Can someone explain what a tax liability is? Need help understanding this on TurboTax!
I'm seriously confused while trying to file my taxes using TurboTax right now. It's asking me to enter my "tax liability" from 2023, and when I look at my 2023 tax forms, it shows $12,605. This can't be right...can it? I already paid my taxes last year, so why would they want me to pay more based on what I earned two years ago? I feel like I'm missing something really obvious here, but I don't want to enter the wrong number and mess everything up. Is "tax liability" just the total amount I owed before withholding or something completely different? I'm stressing about this and would really appreciate if someone could explain what this actually means in simple terms! Thanks in advance for any help!!
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Dylan Wright
Your tax liability is simply the total amount of tax you owed for that tax year before any payments were applied. It's not asking you to pay that amount again - it's just using that information for reference purposes. Think of it this way: your tax liability is the final calculation of what you owed based on your income, filing status, deductions, credits, etc. Then your payments (like withholding from paychecks) get subtracted from that liability. If you paid more than your liability, you got a refund. If you paid less, you owed additional tax. TurboTax is probably asking this for verification purposes or to calculate certain payments for the current year. It's a common question that helps ensure you're filing correctly.
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Fatima Al-Mazrouei
•Thank you for explaining! So that $12,605 is just what I owed BEFORE my employer withholding was counted? That makes more sense now. Does this number impact my refund for this year at all or is it really just for verification?
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Dylan Wright
•Yes, that's exactly right! The $12,605 was your total tax obligation before considering what your employer already withheld or any estimated payments you made. In most cases, TurboTax is asking this for verification purposes or possibly to calculate certain items like estimated tax penalties. It generally won't impact your refund calculation for the current year, but providing the correct information ensures your return is accurate and properly processed.
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NebulaKnight
I went through the same confusion last year! Let me share my experience with taxr.ai at https://taxr.ai because it seriously saved me hours of headache. I uploaded my previous tax returns and it automatically identified my tax liability and explained exactly what it meant. The software analyzes your tax documents and explains everything in plain English - terms like "tax liability," "adjusted gross income," etc. It's like having a translator for tax jargon! I was about to pay an accountant $200+ but this worked better for my situation.
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Sofia Ramirez
•Does it work with state tax returns too? I'm always confused about the difference between federal and state liabilities.
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Dmitry Popov
•Sounds interesting but can it help if I'm self-employed? I have 1099 income and my tax situation is more complicated than just W-2 forms.
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NebulaKnight
•Yes, it works with state tax returns too! The platform analyzes both federal and state documents and clearly shows the differences between them. It's really helpful for understanding how different deductions apply at each level. For self-employed situations, that's actually where I found it most valuable. It handles 1099 income, business expenses, quarterly estimates, and even helps identify deductions you might have missed. It's especially good at explaining the self-employment tax calculations which always confused me before.
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Dmitry Popov
Came back to say I tried taxr.ai and wow - it totally demystified my tax situation! I was so confused about my tax liability from last year (mine was around $16k as a freelancer) and couldn't figure out where to find it. The tool immediately identified it on my tax return and explained that it was the total amount I owed BEFORE my quarterly payments were applied. It even flagged that I had overpaid on one quarter and underpaid on another. Would've never caught that on my own. Definitely made TurboTax way easier to navigate this year!
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Ava Rodriguez
If you're still struggling to understand your tax situation and need to speak with an actual IRS agent (which I highly recommend), check out Claimyr at https://claimyr.com - I was skeptical at first but it saved me HOURS of hold time. I had a complex question about my prior year tax liability that was affecting my current filing and couldn't get through to anyone at the IRS. With Claimyr, I got a callback from an actual IRS agent in about 45 minutes instead of waiting on hold for 3+ hours like I did last time. They even have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The agent was able to explain exactly what "tax liability" meant on my specific return and confirm I was entering the right numbers.
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Miguel Ortiz
•Wait, how does this actually work? Does it somehow put you ahead in the IRS phone queue or something?
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Zainab Khalil
•Yeah right. There's no way to skip the IRS hold times. I've been filing taxes for 20 years and NOTHING gets you through to them faster. Sounds like a scam to me.
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Ava Rodriguez
•It uses an automated system that navigates the IRS phone tree and waits on hold for you. When an agent finally answers, the system calls your phone and connects you directly to the agent. So you're not technically skipping the queue - the service is just waiting in line for you so you don't have to sit there listening to hold music for hours. Honestly, I felt the same way before trying it. I'd spent 2+ hours on hold the previous week and got disconnected. But it legitimately works - the system waits on hold instead of you, and you get a call when an actual human picks up. Saved me an entire afternoon of frustration when I needed to verify my tax liability information.
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Zainab Khalil
I have to admit I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical comment, I decided to try it anyway because I was desperate to talk to someone about my tax situation. My 2023 tax liability was showing as $8,700 but I thought it should be lower because of some education credits. The service actually worked exactly as described. I got a call back in about an hour with an IRS agent on the line. The agent reviewed my account and confirmed there was an error in how my education credits were applied, which was affecting my liability calculation. Already filed an amendment and should be getting an additional refund. Sometimes being wrong feels pretty good!
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QuantumQuest
For what it's worth, you can find your tax liability on your Form 1040 from last year. It's on Line 24 that says "Total Tax" - that's your official tax liability for the year. Just pull out last year's return and look for that line.
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Connor Murphy
•Is the "Total Tax" on Line 24 the same as the "Total Payments" on Line 33? I always get confused about which number TurboTax wants when it asks these questions.
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QuantumQuest
•No, they're definitely different numbers. The "Total Tax" on Line 24 is your actual tax liability - the amount you owed based on your income, deductions, and credits. This is what TurboTax is asking for when it requests your tax liability. The "Total Payments" on Line 33 is the sum of all the payments you made toward that tax liability through withholding, estimated payments, and other credits. If your payments exceeded your liability, you got a refund. If your liability exceeded your payments, you owed additional tax when you filed.
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Yara Haddad
Don't feel bad about being confused! Tax language is deliberately confusing imo. I remember the first time I filed using TaxAct and it asked for my "prior year AGI" and I had no clue what that meant.
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Keisha Robinson
•Tax software really should explain these terms better! I work in finance and even I sometimes get tripped up by their wording. They assume everyone understands tax jargon.
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