A sneak peek at Palm Beach tax returns

By Dian Vujovich

It’s one of those things everybody wants to know but is afraid to ask. Yup. I’m talking about how much money somebody makes. That’s one of those questions that more often than not gets a none-of-your-business response. But, thanks to the IRS, individual income tax return figures do offer some clues.

A few weeks ago the IRS published individual tax returns for folks in each state segregated by zip codes. I just had to look at what 33480 revealed even though the stats were old—from tax year 2011.

Here’s some of what I found out:

•In 2011, there were about 145 million tax returns filed in the U.S.  Of them, about 190,000 had adjusted gross income ranging from $1 million to $10 million-plus.

•In all of Florida that year over 9.4 million-tax returns were filed.

• In Palm Beach’s 33480 zip code, 5,534 returns were filed.

• Of those 33480 returns 1,411 had adjusted gross incomes from $1 to under $25,00; 367 showed adjusted gross incomes from $75,000 and under $100,000; and 1,516 revealed adjusted gross incomes of $200,000 or more.

• 192 returns in the 33480 zip code showed they had received unemployment compensation. Of those, 97 had AGIs of under $25,000; 74 between $25-50,000; and 21 for those with AGIs between $75,000 and under $100,000.  Whew: There were no returns showing unemployment compensation on those from $100,000 or more.

•And while everyone knows that Social Security benefits/income, who gets it, how much they ought to get, what the size of the cost of living increases ought to be etc. etc.  may be a hot political topic, a number of 33480 filers receive monthly checks from Uncle Sam:  Of the 2,460 who receive Social Security benefits in that zip, the largest number of them, 950, having AGIs of $200,000 or more.

When it comes to Social Security, it looks like the retired and rich Palm Beachers don’t mind collecting that check each month.

There is a lot more information about the filings for those in the 33480 zip code at the IRS website under the heading: “Individual Income Tax Returns: Selected Income and Tax Items by State, ZIP Code, and Size of Adjusted Gross Income, Tax Year 2011.”