@Barney I like stamps and mailing things. I also don’t want to pay more than the price of a stamp to file my taxes. And I’m not ecstatic about filing stuff electronically, having had my credit cards compromised a few times online.
@Barney@heartny I call BS. No one likes stamps or mailing things and e-filing is pretty much free. Now why we have to efile thorough companies instead of the IRS directly. Or why we even have to file in the first place… Or why they don’t collect on those who cheat… Lots of other issues to worry about.
@narfcake@unksol Unsurprising that the highest bidder gets to make the laws in this country. Who knew that there’s a much a easier way to get a tax bill, but it’s lobbyists that pay to prevent it. Where shall I expat to?
My tax program does everything for me. Since I got a refund, I filed early and already have my refund. On years when I owe money, it goes out the last day.
@narfcake At least I had those paid back in February. We get slammed this time of year. Our company liability insurance is also due. That got paid. But these taxes, I thought we’d be okay because of his medical last year (all the radiation treatments) but nope.
My wife does our taxes using H&R Block software (EE degree - she likes numbers and math). We e-filed federal and mailed state on Friday. I didn’t get around to updating my W-4 for 2018, so we owed a pretty big chunk this year. Fortunately we had the resources to cover it, but Ouch!
@curtise any room in Canada for some disgruntled Americans? You might be seeing a caravan of us sooner rather than later. Anyone want to form a caravan to Canada?
@Gypsigirl213@Kidsandliz As long as you find someone in the states to accept your Meh packages for you (thanks sis!), I say you should totally take off to the great white north! We don’t claim to be full, eh?
@curtise Hey I even have a social insurance number from working (legally) in Canada. No idea where it is though. It’s been years. I never filed Canadian taxes either. I just let them keep what they took (no idea if I was owed a refund either - I didn’t earn much as the job I had was exempt from minimum wage as it also offered room and board) and skipped back over the border. Statue of limitations is long gone by now
@Kidsandliz And I have a Social Security Number from working (legally) in the United States. I know exactly where it is, and it says “Valid for work only with INS Authorization”.
I’m still shocked people don’t use the IRS withholding calculator. Especially with how much withholding was fucked with this year and how much it was in the news. Plug your shit in and adjust during the year. I was exactly on and check it a couple times a year. If you get a refund you were just overpaying/giving them a free loan.
@unksol I agree, but for my (retired/widowed) Mom’s taxes for instance I have really no idea what her capitol gains on her Wells Fargo Funds will be until the end of the year. Hate to have money held back then have the CG be less than I estimated…
@unksol i noticed that & thought maybe it was just a display glitch, but i guess meh bot ate it somehow. i have a note in my notepad app on my phone that’s nothing but ascii emojis so i copypasted it…not possible to paste everything but one character in the middle heh. it was there before i hit post…but here we are ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ
@Barney@unksol yeah, i knew they had one but i couldn’t remember it off hand. (not bc it’s hard to remember but bc i use other sites that also have simple commands for such things and i mix them up. so it’s quicker to copy paste than look it up )
@Kidsandliz Actually that has been a nightmare for my doing my mom’s taxes. Even though she had a net wash on her mutual fund worth from 1/1-12/31/19 she had a HUGE capital gains hit. Plus since it hit late in the year I couldn’t plan for the estimated taxes so she got penalized… sigh
@chienfou@Kidsandliz You can or used to be able to annualize her income for situations where income is received/earned late in the year so you won’t be penalized for those quarters with no income.
@Barney The person who changed the tax forms this year had no clue what he was doing. The forms haven’t changed that much since 1971 when I did my first 1040. But given that Trump was the guiding force behind this-not surprising that the unqualified idiots that he hired screwed this up.
@Felton10 thanks… that’s what my TurboTax software did for me. The only problem was my father passed away and it was hard to get the numbers for what his SSI /Medicare proportions were, plus Mom’s changed due to that fact. I kind of ‘punted’ the numbers. Guess we will see how THAT goes!
I’m sure if I’m sad or glad, but I don’t even make enough money to have to file taxes. I think after reading everyone else’s comments, I’ll go with glad.
@OldCatLady only bummer is that technically your tax bill is due on the 15th no matter what, so you have to pretty much do your taxes to file an extension… which sux.
