F... Filing Taxes

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by Monkeydad

I did mine two weeks ago...money is in the bank.

My weapon of choice is TaxACT | Free Tax Preparation Software, File Taxes Online, Free E-filing . It's free. I've used it for many years, way before they even had a commercial on TV. I'm an accountant so I can do paper forms if I need to, but this website can walk a novice through and error-check it as well. I love it.

I refuse to PAY to file my taxes, that's insult to injury. The Government is already legally plundering enough from me, why lose more money figuring out how much was stolen from me last year?

Also, it pays to have kids. Literally.

Not for everyone. Even though Obama has said over and over again he will not raise taxes on anyone making under $250,000 he has.

Limitations - The credit is limited if your modified adjusted gross income is above a certain amount. The amount at which this phase-out begins varies depending on your filing status. For married taxpayers filing a joint return, the phase-out begins at $110,000. For married taxpayers filing a separate return, it begins at $55,000. For all other taxpayers, the phase-out begins at $75,000. In addition, the Child Tax Credit is generally limited by the amount of the income tax you owe as well as any alternative minimum tax you owe.

[BigHairedAristocrat]

I'm currently very annoyed with the IRS. I received a noticed from the IRS claiming I owe them a little over $1000 for income my wife and I allegedly didnt report in 2010. But its complete BS.

In 2010, my ex-wife worked for a doctor's office for a few months. They provided my wife a W-2 with the business name, address, tax ID number, and wages. We had HRBlock do our taxes, and have all the paperwork to show that we reported those earnings.

Evidently, the doctor's office reported those same earnings to the IRS under the owners personal name and Tax ID number, because that's what the IRS is saying we didnt report. But the business address and wages earned ARE IDENTICAL. What does the IRS think - that my ex-wife earned the exact same amount of money from the same address, but the business split it up between the owners personal money and the business money?

So i've called the IRS several times to try and resolve this, but every time i do, i'm on the phone over an hour and still cant get a person to talk to, so i'm taking the day off work Friday to go to an IRS office to try and resolve this. I really hope i can show them all the paperwork and they can easily understand what happened.

I dont know if the doctors office will need to be involved - but they actually fired my ex-wife (for missing 2 days of work in 6 months), and the owner (an iraqi man who barely speaks english and has an anger problem) protested having to pay unemployment benefits. My ex had to have a meeting with him and the unemployment office and when he explained why he fired her, the unemployment office guy actually laughed out loud.

Anyway, i do not anticipate him being helpful should I need to reach out to him to correct anything (and it honestly wouldnt surprise me if reported the earnings incorrectly on purpose out of spite).

Has anyone had any similar experiences with the IRS? Do you have any suggestions on how i can resolve? The deadline for me to appeal with the IRS is February 16th, so i dont have much time. (Prior to this, my ex had promised to take care of all this, as it was her job and she had all the tax paperwork from that year, but she hasnt. she has no job and, ultimately, im the one that's going to have to pay any extra taxes, so I really need to figure this out)

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by BigHairedAristocrat

I'm currently very annoyed with the IRS. I received a noticed from the IRS claiming I owe them a little over $1000 for income my wife and I allegedly didnt report in 2010. But its complete BS.

In 2010, my ex-wife worked for a doctor's office for a few months. They provided my wife a W-2 with the business name, address, tax ID number, and wages. We had HRBlock do our taxes, and have all the paperwork to show that we reported those earnings.

Evidently, the doctor's office reported those same earnings to the IRS under the owners personal name and Tax ID number, because that's what the IRS is saying we didnt report. But the business address and wages earned ARE IDENTICAL. What does the IRS think - that my ex-wife earned the exact same amount of money from the same address, but the business split it up between the owners personal money and the business money?

So i've called the IRS several times to try and resolve this, but every time i do, i'm on the phone over an hour and still cant get a person to talk to, so i'm taking the day off work Friday to go to an IRS office to try and resolve this. I really hope i can show them all the paperwork and they can easily understand what happened.

I dont know if the doctors office will need to be involved - but they actually fired my ex-wife (for missing 2 days of work in 6 months), and the owner (an iraqi man who barely speaks english and has an anger problem) protested having to pay unemployment benefits. My ex had to have a meeting with him and the unemployment office and when he explained why he fired her, the unemployment office guy actually laughed out loud.

Anyway, i do not anticipate him being helpful should I need to reach out to him to correct anything (and it honestly wouldnt surprise me if reported the earnings incorrectly on purpose out of spite).

Has anyone had any similar experiences with the IRS? Do you have any suggestions on how i can resolve? The deadline for me to appeal with the IRS is February 16th, so i dont have much time. (Prior to this, my ex had promised to take care of all this, as it was her job and she had all the tax paperwork from that year, but she hasnt. she has no job and, ultimately, im the one that's going to have to pay any extra taxes, so I really need to figure this out)

I have found after you get through to an actual person they can be very helpfull. Have you actaully been in contact with a person at the IRS? I have also found they do everything through the mail and they never call even though they ask for your number on every form you send in to them.

[mlmpetert]

I do my own taxes by hand because i need to know basic/general income tax stuff for work. Doing it each year helps with keeping me fresh. But its definitely a major pain, just getting everything together is a significant undertaking. Which brings me to my one political point...... The amount of intellectual resources America is forced to waste on everything income tax related is horrendous. Most CPA's are pretty smart dudes, imagine if they were spending their time doing something much more significant in society. I believe our people are America’s best natural resource and it seems like we are wasting so much of it with our ridiculously income tax requirements.

