It’s cold outside on this Wednesday, October 28, 2009 in Bellingham, WA. We haven’t experienced any rain yet…that’s good!

REMINDER:  Property taxes are due Saturday, October 31, 2009 and payments will be accepted Monday, November 2, 2009 at the Treasurer’s office, Whatcom County Courthouse, 311 Grand Ave., Ste. 104 from 8:30 am - 4:30 pm. If you are mailing your payment, it is recommended to do so by Saturday to ensure a Monday postmark. If you have delinquent taxes, contact the Treasurer’s office at (360) 676-6774 or (360) 398-1310 to find out the correct payment amount. You can also pay online at www.whatcomcounty.us/treasurer

Single taxpayers who are working at more than one job and married couples filing jointly in a situation where both spouses work are the most likely groups of taxpayers to be caught short.

For the individual taxpayer, the credit is worth up to $400 a year and for married couples filing joint returns, it’s worth up to $800. For married couples filing jointly the credit will generally decrease total withholding by $600 a year, said the Payroll Association. That means if both spouses work, their combined withholding would be reduced by $1,200 (2 x $600), even though their maximum credit would be $800, which means they could end up owing $400 in taxes or be short that amount in a refund. “If you are a married couple with two incomes, you may be getting too much of the credit, said Mark Steber, chief tax officer at Jackson Hewitt Tax Service. “The withholding tables don’t know the other spouse is working.”

Conversely, a married couple filing jointly with one working spouse will have $600 less in withholding, but would be entitled to an $800 credit, which would result in an additional $200.

A single taxpayer with two jobs would actually receive the credit twice even though he or she is only entitled to receive it once, according to Steber. He adds, “People who are already working and take on a holiday job should consider being more aggressive when choosing a withholding amount for the holiday job.”

“For many workers that means selecting the single status with zero dependents when completing form W-4,” he said. “Completing a W-4 in this way will cause a slightly higher amount to be withheld, which may help offset the duplicate Making Work Pay credit that the worker receives.”

*Information quoted/gathered from The Bellingham Herald, October 28, 2009, Stimulus payout may come back to bite you in the tax