I just finished preparing my 1040X, the amended tax return. Back at the end of January, like a good citizen, I prepared my tax return, submitted it, and got back a really nice refund. Okay, maybe that's not a good citizen, since I didn't let the government earn interest on that money for another few months. But I'm kind of poor, so I think the government can forgive me.
Anyway, I filed my taxes and was quite pleased with myself for getting that task done early. A few weeks later, my mother calls . . . and I have another W2 at home. This one was for the stadiums in Seattle in the grand sum of $83.44. Wait, I said; I wasn't in Seattle at all in 2008. Very sad fact, but I didn't go home for an entire year (Christmas to Christmas), and the snows in the NW prevented me from getting to Seattle for Christmas '08. Turns out I had earned that $83.44 during Christmas of '07, but I hadn't received the paycheck until '08.
Today, I finally got around to filing that amended return. Interestingly, on that $83.44 I earned, I paid $5.17 in SStax, $1.21 in medicare tax, and a whopping $15 in federal taxes due to being pushed up two more brackets. I got to keep 75% of what I earned, so I paid 25% in some sort of taxes on this small amount (18% in just federal taxes). It's a far cry from the grand sum of my earnings; overall, I paid 7% in taxes because I'm fairly close to the poverty level. Very interesting how small increases in earnings can have a different tax on them. It was still worthwhile, overall, for me to earn that $83 (really $62.06). But, still, eye opening and interesting.