What might my (US) tax return look like for last year?

January 5, 2015 2:33 PM

I was unemployed for most of last year and began working as an independent contractor (no taxes paid up front) later in the year. I was not on any assistance. I was also medically uninsured the whole year and heard you have to pay a fee for every month you were unemployed. With this info, is there any way to estimate what my tax return will look like - whether I will get a refund or have to pay up - just so I can know what to expect?
posted by atinna to Work & Money (8 answers total)

Response by poster: I was also medically uninsured the whole year and heard you have to pay a fee for every month you were uninsured.
posted by atinna at 2:35 PM on January 5, 2015

You can sign up for an account with taxact or some other online software that lets you prepare a return for free (you only have to pay at filing time). Then you can throw in estimates for what you received from unemployment and contracting income. I'm sure the software will also handle the healthcare mandate questions as well.

It's easiest to do this after you get your appropriate tax forms (W-2/1099, etc) and you should probably have those by the end of this month. But you could get a guesstimate now.
posted by sparklemotion at 2:40 PM on January 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

You will almost certainly have to pay something, due to self employment tax. However, depending on your particular circumstances there may be various credits that would reduce your liability, and possible be "refundable" (meaning you'd get a refund).

Aside from these refundable credits, the only way you'll get a refund is to have had more taxes withheld throughout the year than your actual tax liability. If you had no taxes withheld you will not get a refund, unless you are eligible for refundable credits.
posted by melissasaurus at 3:18 PM on January 5, 2015

Here's the information regarding the Affordable Care Act penalties. Looks like you'd be on the hook for 1% of your income, or $95 per person, whichever is higher. The rest is impossible to tell without your income.
posted by General Malaise at 7:46 PM on January 5, 2015

P.S. I don't know what state you live in, but you may qualify for Medicaid, so check with either your state or the federal marketplace.
posted by General Malaise at 7:48 PM on January 5, 2015

You'll end up paying about 14% straight into self-employment taxes. You'll also have the usual taxes on top of that, minus half of the SE tax, and you can apply the usual exemptions/deductions to that.

If you earned less than about $15,000 and you have no kids (limits are higher if you have kids or are filing married), look into claiming Earned Income Credit.

As far as what the bottom line will look like, well, nothing's going to overcome that 14% if you haven't paid any estimated taxes yet. With the rest of the income tax, you're looking at anywhere from 15% to 30% bottom line, depending on how much you made.
posted by WasabiFlux at 12:11 AM on January 6, 2015

no taxes paid up front ... whether I will get a refund or have to pay up - just so I can know what to expect?

Income tax is a pay as you go tax, you're supposed to be paying as you went along. In this case you didn't so without knowing anything else, I'm not sure how you are expecting a refund if you haven't paid any taxes. You'll owe income tax, self employment tax and the ACA tax. Plus whatever income tax your state has too. You may also be subject to underpayment penalties (the IRS doesn't like it when someone decides that income tax isn't a pay as you go tax and just wants to pay everything at once the following year).

As to how much you'll owe, that's going to depend on your income (and some other things) but there are online calculators to give you a general idea. (I'm not endorsing H&R Block, just the first one I found.)

IANAA.
posted by Brian Puccio at 6:19 AM on January 6, 2015

Check out turbotax. You can start for free and I think (not sure) that you can actually get all of your information and in and see the taxes (but not print or e-file) for free. It costs $75 for the small business one (which you are since you were self-employed as a contractor) but it is the best, less expensive way I know to get your taxes your done.
posted by metahawk at 8:56 PM on January 6, 2015