Thanks, I’m checking that out.
<shaking head>
[sub]$500 motherfucking bucks…grrrr…[/sub]
ARRGH STOP IT STOP IT MY EYES ARE BLEEDING!!!111!
Your tax RETURN is the form you fill out and send to Uncle Sam.
Your tax REFUND is the money you get back from Uncle Sam (if you’re lucky).
Thank you for your cooperation.
I pay H&R Block about $300 a year, but then again I’m self-employed, my tax preparer (I always use the same one) calculates my quarterly estimates, and I have a second, smaller business.
I’ve been using Turbo Tax Online. The federales haven’t Capone’d me yet, so it appears to work. I used H&R once, but the people there didn’t strike me as too competent. They just sort of read questions that the computer told them to. Meh.
IMO, if you are an individual and your return isn’t complicated, H&R is a rip off. Depending on the nature of your return, it may be worth it, but if you need to ask if your return is complicated enough, I don’t think it would be.
Like Airman Doors, I was decidedly underwhelmed by H&R Block. Reading what the computer told 'em to, and looking at me quizzically when I mentioned deductions beyond the norm (money spent looking for a position within the same industry, &c).
And like Brutus, I’ve been using TurboTax (still H&R Block, but I figure I can read the damned questions as well as they can). Were refunded a crapload of money over the last few years, due to the fact that both wife and I were students, too. Not looking forward to this year, since neither of us were in school this past year.
Honestly, I would recommend using TurboTax or some equivalent program. It is usually less expensive, and you can do it at your own speed.
I thought Turbo Tax federal was okay, but the NY State program really sucked. If I hadn’t known from prior experience that the 414H amount that was deductible on federal was taxable on state, I would have been in big ctrouble.
I wasn’t a full time student this past semester, but I took 9 credits. I also paid $1,600 for classes, so maybe that will work in somewhere.
Just open a Roth IRA before April 15 and put $500 into it.
Eh? I don’t follow. You don’t get a deduction for a Roth, and even if you did, it would be a deduction, not a tax credit.
Frankly, World Eater, I don’t want to hear it. I’m going to owe about $1,500. But then I was happy to get the bonuses that caused it. 
Just think of it as the government’s way of preventing you from spending that $500 supporting the Knicks in any way, shape or form until they figure out what they’re doing. Me? Knowing I was going to owe some money made me decide not to pick up the NBA package for TV. It’s kept me from gouging out my eyeballs with a grapefruit spoon after watching Kobe jack 78 shots and make 15 of them each game.
Wait a minute. I don’t understand. When I do my taxes, I use raw numbers of income for the year. Thus, when I figure how much they owe me, I do not multiply it by a percentage for interest I have earned via overpayment. Therefore, can I recover this money in interest, and if so, how?
I’d gladly put it towards a new ankle for Crawford.
Eater, if you really want to have fun at tax time, get youself a wife like I’ve got. In fact, she’ll be available this spring, but you may have to get in line (ba dum bum). She NEVER does any withholding from her paychecks and chooses to collect all the dough on payday. I happen to be the one who does our taxes and everything’s going along just fine til I add her income and have no withholdings to cushion the blow.
Ugh, my condolences.
How much are your W2 wages?
I mean- all this talk about him going to a Tax preparer and such- but if he is a 1040EZ kind of dude, he’s an idiot if he pays $100+ to prepare that return. Nor will putting his taxes on a 1040 help if he doesn’t have any significant itemized deductions. Most single working dudes who don’t own a home don’t have enough deduction to Itemize- thus taking the “standard deduction” saves them money. And, if you’re a 1040EZ kind of dude- there is nothing evn the best tax preparer in the USA can do for you.
No- you don’t get any interest on “overpayments” just from filing on time with a normal refund. Nor do you generally owe interest if you owe taxes. Note I said “generally”- if you owe a lot and if you owed last year too, you can owe an “estimated tax penalty” which is really interest charged as a Penalty.
That site is valid, but they are talking about "overpayments’ and “underpayments” like form an Audit. Yes, if you get audited- and you owe, you owe interest on that…from the due date of the return. If the Auditor figures you for a refund, *you get *interest from the due date of the return.
There’s a real sharp learning curve on her horizon. Assuming she continues this practice when she’s filing singly she’s going to discover it’s illegal to defer all your tax payments until they’re actually “due”. If I recall correctly, it’s illegal to owe more than 10% of your taxes when you file and you’ll be fined for doing so.
I made 49k. I own nothing in the way of stock, savings, etc. My taxes usually take about 2 minutes to complete. IIRC last year I made about 45k and got a $300 refund.
I agree – I’d rather owe a little come April 15, and know that I’ve been earning the interest on more of my own money, rather than the govt hanging on to it until then. But the psychological effect of the “refund” seems to work on most people. I find it funny how many commercials there are this time of year that say, “Hey, why don’t you spend your tax refund on this!!!”
As if tax time is a joyous and celebratory time where the government sends out free money to all… :::snicker:::
The extra bonus money could account for it, but it would totally depend on the withholding rate. I find typically that in bonuses I’ve gotten, the withholding that comes out is at a higher rate than normal, not a lower one.
I went to H&R Block last year. Had to, because of stock options that I had to cash in.
Cost me about 70 bucks, IIRC. They filed it electroniclly. They seemed to know their stuff.
Two things:
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My goal has always been to tweak my withholdings so that when tax day rolls around I write the IRS a small check. My best year was writing a check for $15. No refund for me, but also no loan to the govt for a year. That worked for straight salary, but throw captial gains/bonus in the works and everything is shot to hell.
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My experience with bonuses (although limited) is that they are taxed at a higher rate than normal. When I left the active duty Air Force I got a large check for all of my unused leave (60 days). I got taxed on that money as if I was making that amount per month…ouch! I got the difference back at tax time, but it still pissed me off.
World Eater my best guess would be that your employer withheld the normal amount (or less - or even none) from your bonus check but the IRS is figuring that bonus into your normal income and you are stuck with the difference.
As for painful - I got VERY lucky and made some money during the dot.com bubble. I sold a bunch of one stock and bought some “up and comer” stock. Well, my new stock tanked and I lost a lot (A lot in this case means $50,000. :eek: ) The best part? At the end of the year I had to write the IRS a check for $7,500 for capital gains on money that had evaporated. Now THAT was painful.
Sorry for the hijack…good luck tracking down the source of your IRS pain!