April 15th is here - US Tax day!

[statsman1982]

If anyone needs a nice, easy-to-use, and fairly cheap online program, taxslayer.com works very well.

I’ve used since 2006, and never had a problem (knock on wood). I got my refund electronically deposited in a matter of days.

[NinetyWt]

@BigT

My parents tried to efile, and found out someone had declared them as dependents, and they have to paper file. This doesn’t make sense to me.

That is odd. Were their SSNs compromised somehow?

[Least_Original_User_Name_Ever]

@NinetyWt

That is odd. Were their SSNs compromised somehow?

Nope. Probably not. It could very well have been a typo.
What’s most likely is that everything’s on the up-and-up, but the parents just can’t electronically file. Sometimes the IRS is picky about what kind of returns and what kind of forms can be electronically filed.
If you can get the IRS rejection code, you can look it up online. If the error code says anything about the “IRS Master File”, you can’t fix that. You must paper file it because whatever you’re sending in doesn’t match with what the IRS has on file.

[suranyi]

@Novelty_Bobble

I’ve never quite understood the American system of tax so…silly question perhaps…does absolutely everyone who works in the USA have to compile and file their own tax returns?
By that I mean, you keep all your wages during the year but have to pay a chunk to the government come April? And so have to calculate tax deductables etc.

We do have file our tax returns, but taxes are (generally) automatically withheld from pay throughout the year. The return just figures out what the proper amount of tax “should have been”. From that you know whether you own more tax, or you are owed a refund. I think most people end up getting a refund.

[Lok]

@BrotherCadfael

Just got my son’s in the mail yesterday, and my daughter’s today. My son paid in 58 cents, and will get a dollar back due to rounding. Free 42 cents!

The bad news is, if you read the form, anything under $1.01 you don’t owe or get back. So he doesn’t really get anything.

I figured I would get a couple of hundred back from the feds, maybe. I didn’t make much last year, mostly unemployment, but they only take out 10% here on that, and no state or local. And I knew I would have some penalties for the feds, so I might not get anything. Turns out that I get several breaks from the Recovery Act last year and am getting back $1500 from the feds. That will cover the $600 I owe the state, city, and school district and make my house payment for another month. Since I have no more unemployment, that will hold off the bank a little bit longer.

[Spice_Weasel]

We had to wait until the last minute this month, but we got them done today. It was his turn.

I opened a Roth IRA today. This has been a major goal of mine for a while, so it feels like a nice tax day bonus.

[matt_mcl]

US Tax Day… also known as “Okay, Canadians, get on this, you have only two weeks left” day.