tax question about S.S TAX medicare etc.

[Kimbear 53]

So i'm looking at hubbys year end pay stub while looking at tax returns and i just noticed the totals of the 4 diff taxes he has taken off..and i'm wondering what the hell is going on and where all that extra money went lol.

Federal and state taxes ok i get that one. i understand medicare and social security taxes as well. what i dont understand is this:

the amount of medicare and ss taxes taken off is almost the same amount total as the federal and state taxes, those of which we claim on our returns. But there is nowhere to get any credits back for the others stuff?? its just..GONE??

i seem to remember in canada being able to put everyting down on our tax returns, federal and provincial taxes, unemployment pension etc etc. and finding out if we over paid or not.

How come i can't do that with us returns? And are all pension considered federal or something? in canada i remember being able to mark down health plans as medicare expenses or soemthing..

i dunno this part just confuses the hell out of me and makes me cringe when i see how much money is cough " stolen" cough from my husbands paycheck...

so maybe someone can explain to me where all that extra $$ goes? and not make me hate the IRS etc?

Edited January 11, 2011 by Kimbear

[Jill & Jeff 3]

You're going to hate the IRS. You cannot deduct expenses for Medicare and SS. Those are basically just "gone". However when you turn 65 you will be able to access the medicare system that you have paid into during your lifetime. When you retire you will be able to receive monthly social security payments from the government that you have also paid into through your working career (let's hope it's still there when we're 65).

J-

[YuAndDan 153]

Welcome to the USA, where everyone HATES taxes! The IRS is so screwed up!

[decocker 7,198]

totally and irretrievably gone.

[Kimbear 53]

so he effective worked for free for about ohh 4 months.......

i'm gonna go cry in a corner now.

[KeithandDonna 0]

It's hard to see where everything goes, but the shrinking number of those that work have make up the difference for the growing number of those that don't and someone has to pay for all the entitlements and free services needed for those that don't work. Bad news it will get a lot worse... not sure if there is any good news on taxes, except you will have less money to count.

[Jill & Jeff 3]

I know it may feel like it's completely gone, but it isn't completely. Hopefully you will get it back when you're 65 and utilizing medicare and social security. Unfortunately many people believe that the social security system won't be around when our generation turns 65 but that remains to be seen.

The way the system was designed was that this generation is paying for the retirement of the previous generation. Back when the baby boomers were our age, it worked great. There were 10 workers for every 1-2 people in the 65+ age group. Now that the baby boomers are starting to turn 65, it's more a long the lines of 1 or so workers for 2 retirees.

I realize it sucks, but in the end we still have a pretty good tax code compared to a lot of other nations.

J-

[Obama 2012 1,714]

If you're lucky there will be a lot young people paying in when you turn (maybe 70?) and you'll get some of that SS and Medicare.

However, if there aren't enough paying in at that time, you might get screwed. Especially since SS isn't the 'retirement plan' it's supposed to be and you have no said invisible account.

You get these nice little letters in the mail annually that tell you if you keep putting in X amount, you "might/should" get this much each month when you retire.... I wouldn't count my chickens.

It's all fugly, but is what it is for now.

My word of advice, is SAVE for retirement and try to block out the ugliness on your w2 that is SS and Medicare....

[Canadiandggal 49]

So i'm looking at hubbys year end pay stub while looking at tax returns and i just noticed the totals of the 4 diff taxes he has taken off..and i'm wondering what the hell is going on and where all that extra money went lol.

Federal and state taxes ok i get that one. i understand medicare and social security taxes as well. what i dont understand is this:

the amount of medicare and ss taxes taken off is almost the same amount total as the federal and state taxes, those of which we claim on our returns. But there is nowhere to get any credits back for the others stuff?? its just..GONE??

i seem to remember in canada being able to put everyting down on our tax returns, federal and provincial taxes, unemployment pension etc etc. and finding out if we over paid or not.

How come i can't do that with us returns? And are all pension considered federal or something? in canada i remember being able to mark down health plans as medicare expenses or soemthing..

i dunno this part just confuses the hell out of me and makes me cringe when i see how much money is cough " stolen" cough from my husbands paycheck...

so maybe someone can explain to me where all that extra $$ goes? and not make me hate the IRS etc?

Pfft Last year Chris got a large return for Federal but then we had to pay money to maryland as he owed.. so we went from 7000 refund to 3000 refund... then we got a letter stating he still owed 562.00 so we paid that... 5 months ago we got a letter that he still owes 400.00, he called and ttalked to someone yet again and they assured him that he still owed that amount.

We have still not paid it as our tax person told us just to wait till we file this year but I brought it up the other day and asked my husband how we owe money when we have paid them twice now... my husbands says thats IRS for you and that they tend to always come up with something. This year our tax return will be quite small and we better not owe anything errrrrr