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4 Answers

Help me with taxes please??!?

Asked by: lpliskin 224 views YA Discussion

I do not understand taxes…. I am so confused, and I feel like we’ve paid waaaaay too much this year… Wondering if we will get any of this back!

My husband is filing Married Jointly
His total Income for the year: 76,000
My income: 0$ (does this make me a dependent?)
Ages 29 and 19
Total taxes withheld: 17,300 (seems so high?!??)
State taxes: Texas (from what I’ve read no additional state taxes?)
Also charitable donations? Does tithes go under this? We have paid 2,400 this year….

Sorry its long, just wanted to make sure you have the details…Thank you for any help!!
Ps: that’s not even including our pre-taxed deductions (healthcare retirement etc.) which is 5000. So a third of our income is completely taken this last year… Is this normal? Seems so extreme to me!
Ok pascal, I certainly didn’t mean taken, bad choice of words. I just meant our net pay always seems so much less than our gross pay. And I just couldn’t seem to get ahold of any information as to what is the “average” that we should also be receiving. The FIC looks like about 13,000….

How others found here:

  • how much federal tax should i pay on 76000
  • how much taxes are paid if no taxes withheld on income of 13000 gross

4 Answers



  1. Pascal the Gambler on Jan 06, 2013 Reply

    You file jointly, you are not his dependent.

    That’s not a high withholding, pretty normal. The only thing refundable is federal income tax withheld. How much is that?

    Texas has no income tax.

    You can deduct charitable donations to registered charities if you itemize and if you have receipts.

    The $ 5000 for health insurance isn’t “taken away”. You BOUGHT health insurance.

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  2. michael971 on Jan 06, 2013 Reply

    I estimate your refund will be around $ 7,000.
    medicare and social security withholding is not refundable.

    Your standard deduction is $ 10,900 so you would need itemized deductions more than that to use your charitable donation.

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  3. Quick Answers on Jan 06, 2013 Reply

    I’m guessing you are looking at a paystub, not a W-2.

    Taxes are 3 parts. Federal withholding, Fica and Mc. On $ 76,000, fica/mc would be about $ 4300.
    Excluding Fica, it sounds like the FIT was $ 13,000.

    76,000 – 11900 (your standard deduction) and 7600 (the two of you) = $ 56500 in taxable income. If the health care was pretax, that would drop to $ 51500. Tax on $ 51500 is $ 6855, are a lot less than $ 13,000. Tax on $ 56500 would be $ 7605.

    It appears he may have put single/0 on his W-4.

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  4. StephenWeinstein on Jan 06, 2013 Reply

    1. No, having $ 0 does not make you a dependent. Being married to someone who is married filing jointly makes you not a dependent. To be a dependent, you have to be unmarried or be filing separately.

    2. Tithes usually go under charitable donations. There might be exceptions.

    3. I though that the word “tithe” means a donation of 10% of your income that is required by your religion. Since $ 2400 is much less than 10% of $ 76,000, it would not be a tithe under this definition.

    4. Texas has no state income taxes. It does have other state taxes, such as a state sales tax.

    5. For someone making $ 76,000, having $ 17,300 taken in taxes is not high, and may even be low. It is definitely low compared to other countries, where taxes can be 50% or more, or compared to historical norms. At one time, over 90% of a person’s income in the U.S. could be taken for taxes.

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