@OldCatLady I totally understand. Mom “filed” her tax paperwork places I couldn’t locate so I had to recreate a bunch of it, which was complicated by the death of my dad last year as well… Plus my POA isn’t any good for the trust stuff she has (what a giant PITA that’s been).
Next year I plan to either intercept or have her keep all her mail for me to review starting in Dec. She is starting to show signs of dementia, but I don’t want to totally take over her life if I don’t have to…
I’m relieved, I didn’t owe anything. So many people I know who are used to getting thousands back each year ended up having to pay thousands instead. I got money back, just not as much as normal, so I’m relatively happy as I was convinced I’d be paying out my nose like most of my peers.
The meek paying the price for the rich getting their massive tax cuts.
@OnionSoup You can’t just look at whether you got a refund or owe at the end of the year. You need to look at your effective tax rate.
The withholding tables were changed this year for the worse. In general, people were taking home more money from each paycheck, to the point that even those with a lower total tax bill would still see a smaller refund or even end up owing.
Most taxpayers payed less income tax this year. Another large group paid about the same. I think it’s looking like it’s mostly upper-middle class people in states with higher local taxes that are paying more. Maybe you’re in that group, but just looking at your refund or balance owed won’t tell you that.
@OnionSoup Again, are you basing that on calculating your effective tax rate, or are you basing that on the size of your refund? Because your first post looks like you are only looking at the latter, but that number is essentially meaningless, except that it hurts in the moment if you aren’t expecting it.
What were your effective tax rates for 2017 versus 2018?
This is an old analysis, but their updated numbers aren’t a whole lot different: https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/feature/analysis-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act
Now they say 65% of filers paid less, about 6% paid more, and the rest paid about the same. I can’t find a direct article for those numbers at the moment, though. Only indirect sources, like the New York Times.
And, for what it’s worth, I am not defending or attacking the changes in tax code. I’m just in favor of math.
@Limewater I’m not going to post my tax information online, I’m under audit…
… But yes, I ended up paying more this year than last year. I paid a little less each paycheque when the new system switched over, but got back a lot less for refund at the end. I’m glad I never changed by deductions because, having it set too high is what saved me.
Unfortunately for the majority of people who use tax prep software including me, it will take time to update the software to reflect these changes-not even sure the IRS has make the forms re these changes to their forms so that people doing them by hand can take advantage of it yet.
Telling us how to do it and having the means to do it are two entirely different things.
@Felton10 I know. At least we know they are now thinking about this - unlike the email posted the other day. The article said we’d have to wait for tax software to update. The 60 million dollar question will be when will the companies do that.
I feel for the folks who are going to have to file an amended form. What a PITA.
For those filing by hand here is the IRS form/information needed:
@Felton10 They just extended the tax deadline to May 17th!
“The postponement applies to individual taxpayers, including people who pay self-employment tax, the IRS said in a statement Wednesday. The relief does not apply to the first-quarter 2021 estimated tax payments that many small business owners owe, however, the agency said. Those payments are still due on April 15. The IRS said it plans to issue more guidance in the coming days.”
@Kidsandliz The total backlog appears to stand at more than 24 million filings, the data show. That includes more than 12.3 million paper-based tax returns the IRS has received, but hasn’t started processing over the past two tax years.
Most of these filings are from businesses, but the tranche also includes 2.4 million returns from individuals reflecting their 2019 earnings. As a result, these Americans may not have received stimulus payments under the relief bill Congress adopted in December, since the stimulus law tied their eligibility for checks to their 2019 taxes.
@Felton10 Holy crap that is a lot of undone work. And I only just turned in my 2017 in January. By paper. I guess it will be 2 years or more before I see that money.
@Felton10 Yeah the issue was moving expenses. I had in writing I was supposed to get that. Then they refused to pay. Then I had to work my way though the appeals system. I didn’t want to file before I knew the outcome (was owed a refund anyway). I didn’t feel like dealing with 2 states plus the feds until I had it right. I won my appeal and so filed all three. AR is fast. I already got that refund.
I have no income. Hubby files taxes for us.
My wife always finds us a service that does them for free.
Where’s the option for February?
Where’s the “Not yet but I will. Calmly.” option?
