27 replies to this topic

[Belle]

So how exactly does that work? Does it only work if my employer pays me without withholding my taxes? And if so, that means that I can give tzeddakah and then pay less taxes?

(Either way, I filled out a W4, and I believe that means that my paycheck will be minus taxes.) So then do I just have to pay maaser on what I come home with?

Explain it to me as though I were a blithering idiot. Thanks.

[Belle]

First of all, you have to establish that you pay ma'aser, that it's your minhag.

I wasn't aware that paying maaser is a minhag. ??

And let's ignore the fact that wife's earnings belong to her husband.

not mekabel.

On the narrow issues of taxes, many hold that you pay ma'aser on your after tax income, what you come home with. If no deductions are made, and you remit the taxes personally, again ma'aser is on the after tax income.

So suppose I make $1,000 a week. Say they take off $100 for me, so I only come home with $900. Do I give $100 or $90 to maaser?

That ArtScroll book, The Laws of Tzedkah and Maaser, has a few pages on it. B'n I'll try to remember to scan it tomorrow if you don't have the book.

I don't have it. You don't have to scan it, if it's easier to skim through it, pull out the salient points, and retype it here in clear format, you can totally do that.

[Belle]

I didn't know all of this. Thanks. I need to figure this out.

Oh and to your smart-alec comments

[Belle]

It's not that big a deal. You just take 10% of your take home pay or your after taxes income. There is a website somewhere that has been previously linked where you plug in the numbers and it calculates your maaser.

Oh that I know. I mean to figure out if it's my minhag. This is my first job and I don't have an established minhag. I suppose I follow my husbands minhag?

Where it gets tricky I think is not how much to give but what it can be used for. Take tuition for the kids for instance. Tgat is a huge chunk of spending for many families and it will make an enormous difference is tuition can or cannot come out of maaser.


smart alec comments add character to posts

Do Jimmy Choos qualify for maaser?

[Vintage]

We also deduct necessary expenses for generating that income (ie - childcare, when that was applicable). Practically, we end up determining in January what we owe as maaser the previous year, and spend all year contributing that amount. So we are always a year behind.

[jewess]

Do Jimmy Choos qualify for maaser?

are you giving them to poor orphans?

[Belle]

are you giving them to poor orphans?

Do poor orphans need Jimmy Choos?

[Belle]

Now my husband said that all of my money is his and I can't spend a dollar without asking him first

melech, next time just answer the post.

[grend123]

$90.

Well, no, it's more complicated than that.

Let's say you make $1000 with 10% tax. You come home with $900. If you give $90 to tzedaka, your taxable income drops to $910, in which case your taxes were only $91 and the government will give you a $9 refund. On that refund, which is really part of your after tax earnings (since withholding is just an estimate) you owe 90 cents in maaser. Of course if you pay that to tzedaka it happens again because your income is now only $909.90. In this simplified system, to pay out 10% of you taxable income to maaser you need to pay not 1/10th of your income but 1/9th.

On the other hand, real world taxes don't work quite like that, since not all deductions are created equal, and since crossing a tax bracket can change things. In practice I doubt anyone calculates their maaser precisely... you give approximately 1/10th, perhaps a little more to be safe, perhaps not.

[jewess]

Do poor orphans need Jimmy Choos?

I was joking. No one needs Jimmy choos. (louboutins is another story)

[accolade]

Practically, we end up determining in January what we owe as maaser the previous year, and spend all year contributing that amount. So we are always a year behind.

I do something similar - I keep track of my ma'aser spending throughout the year and try to hit an estimated target (based on my take-home pay). At the end of each year, I finalize the amount for which I'm paying ma'aser and roll over any shortfall into the next year's spreadsheet. I spend the next year trying to hit that year's estimated target plus last year's shortfall.

[Belle]

I was joking. No one needs Jimmy choos. (louboutins is another story)

Oh I know