2009, earning wise, was a pretty incredible year for me — I sort of giggled to myself as I filled out my year ending wage forms into the 1040 form. Going back to college in 2006-2007 was the best decision I ever made, even if it did take me several months to find a job, and even if, when I did taxes last year, I had five different W-2s and had to figure out the partial filing for DC and Maryland residency.

And then I continued doing my taxes. And my glee turned to solid WTF.

I began applying for part time jobs almost as soon I was offered my full-time position, and indeed, I interviewed at the Bookstore my first week working in this area — I delayed my start-date by two weeks, but both jobs I work now I began at practically the same time.

And my part-time job, which has been such a life-line and a necessity, which I worked so much it accounted for fully a fifth of my income in 2009 (and when you consider how much less I get paid there, that is truly amazing), truly and totally fucked me.

There are two parts to this problem:

One — Because I have automatic deposit, I do not see the pay stub and I did not pay attention to how much has been being withheld. Or, rather, not being withheld.

My full time job withheld a bit over 10% in Federal taxes, and 5% in State. Contrast this with my part-time job, which withheld about 3% in Federal taxes, and 2% in State. The end result is that I owe about $1800 in taxes.

And — seriously, what the fuck? One of my coworkers suggested HR removed so little because they figured part-time employees needed the money to spend, which makes little sense since they’d just wind up getting completely fucked at tax time. Then again, for my coworkers who don’t have a better paying job, they might qualify for some sort of EIC. So, who the fuck knows.

For a very short while, I thought my HSA would save me. Until I took a closer look at my full-time’s W2, which removed my HSA contributions before entering my total earnings on my W2′s line 1.

Look, I get the argument that suggests people should prefer to have to write the government a big fat check at tax time because it means they get to earn interest on their money when the Feds and Staties might already have it, but to be bluntly honest, I like getting a big fat refund in April. I sort of look on it as a back-door savings account, or a rainy-day spending fund, or whatever, y’know?

In any case, this has put into sharp relief my financial failures, notably, my lack of a savings account. Well, I have one, but it’s pretty pathetic and won’t put so much as a dent into what comes due on April 15th.

So, for the next two months, I’m on a tax-inspired spending freeze. I won’t be eating out. No bars. No new books. No new media. I’m probably going to finally cancel my cable TV (which I’ve been thinking about doing since Battlestar Galactica went off the air), and probably end my Netflix (I’ve had my current selections since last year).

After this week (I have to work late a few evenings at my full-time job to make up for last Tuesday, unless I want to use my vacation time, which I don’t), I’ll be calling in every day to the Bookstore in the hopes of picking up shifts wherever possible.

And as soon as these checks are in the mail, I’ll be submitting revised W4 forms at both jobs, requesting additional money withheld from my checks.

It’ll be tight, but I should be able to meet my tax obligations. Otherwise, well, I’m hoping both the Feds and DC won’t screw me too much over late payments.

It should also go without saying that I’m very glad I did not wait until April 14th to do my taxes, or I’d probably be running down Connecticut Avenue looking for a bank to rob.

UPDATE:

So, two big things — one, I turned in a revised W4 form at the Bookstore. In addition to hopefully correcting the issue, I also requested an additional small amount be withheld from each paycheck towards my Federal taxes. So next year, while I might not get a gigantic refund, at least I won’t be scrambling to find $1800.

Regarding that $1800, it turns out the IRS has an installment plan taxpayers can utilize! So I am no longer in full-blown panic mode. I can pay my local taxes in full, pay about a third of my Fed tax, and then pay the rest out over a month or two. Hooray!