# That Tax Break: We Still Gettin' It? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 5, 2003, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-tax-break-we-still-gettin-it/186371 "2003-07-05T10:35:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-tax-break-we-still-gettin-it/186371/1 "2003-07-05T10:35:08Z")
I thought we singles were supposed to be getting a check for about 300 bucks like we did last year. Did they change their minds or are we getting it as a tax reduction in the 2003 tax year? Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-tax-break-we-still-gettin-it/186371/2 "2003-07-05T12:29:01Z")
[Google is your friend.](http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=109816,00.html) A check only for those claiming the child tax credit. Others get their reduction through reduced tax rates. These are effective from this year and your employer should start using new withholding tables immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-tax-break-we-still-gettin-it/186371/3 "2003-07-05T12:52:01Z")
Note that Congress specifically exempted your employer from any responsibility to refund to you the excess withholding as well, so don’t expect any check back from them (my emploer actually sent a fairly surprisngly nasty e-mail to all employees, saying, in almost these words, “We don’t owe you anything, bitch.”) ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-tax-break-we-still-gettin-it/186371/4 "2003-07-05T13:04:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anthracite \* > \*\*Note that Congress specifically exempted your employer from any responsibility to refund to you the excess withholding as well, so don’t expect any check back from them. \*\* But you can engineer a refund yourself, if you want. Let us say that your withholding number is 4. Just change it for next month to be 10 or something, then change it back to 4 the month after. You don’t even have to use a withholding number. I often tell my company exactly how much tax I want withheld, i.e. $x per payroll run. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-tax-break-we-still-gettin-it/186371/5 "2003-07-05T14:09:21Z")
My Federal Income Tax Withheld dropped last month by about $75, I already am getting it. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-tax-break-we-still-gettin-it/186371/6 "2003-07-05T16:47:07Z")
Hmmm. I work so much overtime no 2 of my checks are ever the same, so I haven’t noticed. Also the HR Department of my hospital is usually pretty good about keeping us advised of our benefits package. (You know, “In the year 2002, we magnanimously paid “X” dollars into your Social Security account, we provided you with warmth in the winter, and coolness in the summer, we paid you time and a half for any overtime you worked, and we paid your taxes to the state and federal government. So don’t ask for more than the 3% merit increase you’ll be seeing on your paycheck come October, you ungrateful wretch!”) 😉 I’m surprised they haven’t already sent out a letter telling me they are proud to be in compliance with the federal government’s tax reduction plan, and how I should see that as being a part of my benefit package as well! So I guess I’m already getting the reduction even though I’m not seeing it. And BTW, I’m single claiming one which gets me about 500 bucks a year in a tax refund. I once tried the formula for getting no refund, thereby getting more money in my pay, but this is as close as I could cut it, unless some of you more knowledgable than I know what I might be doing wrong. What **amarone** states in his/her post sounds like it should work, but how do you gauge it? Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-tax-break-we-still-gettin-it/186371/7 "2003-07-06T15:23:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by amarone \* > \*\*But you can engineer a refund yourself, if you want. Let us say that your withholding number is 4. Just change it for next month to be 10 or something, then change it back to 4 the month after. > > You don’t even have to use a withholding number. I often tell my company exactly how much tax I want withheld, i.e. $x per payroll run. \*\* My employer won’t do that, I have to do the “step function” like you mention in your first paragraph. Since I rarely need the refund anyhow (I didn’t even spend my last one yet) it doesn’t matter much to me.