|
#1
5th February 2011, 07:05 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
The only things certain in life
In spite of a mild stomach flu, I'm not planning to keel over dead this weekend. But I am about to dive into my taxes. I have no idea if I owe or am owed. I think I set my withholding really high, though, so hopefully I am owed.
Planning to e-file Federal. I've always wanted to, but didn't want to pay to file taxes. Then they sent a letter saying they weren't sending out tax forms this year, and I discovered you can e-file for free. Yay! Just noticed that I don't have state forms, though. Perhaps they've adopted the same "no mail" policy and just didn't tell anyone. Think they're hoping a bunch of folks miss the deadline as a result and have to pay penalties? Regardless, I'm pretty sure you can't e-file at the state for free, so they're going to get my printed and mailed forms. I hate doing taxes. But it's better than dying. 
|
|
#2
5th February 2011, 07:15 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Last year I finally bit the bullet and got an accountant to do my taxes. This year I will be sending my info to the same bunch.
I have been getting many many 1099s in the mail; I need to match them up to my list of clients and see if I need to remind anybody to send one. Last year I had to pay in about $10 k because I hadn't sent in enough estimated taxes throughout the year. I was well aware of it, it was just a hard year and other expenses kept cropping up. This year I should only have to pay in about $3k. Much better.  Falcon, dying would certainly be easier. I think. 
|
|
#3
5th February 2011, 07:27 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I'd hire an accountant in your shoes too, Ninety! I'm glad this is a better year for you. Do you think it's a sign of the economy being better? Or just fewer speedbumps on the road of life this year?
Mine aren't nearly so complicated. I just hate trying to figure out the forms. They're not bad, I guess, if you simply follow along mindlessly and put in the number you're told to put in, but I always try to understand why certain numbers go in, and what the net effect is, and whether it's fair that you're taxed more on the same amount if you're single vs. married, and what was that marriage penalty thing they were talking about in the 90s, since I feel like there's a penalty for being single, and is there any point in itemizing expenses or not, and why is the state taking away all that itemizing I got to do for the feds, and... Well, it would be much easier if I would just put numbers in boxes and be done with it! Of course, that's probably just what they want you to do.  Dying would be easier, but I bet you'd still owe taxes, and then when you were done, you'd still be dead.
|
|
#4
5th February 2011, 07:59 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
We got our preliminary taxes done last night, and it looks like we'll be getting about 2000 back.
This is not ideal, but it is a pleasant surprise.
|
|
#5
5th February 2011, 08:03 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
 .
|
|
#6
5th February 2011, 08:13 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Did you know that those first time homebuyer tax credits have to be repaid?! It doesn't affect me, but I'm surprised. I don't remember seeing that part mentioned in any of the news coverage, but that's what it says on the "what's new" page of the 1040. If you bought in 2008, this is the year you have to start paying it back.
|
|
#7
5th February 2011, 08:34 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
1. Enter your height in inches
2. Are you American? 2a. Yes. Enter your weight in pounds 2b. No. Skip to line 7 of schedule B 3. Add lines 1 and 2a together. If line 1 is greater than line 2a, enter 600 on line 4. 4. This is line 4 5. Subtract line 2a from line 4. If you had spaghetti for dinner last night you do not have to itemize your deductions. Otherwise, enter the result on line 27a of form 1040. Gah! And that's just to figure out if I need to enter my state tax refund from last year. I don't think I do, but I don't quite trust that's the right answer.
|
|
#8
5th February 2011, 09:11 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
Looking back at my company's revenues for the past 10 years, I note that 2006 and 2007 were my best years. In 2008 and 2009 business plummeted, with my work basically half of what I did in 2006. 2010 was much better - about 75% of 2006 levels. Thus I was able to keep up with quarterly payments a bit better in 2010 than I was in 2009.
