I am married filing jointly(HOH), and we have 3 children. We made 115K and paid about 20K in taxes. We also bought a house in October that we put some $ down on and paid some interest and or taxes on. What should my return be without taking into consideration any additional credits from our home? Thanks:confused:

First you must decide your filing status. You can file as Married Filing Jointly, but then you are not HOH.

If you did not live with your spouse for last 6 months, maintained a separate house, paid more than half of maintaining the house, and have a dependent, only then you can file as Head of Household.

If you file as MFJ and the total income is $115k, then your federal tax is $12,973. You will get $1,000 as child tax credit for each eligible child.

Assuming that you are filing MFJ, the interest and taxes accrued since October 2007 may NOT be high enough to exceed the $10,700 standard deduction.

In other words, the mortage interest and tax payments for those three months were essentially wasted.

Your taxable income, after FIVE exemptions and the $10,700 standard deuction, is $87,300. Tax at MFJ rate is $14,679. Assuming your children are all age 16 or less, you will get $3,000 in Child Tax Credits, so your actual tax owed is $11,679, and your refund will be ablout $8,300.

Yes, AtantaTaxExpert's tax calculation is correct.

Noted!