The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

responder wrote:empty, self employment tax would make these values double (its an entire 15% added on top of the regular calculation, so assuming the roughly $45000 people have the standard deductions, thats roughly .15 of 35,000 which is an ADDED $5200 on top of the regular bracketed calculation. Meaning they would be looking at about $10000 federal total).

I'm not arguing with the entirety of that statement, but somewhere in your numbers things are not quite right. The 2012 self-employed tax was actually 13.3% (which is a relatively minor point and due to the payroll tax holiday), but I can tell you that between my pre-payments and having to pay the self-employ tax this year, mine rounded out to a little under $8,000 in all. My effective tax rate was ~10%.

Everyone's tax situation is slightly different, but depending on a number of factors, anywhere between $5,000-$10,000 is probably reasonable if you're paying the self-employ tax and probably $2,000-$5,000 if you aren't. Therefore, I stand by my previous post.

Okay so apparently my CPA made a mistake, he added AMT (Alternative Minimum TAX) to my taxes by mistake. This essentially doubled my taxes, so now its a much more reasonable number. Around 3k total.

empty, self employment tax would make these values double (its an entire 15% added on top of the regular calculation, so assuming the roughly $45000 people have the standard deductions, thats roughly .15 of 35,000 which is an ADDED $5200 on top of the regular bracketed calculation. Meaning they would be looking at about $10000 federal total).

To the original poster, your figure is pretty darn good. Most of us in the 40k to 50k area will be hovering around 5k for federal taxes. To others with higher values, it depends on so many other factors, if your married (and how your spouse impacts you), or if you had any other small scholarship go to your school or whatever. I also paid a good bit towards my student loans and I was able to write off that interest to bring my value down a hair.

To everyone not doing estimated payments. YOU REALLLLY should do the estimated payments. It will cost you hundreds of dollars. They forgive you the first year you dont do this, but if you owed more than $1000 the previous year when you filed, you will pay a penalty equal to some random interest rate. Basically the government sees it as money you owe them and have kept it for a year, and want you to pay interest on it since they did not have it for themselves. I ended up making that mistake on my state taxes and it cost me $228. I did estimated payments for my federal luckily because otherwise I would have cost myself far more!

superskbman wrote:Just curious if anyone has had taxes as high as mine. I made about 42,000 (Stipend + internship Support Statement), but have to pay $6,500 federal and $800 NJ State tax. Does this sound reasonable? I feel like its especially high, especially considering those others posting on this forum saying they paid 5000.

If you are getting hit with both the self employment tax and the standard tax rates, then your numbers sound reasonable. Fortunately, I live in Texas and don't have to worry about state taxes...

superskbman wrote:Just curious if anyone has had taxes as high as mine. I made about 42,000 (Stipend + internship Support Statement), but have to pay $6,500 federal and $800 NJ State tax. Does this sound reasonable? I feel like its especially high, especially considering those others posting on this forum saying they paid 5000.

That may well be correct. The ~$4800 figures are probably from new awardees like me, who haven't done summer internships yet. The extra money from summer internships is going to bump up the tax accordingly.

Just curious if anyone has had taxes as high as mine. I made about 42,000 (Stipend + internship Support Statement), but have to pay $6,500 federal and $800 NJ State tax. Does this sound reasonable? I feel like its especially high, especially considering those others posting on this forum saying they paid 5000.

Guest071 wrote:First of all, there's no need for that kind of rude talk and degrading language. Second of all, life happens, things happen. It's like life savings, you may be able to save, but then something unexpected happens; don't expect to be able to understand someone's life that you have not lived.

Exactly!

First of all, there's no need for that kind of rude talk and degrading language. Second of all, life happens, things happen. It's like life savings, you may be able to save, but then something unexpected happens; don't expect to be able to understand someone's life that you have not lived.

So apparently, this scholarship is for SMART people and not smart people. How dumb are you that you didn't hold out a percentage of the money for taxes. You have all been told repeatedly that the money comes to you pre-tax. Pull your heads out before you suffocate!

I am with you @Guest071.. It will have to be a payment plan for me unless I can get a loan to pay a lump sum, because there is nothing in reserves. Kind of sucks. Congrats on your new marriage, btw.

No, I saved the money I earned during the summer, I can pay in one lump sum, so no payment plan for me.

@guest071
let turbotax explain. go here, and then click on "Background"
http://turbotax.intuit.com/support/iq/F ... 12306.html

So, does everybody else plan on doing a payment plan? Or do people have these kind of reserves? As newly married myself, there is no way I have that kind of money.

Thanks for the responses, I will check with a tax guy just in case if he can get it even lower, but I doubt it. I will give you an update once I am done, thanks again!

I am in a very simlilar situation. I made almost the same gross amount as you (also a MS student), but I did pay some quarterly taxes. I am newly married also so it makes my tax situation a little different, but I definitely owe what shows to be $5000 plus (filing jointly).

I have not tried filing seperately and seeing what the damage is, but I figure I will still owe at least $3000. It was recommended to me/us that we do pay quarterly taxes, but in my case I underestimated I guess. It is a hard situtation. I am thinking about sitting down with a tax professional about this. Possibly some major deductions could help you (lifetime learning credit, sales tax paid, etc.)? I wish I knew the answer.

I paid a similar amount. From here on out though, I think we're supposed to pay quarterly.

It seems reasonable, but I would recommend visitng with a tax professional. As an undergrad in South Dakota in 2011, I paid about $5,200.

I am about to file my return and it is showing that I have to pay the IRS approximately $4500. Here are some details about me, MS student, made $48000 (ISP + Stipends), no state income tax, single, no dependents, I did not make any quarterly payments. I just wanted to check if anybody else that has the same kind of situation and how much they paid in taxes to see if that tax amount seems reasonable.