Could they make this more complicated? It isn’t bad enough that I end up paying them more, but to have to put in extra hours trying to figure out wtf they mean by by add this number and take the larger of the two, and then subtract is by whichever is smaller…
Sure I could pay someone else to do them, but then I would be forking out more money for the purpose of paying taxes.
Sorry… just had to vent!
I really try to be good but it just isn’t in my nature!
I’ve learned that if someone says something unkind about me, I must live so that no one will believe it.
There are pretty inexpensive programs you can buy to do all that for you. One is called Tax Cut. I know there are others but I can’t think of them.
Should be getting our refund early next week. I can’t wait! Finally going to get a new stove. 
Hope you get through taxes with your sanity intact. 
Ducky
Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult
thanks… unfortunately I have a Mac and the software programs written for taxes are pretty lame. I don’t have a mortgage or kids, so not much to use as write offs either. I had them take more out last year when I had to pay but evidently the way they have you figure it out isn’t simple either. That coupled with the fact I am now single instead of married complicates it. I just wish they would make it simpler. You made this amount… you pay this amount. Why does it have to be so complicated?
I really try to be good but it just isn’t in my nature!
Ducky, I am soooo envious!
When were you expecting us for dinner?
(Actually, this crew is thrilled silly with Cheese Doodles, jerky and dip–but if you’d want to whomp up a real meal…well–party at Ducky’s place!!!)
It’s slightly better now that tax forms are available online, but it is so $&@*&% aggravating when you get partway down the form and find out you have to fill out another obscure form to get a subtotal. Finding a paper copy of the form and instructions is impossible, and the IRS “help lines” (HA!) are about as accessible as the Mars probe.
Every time they simplify this, the worse it gets. And the worst is the crawling paranoia. The spectre of an IRS audit nests on your shoulder like a damned vulture. So much fun, sweating, swearing and punching calculator buttons, muttering “hope to hell I’m doing this right” while visions of zombie accountants dance in your head.
Hey, non-US Dopers, is it this dreary elsewhere?
Veb
I guess if they made it more simple, we wouldn’t think they are really smart like they want us to. Sorry, I’m not much help.
I got the Census in the mail today and was looking it over, I think it could be less complicated also. Or at least less time consuming.
Good luck
Ducky
Veb, LOL! Having enchiladas tonight, come on over! You too PCW!
Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult
Sounds great! Should I bring the margaritas? I am gonna need alcohol after all this math!
I really try to be good but it just isn’t in my nature!
Are you sure margaritas are gonna be strong enough? Maybe we should drink some shots and I’ll help ya with your taxes.
Boy, talk about a mess! They wouldhave to be really smart to figure your forms out after we got thru with’em. LOL!
Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult
Most Definitely! The IRS has a hard enough time trying to translate mules into dollars and cents.
I really try to be good but it just isn’t in my nature!
Yes!! SDMB Tax Help! The math is shaky but we have maragritas, nachos, enchiladas–I make a coupla salsas that have reduced strong men to quivering, slavish jelly–and we haven’t even gotten to the pork rinds, hot sauce, shooters and Turbo Tax.
Gotta love this place. It’s so…so…to the gut basic! (Don’t anybody hand me tequila w/ lime and salt and say “Schedule C”: I turn into an animal.)
Never had this much fun at tax time,
Veb
Old joke about the new simplified tax form:
How much money did you make last year?
Send it to us.
“You have no choice but to be impressed.”
Tony Rothman and George Sudarshan
Doubt and Certainty
I say we 86 the tax stuff and bring the whole enchilada over to silo’s hello thread for a welcome to the board party. =)
I really try to be good but it just isn’t in my nature!
Did I hear someone say “Schedule C”? Damn yer eyes woman! Another perfectly good evening in paradise ruined by a stray reference . . .
(If you need paper copies of the forms, most public libraries have a binder with master copies of nearly every form and instruction sheet available for copying.)
I should also mention here that maybe I should do the cookin’ – not that pan-fried margaritas in tequila/lime sauce don’t sound appetizing . . .
Dr. Watson
“Lying to the IRS is not only a crime, it’s a duty.”
This was the best year I’ve ever tax wise. I got to claim Head of Household plus my 2 kids. Got back about $4500 between State and Federal! I still think it’s stupid that the forms are so complicated. I always have to go to H&R Block because I’m afraid of f**king something up and getting audited!
That John Denver’s full of shit man!
JustDucky writes:
Another is Intuit Turbo Tax (the Intuit line of software is now owned by Quicken), which I find eminently suitable. Shop around; YMMV.
PurpleCrackwhore complains:
That debate is going on over in GD 
Well, that’s another GD topic. To simplify and sanitize it for MPSIMS, the tax code is used as a tool of social policy rather than just as means of raising revenue (Want to promote home ownership? Make mortgage interest dedeuctible).
A good tax program, and keeping the received items such as W-2s, 1099s, and the like (and knowing where they are; I was held up for a week this year waiting for two 1099s that, in fact, I had already received and that were in my (physical) tax folder), will do just fine for even a moderately complex tax return (as a rule of thumb, if your tax return is so complicated that a good software package won’t handle it, you can almost certainly afford to have it done for you).
Don’t sweat too much over audits, either. Don’t try to conceal large amounts of money from the IRS (not, of course, that you would :)), don’t try to squeeze out every last penny in deductions (nothing will trigger an audit faster than a Schedule A that looks like War and Peace in the original), do have a printed copy of your tax return and supporting documents with you if get audited, do pay up if looks like you’ve made a mistake (OTOH, be willing and prepared to go to the mattresses if it looks like the mistake is on the other side).
“I don’t just want you to feel envy. I want you to suffer, I want you to bleed, I want you to die a little bit each day. And I want you to thank me for it.” – What “Let’s just be friends” really means