The Youngs are a married couple with a combined income of $47,000. They have one child with a health condition, and can claim the following deductions:
$4,250 in property tax
$6,250 in mortgage interest
$1,750 in charitable contributions
$12,500 in qualifying medical expenses
They can claim a $2000 child tax credit, and are eligible for an Earned Income Credit of $103.
Will the Youngs use the standard deduction or itemized deductions?
Standard
Itemized
Find the Youngs' taxable income. Round your answer to the nearest cent.
$
Compute the Youngs' tax owed. (Note that tax credits may make this number negative.) Round your answer to the nearest cent.
$
When they combine the withholding from their W-2s, the Youngs find that they have paid $177 in taxes in 2020. Do they owe taxes, or are they owed a refund?
Refund Due
Owes Taxes
Calculate the Youngs' taxes owed or refund. Round your answer to the nearest cent.
1 answer
The standard deduction for married couples filing jointly in 2020 is $24,800.
The Youngs' total itemized deductions are $4,250 (property tax) + $6,250 (mortgage interest) + $1,750 (charitable contributions) + $12,500 (qualifying medical expenses) = $24,750.
Since the total of their itemized deductions ($24,750) is greater than the standard deduction ($24,800), the Youngs will use itemized deductions.
To calculate their taxable income, we subtract their itemized deductions from their combined income:
$47,000 - $24,750 = $22,250
The Youngs' taxable income is $22,250.
To calculate their tax owed, we need to use the tax brackets and rates for 2020. Let's assume their tax rate is 22% for simplicity.
Tax owed = Tax rate x taxable income
Tax owed = 0.22 x $22,250 = $4,895.00
The Youngs' tax owed is $4,895.
Since the Youngs have already paid $177 in taxes, we subtract this amount from their tax owed:
$4,895 - $177 = $4,718
The Youngs owe $4,718 in taxes.
Since their tax owed is positive, the Youngs owe taxes and do not receive a refund.