Better Late than Never (April 2025 scapegoat blame thread)

Thumperchick posted a pic said Thu, Apr 3rd 2025 at 2:09pm ET

Not only did you get the dubious honor of being April’s scapegoat, but you got the bonus of a few days less blame because I didn’t have my act together. (Which we all know if your fault.)

Thanks @ItalianScallion for being our victim in March.

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macromeh said Sat, Apr 5th 2025 at 11:37am ET:

Continuing blame over being selected for jury duty: In court Tue-Fri; judge said the trial will continue next Tuesday. The prosecution has rested; the defense has just begun.

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ItalianScallion said Thu, Apr 3rd 2025 at 2:58pm ET:

And @FreePasta, are you giving out free Gummi Fettucine to celebrate your reign?

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- @ItalianScallion The celebration here is rain
  
  speediedelivery said Thu, Apr 3rd 2025 at 5:40pm ET
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ItalianScallion said Thu, Apr 3rd 2025 at 2:49pm ET:

Congratulations @FreePasta from the Expired Goat!

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narfcake said Tue, Apr 15th 2025 at 6:05pm ET:

Blame: I owed Uncle Sam $$$. Again.

Unblame: I only owed the state another $17. That’s less than what I’ve ~~wasted~~ spent on catshirts before.

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- @narfcake I’ll join you on this blame for both federal and state taxes. I’ll also lay some blame for my mistake in selling shares from the wrong mutual fund that cost me a bundle extra in capital gain taxes.
  
  ItalianScallion said Tue, Apr 15th 2025 at 8:56pm ET
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- @narfcake I feel your pain (and then some!). Being retired (i.e., no regular paycheck with deductions) makes it tricky for paying quarterly estimated taxes. We missed big time for 2024, resulting in a couple of 4-figure fed/state payments. (Ouch!)
  
  macromeh said Wed, Apr 16th 2025 at 11:45am ET
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- @macromeh @narfcake I use this so I can adjust through the year if needed. I’m always pretty close.
  
  I don’t want to overpay and give them a free loan.
  
  https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator
  
  With all the chaos who knows for this year though
  
  unksol said Sat, Apr 26th 2025 at 10:42pm ET
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- @narfcake @unksol I took a look at the withholding tool - the second question is:
  “Do you (or will you) or your spouse have a job or a pension that regularly withholds federal income taxes from your paychecks or pension payments?”
  
  If I enter “No”, it responds “Sorry Jobless Loser, find some other tool.” (paraphrasing ).
  
  So, not so useful for retirees.
  
  macromeh said Sun, Apr 27th 2025 at 11:35am ET
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- @macromeh @narfcake lol well it is a tool to adjust your withholdings so yeah. No good if there are no withholdings. Sorry.
  
  I did find this from 2019
  https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-withholding-estimator-helps-retirees-figures-tax-on-social-security-benefits
  
  “Special help for retirees
  A retiree can use the Tax Withholding Estimator to enter any pension income or Social Security benefits they or their spouse receive. The tool then automatically calculates the taxable portion and incorporates it into an overall estimate of their projected tax liability and withholding for the year. If a withholding change is needed, the retiree can choose a tax due of close to zero or a refund amount. The tool will then link to Form W-4P, Withholding Certificate for Pension or Annuity Payments, and give the retiree a specific withholding recommendation based on the option chosen. It also gives instructions on how to fill in each line of the form.”
  
  I don’t know if it still works that way it’s been a few years. Or if it will continue since the madmen are trying to kill the pilot program to file with the IRS directly never mind fire people at random. And you used to be able to submit a PDF directly to them.
  
  Looks like fidelity has one but I’ve not used it cause I’ve got a few decades to go.
  https://myguidance.fidelity.com/ftgw/pna/public/planning/retirement/ris-calculator/welcome
  
  AARP and others
  
  I would think for retirement things would be pretty static? Idk. I think I could run them myself and be close.
  
  unksol said Sun, Apr 27th 2025 at 4:13pm ET
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ItalianScallion said Fri, Apr 25th 2025 at 11:38pm ET:

I’ll add some more blame then, @unksol. I wanted to vacuum the car I’m donating to my local NPR station, so I dragged my vacuum cleaner and my fabulous new Kenwood power station (that I bought on Meh) out to where I had the car parked across the street because (Blame #1) I couldn’t park it in the driveway because the city had just redone the sidewalks on my side of the street. Got to the car, set everything up, and… (Blame #2) nada. The vacuum cleaner draws 12 amps and the power station can supply only 5 amps at 120VAC.

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- @ItalianScallion well… Yeah those power stations are usually rated 600-800 watts. Sometimes with a “boost” mode to supply the start currant.
  
  Wouldn’t plan on running anything big on them. You might not think a vacuum is big but. They tend to pull a lot.
  
  A lot of things are designed to the 15A/120V standard so pull 1000W plus
  
  unksol said Sat, Apr 26th 2025 at 10:51pm ET
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- @ItalianScallion @unksol
  
  They tend to pull a lot.
  
  ISWYDT… even if it might have been unintentionally!
  
  chienfou said Sun, Apr 27th 2025 at 11:50am ET
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- @chienfou @ItalianScallion had to Google ISWYDT. Lol. Guess I should have said they suck a lot of power to be closer. Lol. Vacuums are pretty high power though
  
  unksol said Sun, Apr 27th 2025 at 4:28pm ET
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unksol said Fri, Apr 25th 2025 at 8:43am ET:

Wow. The goat threads have gotten really light…

Blame my power went out at 6AM.

More blame. My UPS/laptop battery/power banks/phone still mean I need to be on the 8AM call. Which is fine. But just annoying it things run out and I have to juggle or there is an emergency

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