TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Mar 5, 2019 16:40:59 GMT -5
That was my experience with my federal return. I'm still waiting on the Iowa refund and I did pay to efile it.
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lynnerself
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Post by lynnerself on Mar 5, 2019 17:42:16 GMT -5
I always e-file fed (Turbotax) and paper file state, because Maryland charges to e-file. Not worth it. Also, I owe, so there's that. I used to do it this way for years. Finally decided to bite the bullet last year and pay the $20 to e file the state return. It was just not worth the hassle to read all the instructions, make all the copies, attach all the forms and then make sure there was enough postage on the envelope. Also e filing gets the refund faster.
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CCL
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Post by CCL on Mar 5, 2019 20:37:02 GMT -5
I'm not an accountant but in my experience, it's almost easier to wait for the IRS to catch up with this and send a bill for the unpaid taxes. Penalties typically aren't that bad. If what they're asking for looks reasonable you send them a bill and you're done. I once got a bill because I hadn't included redemptions from a money market fund a few years before. The proceeds were pretty substantial and, lacking the basis, the IRS decided the basis was zero and sent me a bill for taxes on the entire amount! I did refute that one- filed a 1040X showing the proceeds and the basis (which was close to the proceeds). with a small amount due. They accepted it. He qualifies for 0% Capital Gains tax Federal, so there was no bill there, but he owes about $200 to State on a 4K LTCG distribution. I have no account information at all, but I looked at the fund history and 2018 looks like it was a big year for LTCG. 2017 was half as much and the years before that even less, so if he did owe before it was very little and just to State, so I'm not going to stress about it.
What's annoying me is figuring out a way to file without paying $50 for each kid. I might just fill out the paper forms.
If they are only charging for the electronic filing, can't you print out the state and mail it? You probably don't have to fill out the forms, just print them. That's what I do every year. I'm not paying $20 for something I can do for free.
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justme
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Post by justme on Mar 5, 2019 21:22:57 GMT -5
Wtf the free turbotax doesn't let you input HSA information?!?!!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2019 8:40:28 GMT -5
He qualifies for 0% Capital Gains tax Federal, so there was no bill there, but he owes about $200 to State on a 4K LTCG distribution. I have no account information at all, but I looked at the fund history and 2018 looks like it was a big year for LTCG. 2017 was half as much and the years before that even less, so if he did owe before it was very little and just to State, so I'm not going to stress about it.
What's annoying me is figuring out a way to file without paying $50 for each kid. I might just fill out the paper forms.
If they are only charging for the electronic filing, can't you print out the state and mail it? You probably don't have to fill out the forms, just print them. That's what I do every year. I'm not paying $20 for something I can do for free. I would be fine with printing and mailing, but neither TaxAct or TurboTax will let me print before paying. Is there a different program that will allow me to do that? Otherwise, I think my aunt purchases the TurboTax CD every year, so I might be able to just use hers to get a printable copy.
I have to do Federal and State.
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justme
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Post by justme on Mar 6, 2019 9:54:05 GMT -5
If they are only charging for the electronic filing, can't you print out the state and mail it? You probably don't have to fill out the forms, just print them. That's what I do every year. I'm not paying $20 for something I can do for free. I would be fine with printing and mailing, but neither TaxAct or TurboTax will let me print before paying. Is there a different program that will allow me to do that? Otherwise, I think my aunt purchases the TurboTax CD every year, so I might be able to just use hers to get a printable copy.
I have to do Federal and State.
In case you didn't know - you can port your turbotax from the free online to the pay one you install on the computer. I do that whenever turbo decides to be annoying making me have to get to my parents to use it.
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TheHaitian
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Post by TheHaitian on Mar 6, 2019 10:04:27 GMT -5
Just got an email from my accountant and need to file out more paperwork in regards to my business to file my taxes... and she needs to get them by 03/15 to guarantee she will be able to file by 04/15.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2019 10:29:15 GMT -5
I would be fine with printing and mailing, but neither TaxAct or TurboTax will let me print before paying. Is there a different program that will allow me to do that? Otherwise, I think my aunt purchases the TurboTax CD every year, so I might be able to just use hers to get a printable copy.
