Taxes!

did you use computer software or did you do them by hand?

This year I did by hand.

(I've never done software, just that TeleFile stuff in the past)

I ask because I'm pretty sure very few people knew about this credit, and the only reason they actually took it is because they were using computer software that automatically calculated it for them.

does anyone use free file fillable forms and see that you can't select w-2 as one of the forms to fill in even though it tells you to attach it? it was there last year. wha happen? am i wrong?

Going to be using a tax preparer for the first time here this year, came highly recommended from friends. Figured it was about time!

Turbotax'd last year, will probably do it again this year even though my taxes are simpler. I'm willing to pay 50 bucks to not have to run down forms, mail stuff etc.

My dad is an accountant and he's had a little side job as a freelance (not sure this is the right word?) tax preparer for years. Mostly for people from church or neighbors –– business has been very small for years.

He told me and my brother about a new marketing scheme to round up more business. He's going to send friend requests to random strangers on facebook along with a request for him to do their taxes. He'd give a 20% discount if the stranger posted a recommendation for his business on their wall. I said no one would want to give all their private financial/government info to some internet stranger. He said I was a "paranoid pessimist." My brother, whose opinion was sought more eagerly than mine, said that this is the business model camwhores use. He then had to tell my dad what camwhores are. My dad stormed out of the room and said, "I have a paranoid daughter and a son who is addicted to internet pornography."

He does my taxes for free and always does a good job!

Ha, my dad was a freelance tax preparer as a sideline for a few years. But it was pre-Internet, so the marketing was, he printed up a few thousand brochures and paid me and my sister to stomp around neighborhoods in the snow and leave them in people's doors. He got some business that way, but he eventually just got sick of it.

Anyway, just be glad you're too old for him to coerce you into leafleting.

Ha! He had us do that for his tax business back when I was a kid and his roofing business, too. Making a bunch of crazy flyers with about 500 too many words on them was the whole reason he bought a laser printer. When I sold Girl Scout cookies he made me give flyers to everyone or leave them at their doors. You will note self-employed dad pushing his business via Girl Scout onto elderly people who don't want cookies, tax preparation, or roof repair is the opposite of the normal GS cookie model, wherein the girl sits at home and the dad and mom make their coworkers buy scores of Samoas.

For a few late winter months in the early '90s he had his own business space. I remember a lot of complaining about how much everything cost in a business, but especially the cost of the sign. The complaining was probably valid. I thought it was fun that he had his own office I could go visit to read all the Far Sides he'd put up and have a Shasta (generic soda pop) with him. Just my dad by himself in a small office place near a gravel pit. This business was the reason we had a giant sign about tax preparation in our garage.

>My dad stormed out of the room and said, "I have a paranoid daughter and a son who is addicted to internet pornography."

Thank you for brightening a dismal monday at work, irl lols at this.

Your dad is a real accountant, though. He should give it a shot.

webcam tax prep I like it put me in touch with him

i had a client who wanted to have our consultation over skype, so that isn't that ridiculous an idea.

Boo, owing tax this year, due to a massive city tax refund from 2010. (My taxes are very simple and as a dirty foreigner I don't qualify for much in terms of deductions).

Last couple of years I've had refunds so filed quickly, now I shall hold off before paying, between this and being "pre-approved" for a credit card last week I feel very American.

for 2010, but unfortunately, not for this year, there was a lovely deduction that allowed you to subtract self-employed health insurance from your self-employment tax. missing u deduction.

Hooray? (Second year in a row now with one hell of a tax guy, got a very nice refund.)

http://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-maker-of-turbotax-fought-free-simple-tax-filing

norquist connection is interesting.

And with a new year, etc. etc. I bit the bullet and crunched through all my numbers today, taking advantage of a quiet day at home. (Obv. have to wait on the various official forms as well but at least all the other stuff is out of the way.)

I do our taxes rather than pushing it off to hired goons. I've done it all my life. It inspires me to keep our financial life very simple. All that arcana of sheltering income, other than IRAs and 401Ks, is strictly for the wealthy. They love that shit because it increases their wealth and they have hired goons to break their brains over the details for them.

