Taxes 2 Questions

[Mopar44134]

To the moderators, while my intent was not to be political....should this be under N&P?


How did your taxes turn out this year compared to previous years?

My tax situation is relatively simple. No minor children, Mortgage, 401k and SS disability, so basically, standard deduction. In previous years i have owed. I have been trying to offset the tax liability by increasing my contribution to the 401k. I recently moved into a city who uses RITA. Now with all the hype about the addition of IRS agents and switching to an HSA I went to a professional this year to have my taxes done. In previous years i owed the feds around $300. This year $1300.

When i asked what happened, H&R Block said the tax scale changed, they took less money out this year. So I have changed my w-4 to single filing separate from married filing jointly.

 

[rbkt65]

i am back to work 2 days a week after "retiring" 4 times. i "check" the the box that takes the most out. i also have extra taken out of my pension and approx 10% taken out of my ss check. same with the wife. we get a lot back and even got a nasty gram from the irs that we need to "lighten" up on the deductions so we don't get so much refund.

 

[toolmanmike]

To the moderators, while my intent was not to be political....should this be under N&P?


How did your taxes turn out this year compared to previous years?

My tax situation is relatively simple. No minor children, Mortgage, 401k and SS disability, so basically, standard deduction. In previous years i have owed. I have been trying to offset the tax liability by increasing my contribution to the 401k. I recently moved into a city who uses RITA. Now with all the hype about the addition of IRS agents and switching to an HSA I went to a professional this year to have my taxes done. In previous years i owed the feds around $300. This year $1300.

When i asked what happened, H&R Block said the tax scale changed, they took less money out this year. So I have changed my w-4 to single filing separate from married filing jointly.

I'll keep an eye on it and watch for political comments.

 

[Mopar44134]

i am back to work 2 days a week after "retiring" 4 times. i "check" the the box that takes the most out. i also have extra taken out of my pension and approx 10% taken out of my ss check. same with the wife. we get a lot back and even got a nasty gram from the irs that we need to "lighten" up on the deductions so we don't get so much refund.

H&r block recommended 10% as well.

 

[barbee6043]

I'm so old and poor I guess they don't even know I exist.

 

[Mopar44134]

I'm so old and poor I guess they don't even know I exist.

lol oh they know. Happy Belated Birthday!

 

[Inertia]

I used to go to a " H.R. Block" type tax preparer when I left business, - after 5 yrs I went back to a proper "accountant", and re-learned what I had discovered a few decades ago.
It cost $700, but they went back 5 yrs, and re-captured $7k that " HR" missed .

A reminder, - a good accountant will save you more than he costs . ( ask donald ) lol . .

 

[diymirage]

maybe you need to reconsider the way you worded the poll ?

because i owed state tax (check one box)
got a federal refund (check another box)
but if i remember correctly the total was about the same as last year (check third box)

im with @inertia that this is a job i outsource
this year was rather simple, and even with the money i paid my accountant, i still ended up in the black

now, this upcoming year i expect to buy a new truck (personal) AND I expect to break the 600 dollar limit on several properties that I plow, which will require me to declare it as income, which will allow me to declare my miles and fuel

So that will be a fun one

 

[Dan the man]

To the moderators, while my intent was not to be political....should this be under N&P?


How did your taxes turn out this year compared to previous years?

My tax situation is relatively simple. No minor children, Mortgage, 401k and SS disability, so basically, standard deduction. In previous years i have owed. I have been trying to offset the tax liability by increasing my contribution to the 401k. I recently moved into a city who uses RITA. Now with all the hype about the addition of IRS agents and switching to an HSA I went to a professional this year to have my taxes done. In previous years i owed the feds around $300. This year $1300.

When i asked what happened, H&R Block said the tax scale changed, they took less money out this year. So I have changed my w-4 to single filing separate from married filing jointly.

How can you put money in your 401k since you're not working? When I went on disability, I couldn't put money into my 401k because I wasn't working, same thing for my IRA.

 

[Dan the man]

To the moderators, while my intent was not to be political....should this be under N&P?