I have to do Federal and State.
In case you didn't know - you can port your turbotax from the free online to the pay one you install on the computer. I do that whenever turbo decides to be annoying making me have to get to my parents to use it. I did not know, and that is super helpful because both kids are done in the online version already.
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phil5185
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Post by phil5185 on Mar 6, 2019 13:08:02 GMT -5
but neither TaxAct or TurboTax will let me print before paying
MPL, I print from TurboT.
Go to your Return. In the upper left corner, click on View > Forms. Upper right corner, go to Print Center. Choose 'Form Only' Select a Form. Print.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2019 13:26:41 GMT -5
but neither TaxAct or TurboTax will let me print before paying
MPL, I print from TurboT.
Go to your Return. In the upper left corner, click on View > Forms. Upper right corner, go to Print Center. Choose 'Form Only' Select a Form. Print.
OMG! It worked. I had been scared off by the "In order to print your return you must first register and pay for Turbo Tax", screen that popped up, but since I was using the "Free" edition, it came up as not costing anything and I just had to register.
So basically they wanted to charge me $40 to file because it had one extra schedule that the free version wouldn't support, but I could still print whatever for free.
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chapeau
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Post by chapeau on Mar 6, 2019 14:24:53 GMT -5
Arg. Ours aren’t started yet, but I’m 99.9% sure we’ll owe, so I’m in no rush. And DD is apparently eligible for some scholarship that requires our tax return. I don’t know if we can get them done before the scholarship deadline. I’m not a happy lady right now.
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azucena
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Post by azucena on Mar 6, 2019 15:01:35 GMT -5
Reading fb buzz from friends and family that Missouri refunds are less too. A bit of googling led me to an article that stated that they messed with the withholdings at the state level too to get net paychecks to increase, but that was never widely publicized so no one realized that they would get smaller state refunds or even owe. And it happened at the same time as the federal changes so it was all lumped together. I know I didn't check mine because refund or owing won't matter to me. And, I totally get that you have to do the math to see your actual tax liability to have an accurate comparison. Waiting for a friend to do our returns to see how we fared.
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Miss Tequila
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Post by Miss Tequila on Mar 6, 2019 15:21:53 GMT -5
Reading fb buzz from friends and family that Missouri refunds are less too. A bit of googling led me to an article that stated that they messed with the withholdings at the state level too to get net paychecks to increase, but that was never widely publicized so no one realized that they would get smaller state refunds or even owe. And it happened at the same time as the federal changes so it was all lumped together. I know I didn't check mine because refund or owing won't matter to me. And, I totally get that you have to do the math to see your actual tax liability to have an accurate comparison. Waiting for a friend to do our returns to see how we fared. And this is my biggest gripe with all of the "F You trump" posts I'm seeing on my FB related to smaller refunds. Of course, these are all people I know that absolutely hate trump so I have popped on a few of their posts and asked them to calculate the tax rate and not base their criticism only on a smaller refund. Want to guess how many people got back to me?!?!lol Idiots
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azucena
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Post by azucena on Mar 6, 2019 15:28:12 GMT -5
Reading fb buzz from friends and family that Missouri refunds are less too. A bit of googling led me to an article that stated that they messed with the withholdings at the state level too to get net paychecks to increase, but that was never widely publicized so no one realized that they would get smaller state refunds or even owe. And it happened at the same time as the federal changes so it was all lumped together. I know I didn't check mine because refund or owing won't matter to me. And, I totally get that you have to do the math to see your actual tax liability to have an accurate comparison. Waiting for a friend to do our returns to see how we fared. And this is my biggest gripe with all of the "F You trump" posts I'm seeing on my FB related to smaller refunds. Of course, these are all people I know that absolutely hate trump so I have popped on a few of their posts and asked them to calculate the tax rate and not base their criticism only on a smaller refund. Want to guess how many people got back to me?!?!lol Idiots After 3 different fb arguments with acquaintances who were spouting off about smaller refunds, I gave up trying to educate anyone and have posted "Math is hard" on several fb threads LOL. One friend PM'd me about how the super wealthy don't understand that she would have been happier if her paycheck had gone down $65/month so she could get $780 back. This "debate" definitely hasn't increased my faith in humanity.
