What % of AGI Is Your Federal Tax?

[foxfirev5]

2011 - 10.6% of AGI

 

[scrabbler1]

For 2011, it is 5% of federal AGI. It is about 4.6% for my state income taxes. Amazing that they are so close when you consider that I am in the 15% bracket for federal but only the 6.85% bracket for my state (New York) and the two AGIs are very nearly the same. Nearly 25% of my federal AGI is qualified dividends and LTCGs and I am in the 0% federal bracket for that.

 

[arky]

Federal: 14.5% State: 2.5%. Part of my pension is exempt from the state.

 

[Mulligan]

Havent done 2011, but Turbotax says my 2010 was 15.9%. Itemizing with a mortgage, being single really helps on my taxes as I have no interest free income, or dividends reported. State is 3.2%. It should be about the same this year which means I need to fill them out soon, so I can get back my interest free loan I give the government each year.

 

[DayDreaming]

6.9% for 2010, but my AGI is pretty small, until I start collecting my pension someday.

 

[powerplay]

Federal tax was 15% of AGI for 2010.

 

[Brett_Cameron]

Last full year of working 2010: 17.6%
Expected 2013: 8% with only retirement income.
2011 and expected 2012 are skewed by non-retirement income but are 16% and 17% respectively.

Projections for next 30 years run from 8% to 11% ranging higher as I age. I project a dip to as low as 4% for a couple of years 6 and 7 years from now.

These are only Federal income taxes.

 

[Sirka]

Total Fed tax (line 60)

I wish I could see come of the returns where people describe paying almost no federal income tax. I need to learn some of that sht!

Ha

I calculated 2010: 5.65% of AGI, but AGI is not a good number to look at when we have Tax free income, Long term gains at Zero and Roth conversion to fill the 15% bracket. I had to switch the income from CDs to Cali. Tax free bond funds, after I was surprised by high tax rates I had to pay in early years of ER. Nowadays we have no CDs!

Estimated 2011: total Fed tax (line 60) 4.5 % of AGI

 

[Grainiac]

I wish I could see come of the returns where people describe paying almost no federal income tax. I need to learn some of that sht!
Ha

No kidding Ha! For years our federal income tax has been by far our largest budget item representing over 50% of the total budget.

I entered our AGI and deductions into TaxCaster and it estimated our 2011 federal tax rate at 26.7% and marginal tax 35%. In comparison with others in this thread seems high, but all I need to think is what our taxes would be on comparable income in the "old country" in Europe, I suddenly feel much better.

 

[M Paquette]

Bear in mind that I am retired, with no pension, retiree medical coverage, or Social Security. I also have a very tax-efficient portfolio, and a bunch of realized losses I captured in February 2009.

0%, or with refundable tax credits figured in, -1.7% for 2010. This year will be similar.

The last two years I worked were insane. Combined taxes (fed, state, payroll) hit 47% as I recall.

 

[pb4uski]

2010 actual 12.1%
2011 estimated 18.4%

 

[haha]

I appreciate all this excellent feedback.

Ha

 

[Animorph]

15.00% for 2010. All sorts of strange stuff in there, but no capital gains.

 

[target2019]

Wondering if the discussion is about effective tax rate...

2010 1040:
Total tax divided by AGI is 8.85%.
Effective tax rate is 5.91%

MFJ.

 

[bbbamI]

0 for 2010.

 

[Dawg52]

Bear in mind that I am retired, with no pension, retiree medical coverage, or Social Security.

Same here.

2010 6.8%

 

[NW-Bound]

Very interesting real data from real people! Of course I assume no one has a reason to lie here, as we are all anonymous (except for people who have posted their own photos of course ).

So, to reciprocate, I will share my numbers. I never looked really close at the taxes, not even my own, as I just paid whatever the tax program told me. But seeing wildly disparate numbers made me curious. So here goes.

My income for 2010 was in the low six-figure, but it included my part-time income, which was part 1099, part W2 (I wish my portfolio alone would give me that kind of return so that I would not have to work. Oops, I forgot I said I worked for fun ).

After miscellaneous adjustments, such as carried-over capital losses, HSA and self-employed health insurance, before-tax savings, etc..., my AGI is 81% of gross.

Then, deductions, personal exemptions, etc... got taken out, and my taxable income was then a bit less than 50% of my gross. My federal income tax got computed off that.

Then, I got education tax credit taken off.

The result is that for federal income tax, I paid about 5% of the AGI, or 4% of the gross income.

I pay 15% of AGI, almost to the penny. And I have relatively small SS, and no pension, though I am required to withdraw RMDs.

I wish I could see some of the returns where people describe paying almost no federal income tax. I need to learn some of that sht!

Ha

I hope this does not make you mad, Ha. The main thing I see is that we were filing "married joint return", had personal exemptions for a family of 4, some deductions, and the college education credit. These added up.

