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I mailed my federal, state, and school district taxes February 11. I still have my deceased mother's taxes, and the estate taxes, to do. Waiting on one more brokerage statement. Mom had dementia by the time dad died. His taxes were so complicated that I ended up taking the HR Block income tax course that fall. Well worth the time and money.
I started using an Excel spreadsheet for mom's taxes, so I could keep all of the 1099s with their various income categories straight. As my taxes grew more complicated, I made a spreadsheet for myself. This year I added a spreadsheet for the estate and just made one for my sister this morning. I also made a spreadsheet that does the Schedule D and Qualified Dividends and Capital Gain Tax Worksheets. In comparing the latter two, I found a discrepancy. I had to work around an incorrect calculation made by Excel 2003.
Many of the tax calculations could be handled within the Adobe PDF Fill-in tax documents, if the federal and state agencies just spent more time on them. Back in 2017, I wrote to my state representative asking that Ohio combine their state and school district forms. I'm pretty sure I could do this myself. The Ohio forms do not even allow for direct deposit. My representative totally did not get my argument. In retrospect, I suspect that despite having a master's degree, he neither had any programming knowledge, nor even did his own taxes.
It's OK if you don't do your own taxes. However, I do my own taxes, my father did his own taxes, and my grandfather did his own taxes. To me, doing your own taxes is simply part of being an adult.
It's OK if you don't do your own taxes. However, I do my own taxes, my father did his own taxes, and my grandfather did his own taxes. To me, doing your own taxes is simply part of being an adult.
I tried to do my state taxes once- I worked in one state and lived in another and was too cheap to download a second state form. I'm a retired actuary. I'm VERY good with Excel and have had plenty of practice deciphering legalese. I messed it up and they came after me for more money. Too many "mini-worksheets" and "gotchas". And I thought I'd picked the simpler of the two states. I've also tried to duplicate the Federal taxes in Excel when long-term gains are involved and it's a PITA. (I wanted to project my taxes for the current year without trying to do it in TurboTax using the prior year's tables).
I do think that most people can do them without a CPA. I used one when I married for the first time and realized that the real work was gathering all the info and spoon-feeding it to him. And, instead of giving me a heads- up that marriage meant that the entire salary of one of us would be taxed at the highest marginal rate in NJ, he asked for two large checks- one for the amount owed and one for Estimated for the first quarter State taxes. On April 14.
Add me to the list of people who think the tax calculations are deliberately kept as complicated as possible so that the tax prep software firms stay in business.
I absolutely refuse to feed a time to those criminals at Intuit who use campaign contribution bribes to corrupt tax filing and make it extremely difficult to use their legally mandated free services. The IRS has everyone’s W-2 and 1099. And 1098 for mortgage interest paid. Most people should be able to hit an IRS web portal, click “Do my taxesâ€, and have the IRS fill out the forms. I should just need to review it to make sure nothing is missing. Only 13.7 percent of returns use Schedule A so something like TurboTax is completely unnecessary.
Yes, it is a travesty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by athena53
Add me to the list of people who think the tax calculations are deliberately kept as complicated as possible so that the tax prep software firms stay in business.
Most Americans could file in an automated way if the government put even a bit of effort into allowing this. If you live and work in the same state, have only simply W2 or 1099, and do not itemize, it should be very simple to do.
If you have more complex taxes, then yes, pay for an accountant or for software. I use software because my personal taxes a somewhat complex, with itemized deductions and a small business. On the lower end of complex, but worth the $100 it costs to file.
For people with a simple job and standard deduction, it is appalling that the system is set up in such a way as to push them towards paid services.
The employer doesn't have any choice in how much to send to the IRS. They do this based upon your income and how many exemptions you told them you were taking it is all up to a chart after this.
Besides, the amount you ultimately owe depends on many factors that your employer cannot know. They don't know how much your spouse makes, how much interest you pay on student loans, if you have a second job, if you have 1099 income, etc. Without all of that info, which may change throughout the year, they cannot know exactly what your final tax bill/refund will be
And unless you are in a job where security clearance or certain financial jobs where big fraud concerns come up, there is absolutely zero reason for your employer to know about the rest of your financial life or the revenue streams created by your investments or your spouse that impact your household tax filing.