I misunderstood the income reporting part of ACA signup for 2016 and didn't realize it until a helpful heathcare.gov person straightened me out when I signed up for my 2017 plan. Anyway, I was supposed to be getting about $325/month in subsidies, didn't get them, and will theoretically get that money credited to me when I do my federal tax return. So a tentative tax time chaCHING for me.

And I sent in my quarterly estimated last Tuesday.

Everything done, everything filed, waiting on refunds, tax papers packed away for another year, shredding old receipts from seven years back on Monday. How's everyone else doing?

Putting it off for another week. I don't want to know.

probably about 100 more to do, including my own -- I keep putting off opening the SEP-IRA and putting money away for retirement so I can save a much smaller percentage on taxes

It's that time! (Again.) These days I'm incredibly boring and obnoxious -- had all my numbers together right after New Year's, then just waited on the forms to arrive, forwarded everything along to my tax guy, got my return back yesterday, waiting on the refund, etc. Sorry. How's everyone else?

I do our taxes, since our financial life is exceedingly uncomplicated. I have them about 85% complete and expect to finish up this week.

I find it increasingly annoying that our lawmakers cannot resist the temptation to address every social problem by making the income tax more baroque. New exemptions or credits seem to appear every year and each one is heavily qualified, requiring its own set of special calculations. I must calculate each one, and find we qualify for perhaps one in ten of them.

The Oregon tax form that's equivalent to the Federal 1040 now covers two double-sided pages, since the Department of Revenue can no longer fit it all on one double-sided page. Yet, I mistrust the politicians who tout tax simplification, because they all are captive to the rich and to the corporations, and for them "simpler" will undoubtedly mean "working people pay a bigger percentage, businesses and capital will pay less".

I find it increasingly annoying that our lawmakers cannot resist the temptation to address every social problem by making the income tax more baroque.

wow, a Paul Ryan fan on ilx???

seriously, the complexity of the tax code, for the most part, is good, in that economics and issues are complex, and it should reflect that.

The Oregon tax form that's equivalent to the Federal 1040 now covers two double-sided pages

1. That's normal. 2. Use a software program

wow, a Paul Ryan fan on ilx???

do you even bother to read?

oh, I read your post quite thoroughly -- generally people who complain about the tax code being too complicated are conservative republicans, like Ryan, who would prefer to eliminate the significant complexities, which often benefit the working classes, because they address social issues like: the cost of child care for working parents, college and professional education, encouraging low-income people to save for retirement, the high cost of health care, the untaxed transfer of wealth from parents to future generations, and tax evasion practices generally practiced by the wealthy.

xp

the complexity of the tax code, for the most part, is good, in that economics and issues are complex, and it should reflect that.

"The tax code" covers a lot of ground. I was speaking directly to the slice of the tax code that covers personal income taxes. Within the larger tax code, personal income is not "the most part", but a very specific piece of it, which ordinary citizens are expected to understand and comply with. Corporations and the wealthy have accountants who deal with the intricacies of the corporate tax code, and this is where complexity is required to deal with the complexity of the economy you cited.

1. That's normal.

This is not an argument in favor. Normal is not 'good' or 'bad', but simply a statistical observation. Back when something less complex was the norm, that was normal.

2. Use a software program

Data doesn't acquire itself or enter itself. The time savings created by software is not primary to the task.

I was speaking directly to the slice of the tax code that covers personal income taxes.

As was I!

Data doesn't acquire itself or enter itself. The time savings created by software is not primary to the task.

Actually, it can pretty much do so at this point.

Unless you're talking about things like calculating the square footage of a home office, that you will probably want to measure.

there are even apps that track and calculate your mileage.

I'd love to hear how my financial data can be accumulated, analyzed and correctly transferred into tax forms, accurately, safely and with minimal effort on my part. Of course, completely changing how I currently operate my personal finances would not qualify as "minimal effort".

