this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2023
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It is in the U.S. too, but you often either owe more than was taken out or are due a refund because too much was taken out. But you need tax software in order to figure that out because it's so damn complicated half the time.
Oh that sounds somehow more annoying than just having to pay it yourself, seeing as you have to do the calculations yourself anyway.
To be fair it possible to be owed a refund or owe extra tax in Ireland too. If you changed jobs and didn’t inform Revenue they won’t apply tax credits until they know the full story for example. You never have to calculate how much you owe or are due though, at least not for an individual. You just tell them what your salary is, or if you’re claiming a credit.
The US allows deductions, which can come from a large number of sources. Some examples include interest paid on the mortgage of your primary residence, certain health care costs, or charitable giving. Since your job doesn't know about those, they can't make that calculation in your payroll withholding.
Health care costs in Europe? Nice try. We are taxed for that. What he meant is that in desember you usually get a notice from the tax office about next years tax rate. In 2024 you'll probably pay this much taxes and have these deductions. Is this correct? You'll have time to change it if you need to and then a set tax rate is made to pay for your taxes for 2024, which is then deducted from you pay check.
Come 2025 and tax season you should have a tax bill for 2024 at 0. If everything checked out. Should be said that the tax office always tax a bit more to be on the safe side.
Only thing I have to do each year is moving half of the paid interest to my girlfriend. (if we were married that would have happened automatically)
Also in my country all charitable donations above 50 USD is registered and gets laid out the tax form. You only get deductions over 50 USD with wire transfer. Paid in cash doesn't count.
It's really easy as it should be.
You can do that in Ireland too. For health insurance the insurer handles the tax and takes it off what they charge you. For charities if you donate over a certain threshold the charity gets to claim back the tax you paid for themselves. For ongoing things you inform Revenue and they let your employer know to collect less tax. Then for other things you just tell Revenue and they refund you.
it was never about the convenience of the worker, but about making sure they pay. companies act as tax retention agents.
The reason is that rich people have lots of loopholes to avoid tax and a lot of them just flat out file fraudulently. If the system was simpler, then they'd have to actually pay their taxes because it would be easy to detect.