Have you seen your new payroll taxes my American friends? We just saw ours. Ouch.
My husband gets paid bi-weekly. Our combined payroll taxes and healthcare premium went up a total of $70 per pay period. That's an extra $140 a month, more on the two months a year that we have an extra payday. This forum topic is a place to gripe an compare our mutual pain, but any strategies to deal with the resulting financial pain are also welcome. For on thing, I recommend an FSA or HSA - these are pretax savings plans to set asidemoney for your healthcare needs. Not only do they lower your taxable income, but if you use all of it it's bills you had to pay anyhow. This only works if you set aside what you will be spending as some plans do not roll over to next year. You also have to send in reciepts to get a refund. I also suggest you hve a meeting with your human resources/payroll department and make sure you are not getting a big refund every year because you are letting the government have an interet-free loan of your money by overpaying your taxes.
But, but ... didn't President Obama say there'd be no increase in taxes on those making under 250K, uh 400K per year <sarcasm>? But, but ... I was hoping for hope ... and this wasn't the change I expected.
But in a more serious tone, check out the HSAs carefully Wendy. I went over a number of them with a fine tooth comb and they've largely been emasculated. You'll find that coverage in certain key areas tends to be deficient.
Have you seen your new payroll taxes my American friends? We just saw ours. Ouch.
My husband gets paid bi-weekly. Our combined payroll taxes and healthcare premium went up a total of $70 per pay period. That's an extra $140 a month, more on the two months a year that we have an extra payday. This forum topic is a place to gripe an compare our mutual pain, but any strategies to deal with the resulting financial pain are also welcome. For on thing, I recommend an FSA or HSA - these are pretax savings plans to set asidemoney for your healthcare needs. Not only do they lower your taxable income, but if you use all of it it's bills you had to pay anyhow. This only works if you set aside what you will be spending as some plans do not roll over to next year. You also have to send in reciepts to get a refund. I also suggest you hve a meeting with your human resources/payroll department and make sure you are not getting a big refund every year because you are letting the government have an interet-free loan of your money by overpaying your taxes.