Alright with that said, if you are lower income and dont feel like doing your taxes check out VITA:

http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Free-Tax-Return-Preparation-for-You-by-Volunteers

I did some volunteering with them back in the day and its a well run program. Completely free. They do everything for you (i think state too). Just make sure you ask them ahead of time exactly what youre supposed to bring. Some places allow walk ins, others require appointments. I believe you are supposed to have income of up 50k or so (although the DC area may be higher).

Another option is to just send all your crap to the IRS. I had a lengthy conversation with an IRS guy a year or so ago and they will do your taxes for you. Just fill out the basics with a crayon and send them everything paperclip’d to a note that says "Thanks!". This really only works for people with simple tax returns, because you may know something the IRS doesn’t and miss out on a deduction or credit.

I think everyone should do taxes by hand because it helps you stay in touch with how monstrousness our tax code has become. Also, making it easy on the IRS to do you taxes by e-filing just makes it easier for the tax code to become less easy for you. Even if you do everything on turbo tax or with an accountant, I would suggest printing it out and mailing it in instead of submitting it electronically. Think about the issues it would cause if everyone like Firstdown sent in their 3k tax return by mail instead of electronic delivery.

Doing your taxes by hand also helps you become aware of additional deductions you may be entitled to that you otherwise would not have caught. It can also help you get a earlier start for next year so you can plan accordingly and take advantage of the social incentives the government is offering.

[RedskinRat]

BHA, short of getting a pitbull attorney and have them fix it (at great cost) you're just going to have to be patient. These people can make your life hard.

[Coff]

Originally Posted by firstdown

Not for everyone. Even though Obama has said over and over again he will not raise taxes on anyone making under $250,000 he has.

Limitations - The credit is limited if your modified adjusted gross income is above a certain amount. The amount at which this phase-out begins varies depending on your filing status. For married taxpayers filing a joint return, the phase-out begins at $110,000. For married taxpayers filing a separate return, it begins at $55,000. For all other taxpayers, the phase-out begins at $75,000. In addition, the Child Tax Credit is generally limited by the amount of the income tax you owe as well as any alternative minimum tax you owe.

I believe he said he wouldn't raise income taxes on anyone making under $250,000.

[dmek25]

First thing I will say is please don't turn this into a political thread


first line in the first post

[mredskins]

Originally Posted by dmek25

First thing I will say is please don't turn this into a political thread


first line in the first post

If it didn't go politically it probably had ended several post ago.


Death and taxes the only two guarantees in life.

[Lotus]

Yeah, no more Obama talk here.

I am another fan of TaxACT. Even if you MUST pay for something, they are cheaper than other places like TurboTax, and their free software works just fine.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by dmek25

First thing I will say is please don't turn this into a political thread


first line in the first post

bringing up taxes and asking for it not to go political is like getting and interview with Ray Lewis and asking him to not use the words, god or my.

[BDBohnzie]

My Dad and I usually split a copy of TurboTax (I file MD electronically on their website, and since I usually owe less than $100, I file Federal by mail as late as I can) and haven't had any issues. My taxes are pretty straight forward (homeowner, 2 kids, charitable donations, dependent care flex spending), so doing them myself, while a pain in the ass, isn't too bad.

I worked for a local Tax Prep place for a few weeks (2nd job, ended up getting another sidejob working for my wife's company), and that really gave me piece of mind that what I've done using TurboTax is spot on.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by mooby

First thing I will say is please don't turn this into a political thread, I just wanted to vent my frustrations at the first year where filing my taxes has been a major pain in the ass. In all my previous years filing, I have been lucky enough to file the basic 1040EZ form with basic deductions, no credits, etc. anything that might require a tax expert or extra guidance. This year was the second year where I had to file for my regular 9-5 job, which I worked 40 hours a week for 52 out of 53 weeks last year (with my one week vacay thrown in), as well as file a 1099-misc for a side job I worked approximately 52 hours out of the year last year. Now I figured I'd have a cut taken out because no income taxes were paid for the side gig I did, which I earned 1 grand for those 50 hours worked last year.

Anyways, I used Turbotax first, but after encountering problems filing with the 1099 form I decided to try out HR Block's filing system to see if that would be easier. Neither of them were helpful, and there were a couple roadblocks with both (the big one was HR Block telling me to delete my 1099 because no state income taxes were paid on it) which I had to spend time on the phone with someone from Virginia's department of taxation on before it got worked out, and then after all that it wouldn't let me e-file with Virginia because I owed them money (isn't it awesome making 23 grand last year and owing money to your home state?) and I still have to figure out how to get a copy of the form to mail to the state of VA, because it kicked me out after I e-filed my federal return.

Instead of continuing to bore you guys with details of my shitty experience filing my taxes this year, I'm just going to say f taxes. I can't imagine how much it must suck for those of you with way more things you need to fill out on your tax form than I had to do, or those of you who pay to have tax experts fill out your taxes only to find that you owe state/fed taxes on top of of what you owe the tax guy for prepping your taxes.

Here is the forms for Va. Forms -- Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Taxation

[Chico23231]

im gonna try to claim my pup this year. poor puppy cost me an arm and leg this past year

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by Chico23231

im gonna try to claim my pup this year. poor puppy cost me an arm and leg this past year

If you can't claim the pup you can probably claim the arm and a leg.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by Chico23231

im gonna try to claim my pup this year. poor puppy cost me an arm and leg this past year

Yeah that would be tax fraud. I don't take kindly. You might as well be speeding in the left lane. I would find out your real name and fight my guts out to sic the IRS on you.