Adjusting to a new pay schedule -- Help!

[ladymoreta]

I agree, that stinks. I had a contracting job last year where I had to pay in estimated taxes. It was a huge pain! So sorry you have to deal with that hassle.

[v-girl]

Did you do it all on your own? Or have a pro figure it out? I'm really not looking forward to this and am hoping our old CPA can take us on again (he did our taxes when I worked full time, but we couldn't afford him the last two years).

[ladymoreta]

I did it on my own, but not very well. I just moved 1/3 of every paycheck to savings as soon as I was paid. Then at the quarter, I did the estimated contribution form. The federal one wasn't bad. I think I overpaid a little, but the form was easy (about 20 minutes to figure and fill it out).

The state estimated contribution, however, was awful! It took hours, mainly because they didn't have the charts posted that they were referring to, so I had to Google previous years and hope they were similar! Needless to say, I ended up owing quite a bit for state.

But since TX doesn't have state income tax, you might be okay trying it yourself. Maybe go ahead and fill out the form to see how much you need to pay in quarterly so you know how much you need to save per paycheck. With no state income tax, maybe 1/4 would be enough? 1/3 ended up being a little more than I needed.

Also, something that threw me... You don't get any kind of statement for your payments. At tax time, I just reported what I paid.

[v-girl]

I found out how they're getting away with this -- they're paying his salary out of grants.

I'm going to re-hire our CPA. With schooling our girls, keeping up with the toddler, getting the kids where they need to go, I give up. If I can pay someone to do this one thing and hubby won't argue, then so be it.

[ladymoreta]

Good choice! It was a pain, and stressful worrying if I did it right, or would end up owing.

[HouseofWool]

It still sounds like BS to me. Thankfully you got the heads up right away.

[v-girl]

He got paid Saturday. Thank. God. We hit Costco today and got good cheese (4 flavors in one pack), new toothbrushes, Huggies wet wipes, a Wii Fit Plus, and Small Steps toilet paper. Life. is. good. Hubby even threw 2 twenties in the collection basket at Mass tonight. And my '97 CR-V with 180,600 miles has two new tires and now officially drives perfectly. I know we're not out of the woods -- still have to pay for ballet, buy new pointe shoes, new leotards and get DH's a/c fixed on the '92 Accord he's driving. But we have Foster Farms chicken nuggets and Fruit Loops. And I'm throwing out the Wal-Mart brand pancake mix. Well, I might keep it and use it, but just to experiment with different flavors.

[SoonerTexan]

But since TX doesn't have state income tax, you might be okay trying it yourself. Maybe go ahead and fill out the form to see how much you need to pay in quarterly so you know how much you need to save per paycheck. With no state income tax, maybe 1/4 would be enough? 1/3 ended up being a little more than I needed.

Yeah...mine's about a third.