!