It seems like almost every bank or credit card provider, even some credit unions, can provide you a categorized list of your transactions in csv format, (a lot of their default categorizations of things are kinda worthless).

I'd love to hear how my financial data can be accumulated, analyzed and correctly transferred into tax forms, accurately, safely and with minimal effort on my part.

https://www.intuit.com/

Do any of those banking institutions assume liability for incorrectly categorizing transactions for tax purposes?

I'm sorry, but, considering how much time you spend posting on an internet message board, I don't see why you have any right to complain about having to make a spreadsheet and type numbers into a computer program, that will ask you basic questions and requires little outside knowledge.

Have you ever figured out how much time you've spent interacting with all those apps, banking sites, csv files, bookkeeping software and tax software annually in order to achieve the final results?

I have my doubts about the ease you are promising me, and suspect that it is more a matter of a thousand brief tasks performed throughout the course of a year, each of which seems small in itself, but when collected together add up to a considerable outlay of time and effort.

how much time you spend posting on an internet message board, I don't see why you have any right to complain about having to make a spreadsheet

Sorry. This is not a very persuasive argument. I enjoy time posting on ilx. It is recreational for me. It is hardly comparable to working on taxes.

Have you ever figured out how much time you've spent interacting with all those apps, banking sites, csv files, bookkeeping software and tax software annually in order to achieve the final results?

Yes, I have clients I bill by the hour to do these things for them, so I regularly calculate this. Personally, over half of my income is from self-employment, so the time spent actually translates into dollars saved.

I have my doubts about the ease you are promising me, and suspect that it is more a matter of a thousand brief tasks performed throughout the course of a year, each of which seems small in itself, but when collected together add up to a considerable outlay of time and effort.

Doing it on a regular basis over the course of the year makes it easier. If you have no need or desire to track your income and spending -- most people I know, may not have a desire to track their spending, but they seriously need to -- well, that's very nice for you.

New exemptions or credits seem to appear every year and each one is heavily qualified, requiring its own set of special calculations. I must calculate each one, and find we qualify for perhaps one in ten of them.

Practical tip -- you're probably better off getting software, doing the "user-friendly" interview, and then seeing if you need to do any calculations. Re-reading your post, it sounds like you are making wayyyy more work for yourself than necessary.

What do I need to do other peoples’ taxes? A CPA? I could do this for other people and make money.

you don't need an accounting degree. some states require passing a qualifying exam, and continuing education each year, and having a professional bond -- California and Oregon do, but others uh ... don't. The IRS tried to create a licensing system that had an education component but that got quashed for "states rights" issues. So, depending on where you live, you could just buy pro software and uh, profit.

oh, you would need to get a PTIN, and if you do 10 or more tax returns a year for money, you will need to get an e-file number (EFIN).

I remember learning about the professional bond stuff when I first started working with my tax guy, though it's just an extra form to fill out on my end. Still, interesting to see the bureaucracy at work.

it's cheaper than the insurance a lot of other professions are required to have.

I must calculate each one, and find we qualify for perhaps one in ten of them.

How about figuring out if you qualify and then doing no calculations for the ones you don't qualify for?!?

my (canadian) taxes are extremely simple. i have one employer. they give me a form. i fill the details from that form in on a website that is free. i hit submit. i get a cheque for $7.78 6 weeks later.

I mean I am sure this is just an attempt to use "calculate" as a synonym for pondering, but during a process with actual calculations I think I'd be a little more tight with the terminology.

I have no kids nor significant deductions, but I do own a house and refinanced a mortgage last year. The turbotax site (good ol' intuit corp) took maybe... fifteen minutes this year? To be fair, I have all my tax documents in one pile (bank interest statement, mortgage interest statement, employer tax form, etc) and I'm basically clicking through the same workflow year to year.

It's just a series of "did you do any of the following this year" question lists, followed by a quick data entry question for anything where you answered in the affirmative.

I think the government could easily have a TurboTax-style thing themselves but some lobbying keeps it a private industry.