Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Filing taxes, single mother claiming children, not sure how much I made?

  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Joined
    Jan 2013
    Posts
    188
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked 76 Times in 56 Posts

    Default Filing taxes, single mother claiming children, not sure how much I made?

    I am not sure what I have made dancing this past year but a fiend of mine says that even if I only danced a few months and made $2000 for the year if I claim my two kids that I should get $5000 back. Does anyone know around how much a single mother of two kids gets back? And what is the cut off as far as income?

  2. #2
    God/dess simone87's Avatar
    Joined
    Feb 2012
    Location
    New England
    Posts
    5,171
    Thanks
    7,361
    Thanked 9,469 Times in 3,228 Posts
    My Mood
    Cheeky

    Default Re: Filing taxes, single mother claiming children, not sure how much I made?

    1,000 a child , for the child tax credit. i have gotten 5 grand back before, but that's when i was working full time at a vanilla job all year round.

  3. #3
    God/dess shanna dior's Avatar
    Joined
    May 2008
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    4,980
    Thanks
    621
    Thanked 6,894 Times in 2,672 Posts

    Default Re: Filing taxes, single mother claiming children, not sure how much I made?

    Could you realistically have provided for yourself and your children for the year with only $2,000? If not, you may get an audit instead if that's all you're claiming.

  4. The Following User Says Thank You to shanna dior For This Useful Post:


  5. #4
    Senior Member
    Joined
    Jan 2013
    Posts
    188
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked 76 Times in 56 Posts

    Default Re: Filing taxes, single mother claiming children, not sure how much I made?

    ^ I know it's more than that but she was just throwing out a low nubmer. I really have no idea how much I made.

  6. #5
    Featured Member Aurora14's Avatar
    Joined
    Sep 2012
    Posts
    1,060
    Thanks
    1,974
    Thanked 2,010 Times in 704 Posts
    My Mood
    Happy

    Default Re: Filing taxes, single mother claiming children, not sure how much I made?

    My last club had a minimum number of dances per week required to keep your contract. It's is 15. Sometimes I work only 1 night, sometimes 3, and I'll take of months at a time. Sometimes I did fabulous, sometimes I went home broke. It doesn't help that I just use the cash directly instead of depositing all of it either.

    Here is what I do:
    15 dances X $20 (cost of dance) = $300 per week X 52 (weeks per year) = $15,600 per year

    It was actually surprisingly accurate. I had asked my manager to count how many dances I had done (early in the year). My math was almost dead on. When I figured it as the total price of the dance, I didn't have to try to figure out my tip income because I had technically included it already (club takes $5 per dance).

    When I worked full time at the club before that, I wrote down my total income for 2 weeks, took that average and multiplied by 52. This club didn't keep track of dances so I was left on my own to keep track.

    If I were you, I would keep track of dances or income for the rest of the year and base your math off of that though.


    As far as how much credit you earn, it is UP TO $1000 per child for the first 3 (I believe). IRS.gov has the actual tax tables listed for income. At a certain income you will get less of a credit, but it is a pretty high income before you're cut off. Keep in mind, if you haven't been making quarterly payments and you owe some amount to the government, your refund will be lower because they will deduct what is owed to them first. If you only owe a few hundred, you would still get a sizeable refund.

  7. #6
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
    Joined
    Jul 2002
    Location
    way south of the border
    Posts
    25,932
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked 10,563 Times in 4,646 Posts
    Blog Entries
    3
    My Mood
    Cynical

    Default Re: Filing taxes, single mother claiming children, not sure how much I made?

    ^^^ agreed that if you claim $ 2,000 in dancing income for the year as your ONLY source of income, you will indeed be eligible for a $1,000 tax credit for each child ... offset by about $300 worth of social security taxes due on the $2,000 income.

    However, IRS ( and/or state tax agency ) computers may 'question' how it was possible for you and your children to survive on such a low amount of reported income ... income stemming from a 'cash' business to boot ... which could potentially result in the IRS ( and/or your state tax agency ) investigating further. The ( admittedly small ) risk factor is that for any person working for a 'cash' business, that person has no way to conclusively prove that they did NOT earn a lot more money than they actually reported on their tax return.

    If IRS computers turn up data showing that person is paying X dollars in rent, Y dollars for a car payment, Z dollars for 'normal' costs of living ( groceries, utilities etc. ) in the person's zip code area, etc., the IRS may then conclude that person must actually be earning far more money than they have actually reported as income on their tax return in order to afford to pay these bills !!! The IRS may then assert that, in order to have been able to afford to pay these bills, the person must have actually earned $20,000 not $2,000 ... leading to a resulting $3,000+ IRS bill for additional taxes due on the IRS 'estimate' of the person's income ( which the person has no conclusive documentation available to disprove ). And to make matters 'worse', the IRS will then share the $20,000 estimated income data with the person's state tax agency, which in turn can result in a bill for additional state taxes PLUS an investigation by state agencies regarding eligibility for income level based social welfare benefit payments.

    Again, the risks of such developments is very small, but not zero. The point of course is that filing a tax return places a person on IRS 'radar'. Thus it's necessary to weigh the 'positives' of tax credits that can be received by filing a tax return reporting a very low income level, versus the possible 'negatives'. Obviously, much of this depends on a particular person's individual financial situation ( dancing earnings book-keeping, bank transaction records, social welfare benefits received, documented child support payments received, etc. ), on the 'off' chance that IRS attention may be attracted.

    In terms of IRS rules, as a 'self-employed' dancer with $2,000 of annual income you fall into a 'crack' in the system. Regulations for individuals say you don't have to file if your annual income is less than $8,000. However, regulations for businesses say that $600 worth of annual business income from a single source must be reported.
    Last edited by Melonie; 12-15-2013 at 08:31 AM.

  8. #7
    Veteran Member LexiConn's Avatar
    Joined
    Jan 2012
    Location
    west coast
    Posts
    282
    Thanks
    681
    Thanked 411 Times in 157 Posts

    Default Re: Filing taxes, single mother claiming children, not sure how much I made?

    I only made about $7K one year when I danced and got back $4k on taxes. I was in a very similar situation as yours.

  9. #8
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
    Joined
    Jul 2002
    Location
    way south of the border
    Posts
    25,932
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked 10,563 Times in 4,646 Posts
    Blog Entries
    3
    My Mood
    Cynical

    Default Re: Filing taxes, single mother claiming children, not sure how much I made?

    ^^^ yup, for better or worse, single moms earning less than $20,000 total annual earnings will receive more total money back via an IRS refund check than they had withheld in the first place, thanks to various refundable tax credits. But you can't 'cash in' on these refundable tax credits if you don't file a tax return.

Similar Threads

  1. Replies: 47
    Last Post: 03-11-2012, 03:28 PM
  2. Filing Taxes
    By MsChaos in forum Stripping (was Stripping General)
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 01-29-2011, 04:49 AM
  3. Benefits of filing/not filing taxes?
    By Autumn Lily in forum Dollar Den
    Replies: 37
    Last Post: 01-25-2010, 11:48 AM
  4. Benefits of filing/not filing taxes?
    By Autumn Lily in forum Newbie Board
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 12-30-2009, 05:35 PM
  5. Would I be wrong for Claiming my SISTER on taxes?
    By cinammonkisses in forum Dollar Den
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 08-09-2005, 06:59 AM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •