Last year I remarked about the local news stations reporting about filing federal returns electronically from the IRS site. It irritated me that the reporters all mentioned the dollar limit for the guided preparation, but did not then go on to mention the option for people over the dollar limit. It seems to be happening again this year. Here is one news site that got it right.
So I’m once again using Free File Fillable Forms, and one bank reported interest less than $0.50. The electronic Schedule B automatically rounded it down to $0.00. Regardless, I’m going to leave that line on the form…after all, I DID get a 1099 from the bank and I want that bank’s name to appear on the form. The IRS can figure it out.
Feel free to add your particular irritation or odd thing with the tax system.
I’m just irritated that doing taxes is so difficult. And it’s all because of rich people wanting all kinds of break so us less-than-rich folks pay their share along with our share.
I’m just hoping this is the last year we need an accountant. Spousal unit closed his business last year, but we had just enough in the way of expenses, etc, that we needed to use our accountant again. Henceforth, as retirees, we’ll just have social security and my pension, so theoretically, it’ll be simpler to file next year. Right?
Indeed, even though I am a numbskull for paying to use a commercial tax filing software, I find that the guided process is helpful, but still has the occasional record-scratch WTFs. I consider myself an intelligent person, in the upper quadrant so-to-speak, and our tax situation is (mostly) basic, so I like to feel that I “get” what I’m doing when filling out the forms, and can anticipate results. But every once in a while there is a curve that is just a little too fast and steep, and not well (enough for me) explained.
I don’t want to spend the money on an accountant - I used to do that in past years but eventually they gently fired me telling me that my situation was too simple and they really didn’t have the resources to waste time on my filings. And, I’m not too confident that the store-front tax filers that pop up at this time of year are really very expert in nuances - I have used those in the past also and was unimpressed by their inability to explain or answer questions. ISTM that they are trained to enter data into software and that is about it.
In the past, I had always filed paper returns. With the way the post office is now and people actually stealing mail, I didn’t want to chance it this year. I gave the free file fillable forms a try. I filed on Jan. 28 and got my refund on Feb 9! I’ve been doing my own taxes since 1973. That’s the year my dad decided that I should file head of household 'cause I had my own apartment! I took it home and redid it myself. Taxes have been my hobby ever since. One year, I did 8 tax returns paid in pizza!
I use FreeTaxUSA for the past few years - always free federal, $15 state. No fillable forms needed. I’m sure Credit Karma is fine, but I’d rather avoid Intuit.
Look at the tax increments tables (PDF). The minimum amount of money that could change your taxes is $25, $0.50 or $1 won’t matter and can be left off. I’m surprised they sent you one at all under $10.
I’ve always done my own taxes, and have been using the fillable forms for both federal and state tax filings once they became available. I print up two copies of the completed forms, one to mail in and one to put in a file folder, and also have a copy stored on my computer.
Using Turbotax, and put in all my 1099 info, including $112 of foreign tax paid… Dumbass, that creates a cascade of issues, including the fact that the form for “Foreign Tax Paid” has not been finalized by the IRS. I went back and deleted the $112–I mean, we’re talking $25 saved at best–but Turbotax now insists that I need that form.
So, our particular situation is that we moved from CA to DC, so we are filing as part-year residents in two states. (Yes, for the purpose of taxes DC is it’s own “state”.)
TurboTax takes us through the CA steps just fine. One enters the date of move, and offline one calculates the residence factor based on time spent, and enters adjusted totals based on the factor. (It’s a computer, shouldn’t TurboTax make any calculations? Huh?)
But then in the DC section, there is a page that asks “Income received while residing outside of DC?” with a field to enter into. No further explanation, or link to click for details. Again, I’ve entered everything so far Mr. TurboTax, you have my CA figures, you are a computer, can’t you do the calculation base on what you have? Huh? Or at the very least give me an explanation as to why I have to come up with this figure separately, and what the impact is of this figure? Nothing, nada, zilch-a-roni!
My stepson was using TurboTax and it insists he needs to do the Disaster Recovery Form 8915E-T although he told TurboTax he didn’t get any disaster/covid funds.
An article I read last week suggests the biggest thing standing between the IRS sending us our tax forms filled in to approve and us is the fact that there’s a lot of lobbying by tax preparation companies. That’s somehow worse…
I’m so glad Canadian taxes make this easier. “Where did you reside on Dec 31?”
I do NOT look forward to figuring out non-resident US taxes on the Florida condo my mother sold last year. I’m very tempted just to blow the IRS off, as Mum will never be going to the US again.
Got everything back from the accountant - they definitely came up with better numbers than I did - by a lot! But it still cost us over $1200 to have it done by pros. It was all the business stuff that we had no idea how to deal with, so overall, we came out ahead.
And I’m hoping my spousal unit doesn’t do any more consulting this year so we can do our own taxes next time around. But if he does, I’ll make sure to set aside enough to pay the pros again.
Another plus - even tho we owe the state a huge chunk (I screwed up on the estimated taxes) it won’t be due till July 15, so I don’t have to deplete savings in April. Whew!
I paid HR Block a ton of money one year to make sure the paperwork on my rollover of a Traditional IRA into a Roth was done correctly. In hindsight it was a waste of money because I probably could have figured it out better then the preparer except the manager had done that exact same thing 2 days prior so he knew what he was doing.
I finished mine over the weekend. I use TaxAct. It’s free for the Federal form, $7.95 for your state form, and $9.95 for both (you get extra features like online help if you get the paid version). Oddly, you are not asked to pay anything until you file your return.
This includes all forms; I was going to use Block, but that meant I had to use a Schedule C for a small amount of income, and the cost for the version that included it was more than what I had to declare.
I’ve been using TaxAct for years, so my banks and other 1099 organizations are already listed; you just have to enter the amounts. It also is quite clear about how to fill things out.
Heh. Remember the tests when some media outlet would submit the same exact information to 10-20 tax preparers? I always wondered–when they said that only a few got the right answer, just how could anybody be sure what the right answer actually was?
I had filed my federal and state taxes last week. Today in the mail I got a letter from the IRS confirming that I had received a $1400.00 stimulus payment in 2021. Fortunately it was only informational, as I already knew I had received it and did not try to claim it as a tax credit.
I had an interesting situation this year. For various reasons I went on Covered California (i.e. Obamacare) last spring. So I had several new tax forms to fill out.
I got a subsidy for the health insurance premium, but it turned out to be too much (my income was higher than expected). So I have to pay back the difference with my tax return.
Here’s the kicker, though: That extra payment is considered health insurance premiums, which are deductible as medical expense. So on the same return I pay and deduct the same amount. It’s not quite a wash but the effect is much smaller than I had feared.
As you are incapable of providing any explanation at all of the figures that you require for DC Part-year resident filing, I will instead be using a professional store-front tax preparer.