How did your taxes turn out this year compared to previous years?

My tax situation is relatively simple. No minor children, Mortgage, 401k and SS disability, so basically, standard deduction. In previous years i have owed. I have been trying to offset the tax liability by increasing my contribution to the 401k. I recently moved into a city who uses RITA. Now with all the hype about the addition of IRS agents and switching to an HSA I went to a professional this year to have my taxes done. In previous years i owed the feds around $300. This year $1300.

When i asked what happened, H&R Block said the tax scale changed, they took less money out this year. So I have changed my w-4 to single filing separate from married filing jointly.

You probably should file together, if you don't your going to lose a deduction and why do that. I have a good ss check the wife's is so so and when I take money out of my IRA I don't have to pay any taxes

 

[Dan the man]

When I first went on disability I could deduct my real estate and personal property taxes, but as my disability benefits went up I lost those and so now we just take the standard deduction.

 

[crackedback]

H&R block was your first mistake. They are far from "professional".

Sorry to tell you that. They are nothing but fill in the blanks preparers for the most part with no desire to actually search for deductions and credits that you may be due.

 

[CFD244]

It's a good idea to owe them as much as you can at the end of the year. A big refund just means an interest free loan to the Government. Just make sure that you are diligent enough to have the dough on hand when the bill comes in.

 

[Dan the man]

It's a good idea to owe them as much as you can at the end of the year. A big refund just means an interest free loan to the Government. Just make sure that you are diligent enough to have the dough on hand when the bill comes in.

I break even every year. I think that it dump to try and owe taxes on purpose. You probably think that people shouldn't have any deductions

 

[diymirage]

It's a good idea to owe them as much as you can at the end of the year. A big refund just means an interest free loan to the Government. Just make sure that you are diligent enough to have the dough on hand when the bill comes in.

Not exactly the same, but I have been in "1099" territory a few times
Independent contractor type deal

I'd make sure that for each paycheck that came in from that job 25% got put in a dedicated account right off the bat

Then when taxes came due, I'd have pretty close to that exact amount sitting in that account

 

[YY1]

I try to get within $250 either way. That worked great for over 10 years.

With all the financial "plan B's" (and C's and D's etc) that we have, our "worst" year the 1040 long form was 74 pages!

I don't trust H&R block as far as I could throw them as the one year I used them to file a "simple" 1040 and advise me on being paid as a 1099'd "private contractor", they screwed that up big time and I had to pay $3000 the next year on a $16,000 income!

What SUCKS, and I wish the IRS would put back and just LEAVE THE F ALONE is that they keep screwing with the withholding.

I have several income sources that can't or don't withhold taxes and I need to make up the difference somehow so I don't get forced to make quarterly estimated payments (which you have to do if you owe more than $1200 two years in a row).

The easiest way is to "simply" have more tax withheld from my W2 wages.

...but oh, no the government just can't leave that alone.

2-3 years ago, they changed (reduced) the amount without notifying anyone and we ended up owing despite what we told them to withhold.
Then they really screwed with it and forced all withholding to come from the highest wage earner's income for married joint filers!
WTF?? My wife has her own business, and so do I. WTF can't we have individual withholding, and why do I need to complete a 4 page worksheet?

JUST TAKE OUT THE ADDITIONAL AMOUNT I TELL YOU TO on the W4.....!!!!!!!

...and this year they recalculated again and reduced the amount withheld...again..

MAKE IT STOP!!! JUST TAKE OUT THE ADDITIONAL AMOUNT I TELL YOU TO.....!!!!!!!

I don't want "more money in my paycheck", I want less tax to be owed at the end of the year.

This is in both my best interest and the IRS's best interest.

 

[CFD244]

I break even every year. I think that it dump to try and owe taxes on purpose. You probably think that people shouldn't have any deductions

LOL......I think that you are missing my point Dan. Based on your income, and all of the deductions that you have, you will owe the government "X" number of dollars for any given tax year. I adjust my tax rate so I pay them at the end of the year. That way, I keep and invest my money for over a year until I have to pay them........There is also the principle that feels good.