# Tax day is approaching: Do you have your taxes done? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 4, 2008, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-day-is-approaching-do-you-have-your-taxes-done/443905 "2008-04-04T11:22:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-day-is-approaching-do-you-have-your-taxes-done/443905/41 "2008-04-06T15:27:52Z")
I sent mine in mid-March. I couldn’t e-file them because of my non-resident alien status (which also means I won’t qualify for the stimulus package, obviously). This whole tax refund thing is interesting - in Korea I always ended up owing the government money when tax time came around. It’s nice to be on the receiving end, so to speak. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-day-is-approaching-do-you-have-your-taxes-done/443905/42 "2008-04-06T15:30:46Z")
[QUOTE=TokyoPlayer] why should we have to file or pay US taxes? [/QUOTE] Do you ever use any services that the U.S. Gov’t provides to its citizens? ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-day-is-approaching-do-you-have-your-taxes-done/443905/43 "2008-04-06T21:20:40Z")
Well, I’m glad I noticed this thread! I have a good friend who’s an accountant, does all of our taxes at home so the company software won’t record everyone’s returns and try to bill for them. I’d dropped my stuff off a few weeks ago. I realized she hadn’t called me yet to pick them up and just called. She had no idea I’d brought stuff over, a five-minute chaotic hunt turned up my envelope of stuff in her 10 year old’s bedroom, along with some school stuff Mom was supposed to sign weeks ago. :smack: They’ll be ready tomorrow, though. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-day-is-approaching-do-you-have-your-taxes-done/443905/44 "2008-04-06T21:33:35Z")
[QUOTE=Queen Tonya] Well, I’m glad I noticed this thread! I have a good friend who’s an accountant, does all of our taxes at home so the company software won’t record everyone’s returns and try to bill for them. I’d dropped my stuff off a few weeks ago. I realized she hadn’t called me yet to pick them up and just called. She had no idea I’d brought stuff over, a five-minute chaotic hunt turned up my envelope of stuff in her 10 year old’s bedroom, along with some school stuff Mom was supposed to sign weeks ago. :smack: They’ll be ready tomorrow, though. 🆒 [/QUOTE] Wow! Coulda been much worse! I’m glad it worked out for you. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-day-is-approaching-do-you-have-your-taxes-done/443905/45 "2008-04-06T21:52:22Z")
[QUOTE=hajario] Do you ever use any services that the U.S. Gov’t provides to its citizens? [/QUOTE] The point is that for everywhere else, people pay taxes in the country they live in. Germans in Korea file Korean taxes. They’re not required to file German taxes. Spanish in Hong Kong file Hong Kong taxes. They’re not required to file taxes in Spain. etc., etc. Every 10 years they provide me a passport. So yes, I use their services. Hell of price to pay for a passport, though. Any other services I use would be the same as any other non-resident who visits the US. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-day-is-approaching-do-you-have-your-taxes-done/443905/46 "2008-04-07T07:20:42Z")
I ALWAYS do my taxes as soon as I have all the required paperwork. If they owe me money, I submit them ASAP. If I owe THEM money, I wait until April 15th. I got my refund around Feb 10th this year. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-day-is-approaching-do-you-have-your-taxes-done/443905/47 "2008-04-07T17:12:00Z")
Yup. Had them in before February 1st, and the refund is long gone. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-day-is-approaching-do-you-have-your-taxes-done/443905/48 "2008-04-07T17:17:00Z")
I need to do them ASAP. I’m a dependent, but one that has mucho scholarships, and earned some for himself. So I may have to pay taxes, but won’t get stimulused. Drat. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-day-is-approaching-do-you-have-your-taxes-done/443905/49 "2008-04-07T17:44:29Z")
Not to gloat or anything, but I did mine in late January and got the refunds directly deposited, very quickly. A college campus colleague of mine teaches at night and runs a CPA firm by day. He gave me $20 off as an employee discount. Sure beats the heck out of Jackson Hewitt. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-day-is-approaching-do-you-have-your-taxes-done/443905/50 "2008-04-07T18:25:37Z")
Mine went in the mailbox today. For the record, I owe a non-trivial but not bank breaking amount. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-day-is-approaching-do-you-have-your-taxes-done/443905/51 "2008-04-07T20:02:31Z")
I got my taxes finished yesterday (Sunday, April 6). I used TurboTax online like I’ve done for the past eight years. You’d think with the incentive of a nice refund coming my way I’d be more motivated to do it sooner. I never quite have the peace of mind that it’s “done” when I submit my returns. Even if I have all my paperwork in order and carefully follow the screen prompts I’m always afraid that I might have still overlooked something or entered the wrong information. So far I’ve never been audited or visited by scary-looking G-Men in black suits at my door, so I must not be making any major mistakes if any. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-day-is-approaching-do-you-have-your-taxes-done/443905/52 "2008-04-07T20:15:43Z")
I did mine this weekend, used TaxCut. Bastards automatically sent me a CD since I used them last year. Only problem is when you pop in the CD, they want $34.95 for “Deluxe Federal and State.” Well I’m not paying that, it was only $20 or $25 last year. So I visited their web site and got Federal only for $25, although when I added it to my cart it suspiciously added _2_ of them. Haven’t e-filed my taxes yet, didn’t like the number I owed. Doing my taxes turned into my den being covered with papers because I was looking for some older documents and my pile of “to-be-filed” papers was about a foot high and a couple years old. So I sorted all them out, put a bunch of old papers into a burn/destroy pile, and now have a clean desk and fairly neat filing cabinet. I sold some inherited real estate last year and put the money into the mortgage on my current house, but didn’t realize that although you don’t pay taxes on inherited money (to a certain $ limit), you do pay taxes on profits from selling inherited real estate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-day-is-approaching-do-you-have-your-taxes-done/443905.md?page=2)