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justme
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Post by justme on Mar 6, 2019 15:57:53 GMT -5
but neither TaxAct or TurboTax will let me print before paying
MPL, I print from TurboT.
Go to your Return. In the upper left corner, click on View > Forms. Upper right corner, go to Print Center. Choose 'Form Only' Select a Form. Print.
OMG! It worked. I had been scared off by the "In order to print your return you must first register and pay for Turbo Tax", screen that popped up, but since I was using the "Free" edition, it came up as not costing anything and I just had to register.
So basically they wanted to charge me $40 to file because it had one extra schedule that the free version wouldn't support, but I could still print whatever for free. Yay for it printing! And you're lucky. They still won't let me input my HSA info even when I try to go directly to that page it just keeps saying I have to upgrade before I can put in the info that says my $ actually didn't go into an HSA.
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CCL
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Post by CCL on Mar 6, 2019 20:58:15 GMT -5
Looks like you found your answer MPL. I print mine from H&R Block every year.
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CCL
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Post by CCL on Mar 6, 2019 21:03:00 GMT -5
Arg. Ours aren’t started yet, but I’m 99.9% sure we’ll owe, so I’m in no rush. And DD is apparently eligible for some scholarship that requires our tax return. I don’t know if we can get them done before the scholarship deadline. I’m not a happy lady right now. Will they let you amend the info once your taxes are done? I used to do that with FAFSA, but that was a few years ago. It could have changed since then. Still, they should know many people won't have their taxes complete prior to April 15.
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chapeau
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Post by chapeau on Mar 6, 2019 21:49:30 GMT -5
Arg. Ours aren’t started yet, but I’m 99.9% sure we’ll owe, so I’m in no rush. And DD is apparently eligible for some scholarship that requires our tax return. I don’t know if we can get them done before the scholarship deadline. I’m not a happy lady right now. Will they let you amend the info once your taxes are done? I used to do that with FAFSA, but that was a few years ago. It could have changed since then. Still, they should know many people won't have their taxes complete prior to April 15. This is our school’s first year in this scholarship program, so no one knows. It’s an odd, state-specific program, very poorly publicized and explained. Feels to me like the person who runs it just makes up the answers as he goes. There is no website, ffs. Are you a real organization if you don’t have a website?
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nittanycheme
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Post by nittanycheme on Mar 7, 2019 9:25:06 GMT -5
PA doesn't charge you to efile. In fact, they encourage it. The PA state form is fairly easy since we have a flat tax, and there's only a few deductions you can take. I get so annoyed that Turbotax charges me so much for PA. Usually, I just do my federal in Turbotax, note what it calculates I owe to the state, go do my state return, and compare the numbers. I usually owe to the state; they tax interest and dividends in addition to your wage income and there isn't any way to change the withholdings on your paycheck, so I usually owe. Last year was an exception - I had a annuity payout from my mom's estate that I owed taxes on and I'm sure I would've messed that up without TT's calculations, so I actually paid TT for my state one last year and filed through them. It was their reward for helping me with that weirdness. I'm back to normal this year. It's just as easy to do my PA online - I need all those numbers for my county taxes, which are also efiled (and definitely encouraged - they don't even send a form unless you request it).
And the HSA thing explains why TT's in-process "refund/owe" number changed so much when I filled out the HSA form partway through fill out all the TT stuff. I couldn't understand it since all the HSA stuff came out of my paycheck. As soon as I filled out that form, the number changed drastically since both DH and I have HSA's.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2019 9:31:24 GMT -5
It turns out the kids are required to mail in their returns anyhow due to never having filed before, so even if I would have found a way to e-file for free they're not eligible.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Mar 7, 2019 13:28:43 GMT -5
I have no idea when we will hear from the accountant. He has everything, but my best guess is that sometime around April 10th, we will be told we need to write a check for $XXXX (X?).
I kind of miss the days when my tax filing was a one page form rather than a book.