To make you feel better, my children are both done with college. One already flew the nest. I will pay more for 2011 and even more in 2012, although it will not be anything like when we both worked full-time. Golly, it was almost not worth working for my wife, as she made quite a bit less than I did.

 

[ERD50]

The result is that for federal income tax, I paid about 5% of the AGI, or 4% of the gross income.


I hope this does not make you mad, Ha. The main thing I see is that we were filing "married joint return", had personal exemptions for a family of 4, some deductions, and the college education credit. These added up.

Yep. 0% to 2.53% the past three years. Kids and edu expenses. Not really a good ROI on a pure current numbers view

I'll be good and skip the tax rant. OK, I won't be good, I'm just too tired right now


-ERD50

 

[FUEGO]

Still working right now.

Our federal income tax paid was below 5% of AGI for 2010. That is the highest we have paid in recent history. Typically our % is a couple percent but DW got a massive raise last year and we did Roths instead of Traditional IRAs for 2010.

For 2011 I am estimating we will pay around 1% of AGI.

For 2012 I estimate we will have a negative 1% tax rate (based on AGI) due to increasing the number of kids in 2012 (if everything comes out ok!).

This is on an AGI under $100,000 but a total gross income a bit over $100k (we have roughly $70-75k a year in tax deferred income between 401ks, 457s, IRAs, mandatory pension withholding, profit sharing contrib, etc).

What we do: have a lot of kids, defer what we can in tax advantaged savings, tax loss harvest for $3000 in capital losses, tax free qualified dividends, keep taxable cap gains to a minimum (or non-existent).

This reminds me that I need to reduce our federal tax withholding to almost nothing for 2011...

edit to add: lest anyone thinks we have a perfect set up, we still get hit pretty hard with SS/medicare taxes that probably add up to a five figure amount or very close (in years where SS is 6.2% and not 4.2% like this year). And our state income taxes are typically similar to our fed income taxes, and will be higher in the future since kids don't reduce our state tax burden as much.

 

[Bimmerbill]

About 6% federal for me. This is with claiming DD5 this year, $10K alimony paid, FSA, DCFSC, mortgage interest, property tax decuctions, 401K contributions, etc.

 

[Alan]

This is on an AGI under $100,000 but a total gross income a bit over $100k (we have roughly $70-75k a year in tax deferred income between 401ks, 457s, IRAs, mandatory pension withholding, profit sharing contrib, etc).

I guess I don't understand your calculation. If you have $70 - $75k in tax deferred income then you didn't take it as income - correct?

If I counted all the income from the bonds in my tax deferred accounts then my gross income would also be much higher than what is reported on my tax return. Since I don't take this as income and defer it for some future tax year I don't use it in any calculation for 2010 or 2011, (tax paid)/(annual income).

 

[FUEGO]

I guess I don't understand your calculation. If you have $70 - $75k in tax deferred income then you didn't take it as income - correct?

If I counted all the income from the bonds in my tax deferred accounts then my gross income would also be much higher than what is reported on my tax return. Since I don't take this as income and defer it for some future tax year I don't use it in any calculation for 2010 or 2011, (tax paid)/(annual income).

Both DW and I are still working (W-2 employees). We (or our employer for a small amount) contribute to various tax deferred retirement savings vehicles and those contributions amount to $70-75k per year. So our "gross income" is significantly higher than our AGI (bottom line income on front page of our Form 1040). My % tax of AGI is based on AGI (bottom line income on front page of our Form 1040).

We also have significant income from investments in 401ks and IRAs but I don't count that either since it isn't in AGI.

My point of mentioning large 401k/IRA/457/pension contributions is merely to illustrate the point that relatively high income earners can still pay a rather small federal income tax.

 

[Mulligan]

Both DW and I are still working (W-2 employees). We (or our employer for a small amount) contribute to various tax deferred retirement savings vehicles and those contributions amount to $70-75k per year. So our "gross income" is significantly higher than our AGI (bottom line income on front page of our Form 1040). My % tax of AGI is based on AGI (bottom line income on front page of our Form 1040).

We also have significant income from investments in 401ks and IRAs but I don't count that either since it isn't in AGI.

My point of mentioning large 401k/IRA/457/pension contributions is merely to illustrate the point that relatively high income earners can still pay a rather small federal income tax.

What I am impressed with is your LBYM. Living on a quarter or so of your income, what a nice savings rate!!!

 

[FUEGO]

What I am impressed with is your LBYM. Living on a quarter or so of your income, what a nice savings rate!!!

This is a result of our implementation of the old advice to "bank your raises". Basically still living roughly like we were right out of college (and driving the same cars lol). Reducing the annual expenses is a much better way to reach FI than increasing income IMHO because there is no increased tax drag (as we would experience if our incomes started rising dramatically).

 

[Tadpole]

2011 (first year of retirement; last paycheck and other large dumps in January) - 13.3%
2012 (estimated with current level of taxes) - a little over 9%