@shahnm February = calmly
@hchavers Monday. There is nothing wrong with filing on Monday. It’s all under control. I hope.
@hchavers @shahnm everything is fine
@canuk @hchavers Are- Are you…? Are you my accountant??
I don’t believe in waiting until the last minute – I did mine yesterday.
Mailed 'em last weekend. No e-filing for me.
@heartny Why no e-file?
@Barney I like stamps and mailing things. I also don’t want to pay more than the price of a stamp to file my taxes. And I’m not ecstatic about filing stuff electronically, having had my credit cards compromised a few times online.
@Barney @heartny I call BS. No one likes stamps or mailing things and e-filing is pretty much free. Now why we have to efile thorough companies instead of the IRS directly. Or why we even have to file in the first place… Or why they don’t collect on those who cheat… Lots of other issues to worry about.
@unksol Because allowing free access is BAD.
https://meh.com/forum/topics/turbotax-and-hr-block-are-looking-out-for-your-best-interests-again
@narfcake I was to lazy to find the correct thing last night lol.
@narfcake @unksol Unsurprising that the highest bidder gets to make the laws in this country. Who knew that there’s a much a easier way to get a tax bill, but it’s lobbyists that pay to prevent it. Where shall I expat to?
@unksol I like stamps and mailing things. I’m one of those weirdos who still writes checks and mail them in to pay bills.
@heartny I guess I’m a weirdo, too. I also write checks and mail them to pay my bills.
@Barney Weirdos united for checking writing and stamps!
@heartny
mailing monday
The IRS is not constitutional! Edit: Ummm… How do I erase my name from this post?
@hchavers 90% sure they basically erase you when they put you in jail. At least your rights. So you’re covered.
My tax program does everything for me. Since I got a refund, I filed early and already have my refund. On years when I owe money, it goes out the last day.
@olperfesser What is this refund of which you speak?!
Filed 3/31, received refund Monday. Pretty efficient overall
How do you file in January? I never get my W2 until the end of January.
@Tystix no income to report. Uncle Sam then gives you a refund from someone else.
Uh, we came up a little short this year…does anyone have an extra ten grand?
(One of these years, I’ll do those quarterlies like I’m supposed to…)
@lisaviolet I just paid my property taxes last week, so no.
@narfcake At least I had those paid back in February. We get slammed this time of year. Our company liability insurance is also due. That got paid. But these taxes, I thought we’d be okay because of his medical last year (all the radiation treatments) but nope.
@lisaviolet Unfortunately, just paid my VMP fee, so… Ya know.
@shahnm It’s always somethin’, isn’t it?
@lisaviolet I got fucked with deductions this year and also had to owe.
@lisaviolet Monopoly money… they might accept it.
My wife does our taxes using H&R Block software (EE degree - she likes numbers and math). We e-filed federal and mailed state on Friday. I didn’t get around to updating my W-4 for 2018, so we owed a pretty big chunk this year. Fortunately we had the resources to cover it, but Ouch!
Taxes here aren’t due till April 30th, eh?
But this hoser is well on his way to having them done on time!
@curtise any room in Canada for some disgruntled Americans? You might be seeing a caravan of us sooner rather than later. Anyone want to form a caravan to Canada?
@curtise @Gypsigirl213 I’m in. They have decent health insurance.
@Gypsigirl213 @Kidsandliz As long as you find someone in the states to accept your Meh packages for you (thanks sis!), I say you should totally take off to the great white north! We don’t claim to be full, eh?
@curtise @Gypsigirl213 Yeah if I had Canadian, Dutch, etc. heath care I’d have more money to buy crap from meh.
@curtise @Kidsandliz and you could buy Meh crap with Loonies and Toonies!!!
@curtise Hey I even have a social insurance number from working (legally) in Canada. No idea where it is though. It’s been years. I never filed Canadian taxes either. I just let them keep what they took (no idea if I was owed a refund either - I didn’t earn much as the job I had was exempt from minimum wage as it also offered room and board) and skipped back over the border. Statue of limitations is long gone by now
@Kidsandliz And I have a Social Security Number from working (legally) in the United States. I know exactly where it is, and it says “Valid for work only with INS Authorization”.