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countrygirl2
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Post by countrygirl2 on Mar 15, 2019 18:58:47 GMT -5
I am thrilled, like the new accountant, she is super. She was quick, hubs brought the returns up for me to go through. I'm sure they use a program, it is easy for me to follow and she said everything of mine was good. We are going to go over the depreciation she is using, like she said there are so many different conventions we can use, so I can drop it into Quickbooks and she doesn't have to go back over it. Hubs is keeping his hour log, something I need to do also to show I'm an active participant for next year, just needs to be in excess of 240 hours a year. I forgot I need to do that also. Hubs can easily do that. I need to document my prep times for it and actual work, hope I can do it. Last year we paid $30k federal and state it was traumatic to say the least.
Now the good news is, with write offs for the money on his moms house last year and what we are spending we got all of our federal tax estimates back! We owed very little tax this year, I thought so but was not sure. Yes, but the tax prep for personal and LLC was almost $1200 and state tax was $361. But we are happy and next year will likely be the same. Now the next year we will owe and that is fine. It is such a big load off my mind and its done! We have to go sign the papers and take a deposit ticket down, but we can do that Monday.
I also found, again thought I knew but verified it. I can do draws of money from the LLC and not have to pay self employment tax on it. We just pay on the profit or loss from the company, that passes through into our personal return. I chose this method instead of what our attorney had suggested. I'm not sure he was happy. When I did it, I told his clerk I'm not sure this is wise. She told me its very smart and you will be glad you did. But it took away "admin" fees from the attorney. It will save us a lot of money.
There was nothing in the new tax law that I saw that cost us money and may have saved us some since the brackets moved lower.
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phil5185
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Post by phil5185 on Mar 16, 2019 9:20:38 GMT -5
There was nothing in the new tax law that I saw that cost us money and may have saved us some since the brackets moved lower. Oh wow, you are starting to sound like a Trump convert.
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countrygirl2
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Post by countrygirl2 on Mar 16, 2019 9:55:01 GMT -5
No I'm not a trump supporter never. Because this country can not afford what he gave to the very wealthy as tax cuts. I don't mind paying taxes as long as its equitable. We have always paid our share. With the LLC I'm not sure we are now. Did it mainly so we could draw money out and not have to do it as self employment income and pay taxes on that and profits. With the increased deduction, since we could never itemize, might be a break for us. I just hope I'm doing the right thing.
We had a "book loss" this year and will next because of all we spent on fixup costs for these 2 houses and the depreciation. But the returns will be very good and in 2021 we will owe taxes I'm pretty sure as hubs said we are going to buy no more. Then ever once in awhile I hear well 2 more would be nice, he wants 10. I said you are going to get to old to do this one day.
He has gutted 2 bedrooms and the bathroom on the one he is working on. The rooms are all rewired, getting ready to blow in insulation, then re-drywall those rooms and build in 2 closets, one closet is done.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2019 16:15:19 GMT -5
I filled our forms out a month ago, but I've just been too busy to recheck them for accuracy. Sure enough, I found a couple of numbers that I had entered incorrectly. My eyes aren't what they used to be. I did another check, and everything seems fine. The federal form has been accepted. I did pay to have the state form electronically filed. I don't like that aspect, but I did it, anyway. The hardest part for me was figuring out where to put savings bonds interest since I want to claim it yearly instead of at the end. I can't get over TurboTax telling me that we have a 7.9% effective tax rate. I know DH doesn't pay taxes on his $28,500 worth of SS so that's a big hit that the payroll taxes have to absorb. But with Medicare and SS taxes (neither of which are part of that 7.9%, I would imagine) and state, it feels more like 15-20%. You know how they give two temperatures for the weather . . . the actual temperature and a "feels like" version? They need to start doing that.