|
|
#9
5th February 2011, 09:12 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#10
5th February 2011, 10:28 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
I'm getting a refund, at least from the Feds. Haven't done state yet, and I think that will be another day. I did have to subtract my state tax refund--good thing I was suspicious of my first result. Bummer is that the free online forms don't have Schedule B yet, so I can't file until February 14th. The other bummer is that the pay cut I took when I took this job really kicked my tail this year. Then again, that was better than the alternative, given that I was laid off when I took this job!
|
|
#11
5th February 2011, 10:37 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
We have a friend who happens to be a CPA. We pay the same as everybody else, but we know he's good, and he's done well for us. Plus, we see him frequently throughout the year, so he reminds us during the year to do certain things.
We haven't gotten a refund in decades, but we pay very little, so that's good.
__________________
Please DO NOT confuse your Google search with my Journalism degree.
|
|
#12
5th February 2011, 04:25 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#13
5th February 2011, 04:26 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#14
5th February 2011, 05:04 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
Quote:
There was some kind of form for deciding whether you had to add it or not. My first time through, I thought I didn't, but that didn't make sense to me. Turns out it didn't make sense because I'd missed a step at the end! So, yes, I had to add last year's refund--because I'd deducted state income taxes as an itemized deduction when I did taxes in 2009.Oh wait...I see that in the bit you quoted, I incorrectly wrote that I had to subtract it. Is it any wonder taxes are so confusing? I've actually only screwed up one year. Fortunately, the problem led me to substantially overpay, and I didn't realize the mistake until I suddenly got a huge check in the mail from the Feds. I was afraid to cash it at first, thinking they'd made a mistake and were going to ask for it back!
|
|
#15
5th February 2011, 05:25 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Yeah...do...whatever...to it.
That's surely exactly what I meant!!
|
|
#17
5th February 2011, 05:54 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Tax returns, ick!! I did mine for decades, but in 2001 I started going to the local chain outlet. Maybe it costs me too much, but I don't worry about my returns any more. I just wander into their office with a pile of papers and they email me a day or two later to come back with a check or credit card. They always nag me a little because I don't make an appointment, but I just plop down in a chair and wait if the lady who does my taxes every year is busy. Easy as pie.
|
|
#18
6th February 2011, 12:30 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
The First-Time Homebuyer's Credit was repayable if you got it in 2008; if you got it in 2009 or 2010 you don't have to pay it back unless you sell your house within the first 3 years.
|
|
#19
6th February 2011, 12:53 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Ah, now it makes sense. I don't think I would have found a credit I had to repay to be an incentive. The early years in my house, I was pretty cash-strapped and wouldn't have wanted to be in a position to owe more money all of a sudden.
|
|
#20
6th February 2011, 01:28 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I was shopping for my house then. I figured I could pay it back (I think it's 15% a year) out of the refund I get every year anyway.
|
|
#21
6th February 2011, 02:05 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Yeah, that makes complete sense, Dragonlady. I was musing more about why they changed the program so it doesn't have to be paid back, and realizing that change would have been more of a carrot for folks in my position when I was buying. I nearly didn't buy at all, because I wasn't finding anything affordable that didn't have serious problems (e.g. caving basement walls).
I was literally planning to tell my realtor on the night I looked at this place that I couldn't afford home ownership and was calling it quits. But then this place had tons of little things wrong (but nothing scary), and was only slightly above what I was comfortable paying, so I bought. So a credit I had to pay back wouldn't have swung the equation in my particular situation. I.e. it wouldn't have pulled me into the market if I weren't already comfortable buying. But if they'd offered a credit I didn't have to pay back, that would have been enough to make me confident about buying--assuming the credit brought the house into my affordable range. Which the 2009/10 credits would have done. So I can see why they might have changed the program--would have pulled in people like me who were more on the edge of affordability. As it is, I feel lucky I got in when I did. It was just at the start of the housing bubble, and then the tech bubble burst right afterwards. If I'd waited a year, I'd have had no hope of getting into a house at all.
|
 |
|
|
Linear Mode