I’m still shocked people don’t use the IRS withholding calculator. Especially with how much withholding was fucked with this year and how much it was in the news. Plug your shit in and adjust during the year. I was exactly on and check it a couple times a year. If you get a refund you were just overpaying/giving them a free loan.
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/irs-withholding-calculator
@unksol I agree, but for my (retired/widowed) Mom’s taxes for instance I have really no idea what her capitol gains on her Wells Fargo Funds will be until the end of the year. Hate to have money held back then have the CG be less than I estimated…
i don’t have to file taxes ¯_(ツ)_/¯
@jerk_nugget and why is that?
@moonhat because i don’t really have any money.
@jerk_nugget your shrug is missing an arm. #shrugfail
@unksol i noticed that & thought maybe it was just a display glitch, but i guess meh bot ate it somehow. i have a note in my notepad app on my phone that’s nothing but ascii emojis so i copypasted it…not possible to paste everything but one character in the middle heh. it was there before i hit post…but here we are ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ
@jerk_nugget you don’t have to copy paste meh has a slash command built in all though I’ve never used it.
https://meh.com/forum/topics/vmp-sneak-peek-slash-commands-part-2
@jerk_nugget @unksol
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@Barney @jerk_nugget
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There now I’ve used it can confirm
@Barney @unksol yeah, i knew they had one but i couldn’t remember it off hand. (not bc it’s hard to remember but bc i use other sites that also have simple commands for such things and i mix them up. so it’s quicker to copy paste than look it up
)
I am a CPA-anyone have any last minute tax questions?
@Felton10 Where were you when I needed you?
@Felton10 I only wish I had all sorts of investments that made my taxes complicated enough
. Nice of you to offer to answer questions.
@Kidsandliz Actually that has been a nightmare for my doing my mom’s taxes. Even though she had a net wash on her mutual fund worth from 1/1-12/31/19 she had a HUGE capital gains hit. Plus since it hit late in the year I couldn’t plan for the estimated taxes so she got penalized… sigh
@chienfou @Kidsandliz You can or used to be able to annualize her income for situations where income is received/earned late in the year so you won’t be penalized for those quarters with no income.
@Barney Guess I should have offered earlier, but was too busy with my clients-finally got some breathing room so that is when I offered.
@Felton10 Aw, I was just teasing you. Thanks for the offer!
@Barney The person who changed the tax forms this year had no clue what he was doing. The forms haven’t changed that much since 1971 when I did my first 1040. But given that Trump was the guiding force behind this-not surprising that the unqualified idiots that he hired screwed this up.
@Felton10 thanks… that’s what my TurboTax software did for me. The only problem was my father passed away and it was hard to get the numbers for what his SSI /Medicare proportions were, plus Mom’s changed due to that fact. I kind of ‘punted’ the numbers. Guess we will see how THAT goes!
@Felton10 is it ok to wear navy shoes with light blue chinos?
@OnionSoup I’ll have to ask my wife that. I live in Florida and only wear shorts, a tee shirt and sneakers.
I’m sure if I’m sad or glad, but I don’t even make enough money to have to file taxes. I think after reading everyone else’s comments, I’ll go with glad.
It’s form 4868 tomorrow for me. Can’t deal right now.
@OldCatLady only bummer is that technically your tax bill is due on the 15th no matter what, so you have to pretty much do your taxes to file an extension… which sux.
@chienfou I should have a refund, but getting all the backup paperwork is complicated. It’s worth the delay to get extra $.
@OldCatLady I totally understand. Mom “filed” her tax paperwork places I couldn’t locate so I had to recreate a bunch of it, which was complicated by the death of my dad last year as well… Plus my POA isn’t any good for the trust stuff she has (what a giant PITA that’s been).
Next year I plan to either intercept or have her keep all her mail for me to review starting in Dec. She is starting to show signs of dementia, but I don’t want to totally take over her life if I don’t have to…
Mailed my federal and state returns on 2/20. Feds cashed my check on 2/27; state refund was deposited on 3/20. Glad to have it over.
I’m relieved, I didn’t owe anything. So many people I know who are used to getting thousands back each year ended up having to pay thousands instead. I got money back, just not as much as normal, so I’m relatively happy as I was convinced I’d be paying out my nose like most of my peers.
The meek paying the price for the rich getting their massive tax cuts.