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Cookies Galore
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Post by Cookies Galore on Mar 17, 2019 19:58:25 GMT -5
PA doesn't charge you to efile. In fact, they encourage it. The PA state form is fairly easy since we have a flat tax, and there's only a few deductions you can take. I get so annoyed that Turbotax charges me so much for PA. Usually, I just do my federal in Turbotax, note what it calculates I owe to the state, go do my state return, and compare the numbers. I usually owe to the state; they tax interest and dividends in addition to your wage income and there isn't any way to change the withholdings on your paycheck, so I usually owe. Last year was an exception - I had a annuity payout from my mom's estate that I owed taxes on and I'm sure I would've messed that up without TT's calculations, so I actually paid TT for my state one last year and filed through them. It was their reward for helping me with that weirdness. I'm back to normal this year. It's just as easy to do my PA online - I need all those numbers for my county taxes, which are also efiled (and definitely encouraged - they don't even send a form unless you request it). And the HSA thing explains why TT's in-process "refund/owe" number changed so much when I filled out the HSA form partway through fill out all the TT stuff. I couldn't understand it since all the HSA stuff came out of my paycheck. As soon as I filled out that form, the number changed drastically since both DH and I have HSA's. PA efile is so effing easy. I file federal with Tax Act, file state on PA site for free (we usually owe ~$15), and mail local. Local sucks because Berkheimer is our collector and their website is so awful that it's easier to just fill out the paper form.
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chapeau
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Post by chapeau on Mar 17, 2019 20:29:31 GMT -5
PA doesn't charge you to efile. In fact, they encourage it. The PA state form is fairly easy since we have a flat tax, and there's only a few deductions you can take. I get so annoyed that Turbotax charges me so much for PA. Usually, I just do my federal in Turbotax, note what it calculates I owe to the state, go do my state return, and compare the numbers. I usually owe to the state; they tax interest and dividends in addition to your wage income and there isn't any way to change the withholdings on your paycheck, so I usually owe. Last year was an exception - I had a annuity payout from my mom's estate that I owed taxes on and I'm sure I would've messed that up without TT's calculations, so I actually paid TT for my state one last year and filed through them. It was their reward for helping me with that weirdness. I'm back to normal this year. It's just as easy to do my PA online - I need all those numbers for my county taxes, which are also efiled (and definitely encouraged - they don't even send a form unless you request it). And the HSA thing explains why TT's in-process "refund/owe" number changed so much when I filled out the HSA form partway through fill out all the TT stuff. I couldn't understand it since all the HSA stuff came out of my paycheck. As soon as I filled out that form, the number changed drastically since both DH and I have HSA's. PA efile is so effing easy. I file federal with Tax Act, file state on PA site for free (we usually owe ~$15), and mail local. Local sucks because Berkheimer is our collector and their website is so awful that it's easier to just fill out the paper form. I hate Berkheimer. Their website is awful, their forms are a mess. My dad has been retired for 20 years and he gets a nasty note from them every year telling them he owes wage income tax. No, nope, hasn’t worked for 20 years, no wage taxes owed.
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Cookies Galore
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Post by Cookies Galore on Mar 18, 2019 6:54:55 GMT -5
PA efile is so effing easy. I file federal with Tax Act, file state on PA site for free (we usually owe ~$15), and mail local. Local sucks because Berkheimer is our collector and their website is so awful that it's easier to just fill out the paper form. I hate Berkheimer. Their website is awful, their forms are a mess. My dad has been retired for 20 years and he gets a nasty note from them every year telling them he owes wage income tax. No, nope, hasn’t worked for 20 years, no wage taxes owed. THE WORST!
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nittanycheme
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Post by nittanycheme on Mar 18, 2019 9:57:56 GMT -5
My local area uses PAlite.org. Its actually pretty easy. There are 5 different areas that use it, and its relatively user friendly. Its easy to reset your password and/or PIN every year - since every year I have to reset one or the other. Maybe you should try to get your tax collector to joinup?
Quote: The PALite Online tax filing system is maintained by Business Information Group (BIG) and a cooperative of local tax collectors led by York Adams Tax Bureau. If you are a tax collector and you are interested in joining the PALite experience, please contact Business Information Group's Tax Support Services team at BIGTaxSupportServices@4service.net.
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andi9899
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Post by andi9899 on Mar 18, 2019 11:46:06 GMT -5
I'll probably do mine next month since I'm not likely to get anything back. Has anyone used Credit Karma? They keep sending me emails about how it's free. The other sites that claim to be free is only for federal. Each state is $30 to file and I live and work in two different states.
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