I file when all my tax forms have been received. Taxes are a pain in the $ss so I try to get it over with asap. If you have millions in tax liability I could see waiting.
I file when all my tax forms have been received. Taxes are a pain in the $ss so I try to get it over with asap. If you have millions in tax liability I could see waiting.
Luckily I got my forms in the mail today! My friend did too, we're going to have someone do our taxes in person this year while we go on vacation for Presidents Week (her husband is a teacher).
I tried to do my state taxes once- I worked in one state and lived in another and was too cheap to download a second state form. I'm a retired actuary. I'm VERY good with Excel and have had plenty of practice deciphering legalese. I messed it up and they came after me for more money. Too many "mini-worksheets" and "gotchas". And I thought I'd picked the simpler of the two states. I've also tried to duplicate the Federal taxes in Excel when long-term gains are involved and it's a PITA. (I wanted to project my taxes for the current year without trying to do it in TurboTax using the prior year's tables).
I do think that most people can do them without a CPA. I used one when I married for the first time and realized that the real work was gathering all the info and spoon-feeding it to him. And, instead of giving me a heads- up that marriage meant that the entire salary of one of us would be taxed at the highest marginal rate in NJ, he asked for two large checks- one for the amount owed and one for Estimated for the first quarter State taxes. On April 14.
Add me to the list of people who think the tax calculations are deliberately kept as complicated as possible so that the tax prep software firms stay in business.
That was my experience after dad died. Most of the work was assembling the necessary information, which I would have had to do anyway if I had hired someone else to do the taxes.
Normally in February. I would file earlier if I could, but I have to wait on my various 1099s to be prepared and sent to me.
Have my mortgage interest statements and my 1099s from WeBull. Still waiting on 1099s from First Command, Robinhood, and Charles Schwab before I can file. I should have everything by February 19th.
I don't think that the complexity of the tax laws is to keep the software firms and CPAs in business either, I think it's so that politicians can make spurious claims about "cutting taxes" or scaremonger that the other guy will raise them, and people will believe whatever they're told because really...how many Americans know how to adjust their taxes for life events and strip it down to an apples to apples comparison of what % of each dollar they earned went to the tax man, when this or that party was in charge in DC? Pretty much no one. So when a Prezzie says, "I'm cutting taxes!" no one can really do the math to check on how true that was, or WHOSE taxes went up or down, for the most part. And when a candidate claims that one party always raises them, well, they can lie about that because most folks are not charting it out in Excel and checking them on the historical facts of tax code.
But I am.
But ya know, here I am feeling pretty savvy about taxes, and when it comes to like...the actual TAXES...I think I do fine.
But INTUIT!! (Turbo Tax)... Holy mackerel I just found out about the con they're running!
So the law says that certain taxpayers (notably those who make under a certain amount of $) must be given the means to e-file for FREE. But what the law does NOT say, is that it must be easy to find or that companies like Intuit can't hide it or trick you by making it a completely different web address that isn't linked anywhere to their main site. EEEVILLLLL...
So you go to the main site, the one based on their "Turbo" name (I won't link it because heck them) and even if you begin with the "free" version, it's not the actual legally mandated free file version and 9 times out of 10 they are going to tell you that you have to upgrade to Deluxe and pay. They try to say you'll lose all of the work you've put in so far if you do not.
I believe I read that the actual free file version they are required by law to provide is something like taxfreedom.com (note, the name turbo tax is not part of that web address.) I did not personally qualify for free file because I make too much but my sons should have, and when I did their taxes I got taken for a ride by those scammers, not knowing all of this. (I paid the fees for my kids, so at least my mistake lands on my wallet, not theirs.)
...to find the true, actual FREE FILE versions of various tax software. Don't get scammed by Intuit.
(One thing that gets a lot of folks, is student loan interest. The main turbo site will tell you that you have to upgrade and pay $40 to file if you have student loan interest. That is a filthy LIE. The main free file site will not make you do that.)
And yes, they are being sued. As they should be. The sneaky scalawags.
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