@OnionSoup You can’t just look at whether you got a refund or owe at the end of the year. You need to look at your effective tax rate.
The withholding tables were changed this year for the worse. In general, people were taking home more money from each paycheck, to the point that even those with a lower total tax bill would still see a smaller refund or even end up owing.
Most taxpayers payed less income tax this year. Another large group paid about the same. I think it’s looking like it’s mostly upper-middle class people in states with higher local taxes that are paying more. Maybe you’re in that group, but just looking at your refund or balance owed won’t tell you that.
@Limewater middle class with kids are the group paying more. Which is unfortunately the group I’m in.
Those without kids at home, or in the highest earning brackets are in general benefiting.
@OnionSoup Again, are you basing that on calculating your effective tax rate, or are you basing that on the size of your refund? Because your first post looks like you are only looking at the latter, but that number is essentially meaningless, except that it hurts in the moment if you aren’t expecting it.
What were your effective tax rates for 2017 versus 2018?
This is an old analysis, but their updated numbers aren’t a whole lot different:
https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/feature/analysis-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act
Now they say 65% of filers paid less, about 6% paid more, and the rest paid about the same. I can’t find a direct article for those numbers at the moment, though. Only indirect sources, like the New York Times.
And, for what it’s worth, I am not defending or attacking the changes in tax code. I’m just in favor of math.
@Limewater I’m not going to post my tax information online, I’m under audit…
… But yes, I ended up paying more this year than last year. I paid a little less each paycheque when the new system switched over, but got back a lot less for refund at the end. I’m glad I never changed by deductions because, having it set too high is what saved me.
Yes
@felton10
Here is something I just found where IRS says, allegedly anyway, how to deal with the unemployment $10,200 exemption
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/stimulus-and-taxes-how-to-shield-up-to-10-200-in-unemployment-benefits-from-income-taxes/ar-BB1eGkxy
@Kidsandliz Thanks
Unfortunately for the majority of people who use tax prep software including me, it will take time to update the software to reflect these changes-not even sure the IRS has make the forms re these changes to their forms so that people doing them by hand can take advantage of it yet.
Telling us how to do it and having the means to do it are two entirely different things.
@Felton10 I know. At least we know they are now thinking about this - unlike the email posted the other day. The article said we’d have to wait for tax software to update. The 60 million dollar question will be when will the companies do that.
I feel for the folks who are going to have to file an amended form. What a PITA.
For those filing by hand here is the IRS form/information needed:
https://www.irs.gov/faqs/irs-procedures/forms-publications/new-exclusion-of-up-to-10200-of-unemployment-compensation
@Felton10 They just extended the tax deadline to May 17th!
“The postponement applies to individual taxpayers, including people who pay self-employment tax, the IRS said in a statement Wednesday. The relief does not apply to the first-quarter 2021 estimated tax payments that many small business owners owe, however, the agency said. Those payments are still due on April 15. The IRS said it plans to issue more guidance in the coming days.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-17/irs-plans-to-delay-tax-deadline-to-mid-may-after-chaotic-year?cmpid=BBD031721_BIZ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=210317&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily
@Kidsandliz Beat me to by seconds
@Kidsandliz The total backlog appears to stand at more than 24 million filings, the data show. That includes more than 12.3 million paper-based tax returns the IRS has received, but hasn’t started processing over the past two tax years.
Most of these filings are from businesses, but the tranche also includes 2.4 million returns from individuals reflecting their 2019 earnings. As a result, these Americans may not have received stimulus payments under the relief bill Congress adopted in December, since the stimulus law tied their eligibility for checks to their 2019 taxes.
@Felton10 Holy crap that is a lot of undone work. And I only just turned in my 2017 in January. By paper. I guess it will be 2 years or more before I see that money.
@Kidsandliz You waited that long to file and you were owed money? Most people who don’t file owe money.
Just don’t hold you breath waiting for the refund. It may a long wait.
@Felton10 Yeah the issue was moving expenses. I had in writing I was supposed to get that. Then they refused to pay. Then I had to work my way though the appeals system. I didn’t want to file before I knew the outcome (was owed a refund anyway). I didn’t feel like dealing with 2 states plus the feds until I had it right. I won my appeal and so filed all three. AR is fast. I already got that refund.