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ntd posted:Why don't you direct deposit your refund? Much faster and no worries Isn't there like an $8.99 e-file charge or something from Turbotax? Regardless I already finished it today, so \/  \/
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Feb 3, 2013 23:41
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Wickerman posted:Could I have made a mistake? No, because MFS is the worst possible filing status you can have since you get disqualified from virtually all credits. If they can, it'd be better to file MFJ but otherwise, thems the breaks.
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Feb 4, 2013 00:15
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Hi I have a tax question! So my friend is a 20 year old girl. She was born in California and escaped an abusive household last February, almost exactly a year ago, to the fine state of Georgia. She has been working full time as a waitress for the past year, and she got her w2, and now she's scared her parents will claim her as a dependent and she'll owe the IRS money because "this happened to my brother they claimed him as a dependent and he owed the IRS money this will ruin me financially help" so is a thing that could happen and what is her recourse? I mean isn't that fraud Thanks!
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Feb 4, 2013 03:29
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winvirus posted:Hi I have a tax question! Basically, you would have to file this form if you know that there is tax fraud going on (and if she gets audited for claiming herself as independent, she'd be able to challenge the claim with the IRS agent). The parents should clearly fail both the Qualifying Child and Qualifying Relative tests based on what you've said above so they legally shouldn't be claiming her.
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Feb 4, 2013 03:44
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Should she file it on just suspicion? She contacted them and they said they won't but obviously she doesn't trust them. Thanks so much!
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Feb 4, 2013 04:02
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winvirus posted:Should she file it on just suspicion? She contacted them and they said they won't but obviously she doesn't trust them. File ASAP, if she files first then it won't become an issue for this year.
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Feb 4, 2013 04:18
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So I'd like to file myself using software. I usually use H&R Blocks basic program that cost 20 bucks. However in the last year I had a baby and bought a house. They recommend the $45 software if you're a homeowner. Do the pro's here think it is necessary to spend that much for the program? Or is there a different program recommended? I'm sure my tax situation is pretty textbook. I don't think I would be itemizing (or should I be rethinking that?)
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Feb 4, 2013 06:37
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Last year I contributed $350 to a company sponsored 401k before changing jobs. I didn't roll it over, and my new job has no 401k/retirement plan yet. Should I be receiving any tax documents relating to this?
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Feb 4, 2013 07:21
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Aquila posted:Last year I contributed $350 to a company sponsored 401k before changing jobs. I didn't roll it over, and my new job has no 401k/retirement plan yet. Should I be receiving any tax documents relating to this? Yes. Your W-2. ohjoshdarnit posted:So I'd like to file myself using software. I usually use H&R Blocks basic program that cost 20 bucks. However in the last year I had a baby and bought a house. They recommend the $45 software if you're a homeowner. Do the pro's here think it is necessary to spend that much for the program? Or is there a different program recommended? I'm sure my tax situation is pretty textbook. I don't think I would be itemizing (or should I be rethinking that?) I don't know, I spend several thousand dollars a year on my software so $45 seems pretty reasonable by comparison  If you're a homeowner, chances are higher that you'll be itemizing but it depends on the numbers.
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Feb 4, 2013 07:49
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ohjoshdarnit posted:So I'd like to file myself using software. I usually use H&R Blocks basic program that cost 20 bucks. However in the last year I had a baby and bought a house. They recommend the $45 software if you're a homeowner. Do the pro's here think it is necessary to spend that much for the program? Or is there a different program recommended? I'm sure my tax situation is pretty textbook. I don't think I would be itemizing (or should I be rethinking that?) If you're military, qualify for the EIC or have an AIG of >$31,000, you can use Turbo Tax for free.
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Feb 4, 2013 09:39
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Shear Modulus posted:You only get to claim a tax credit against any amounts you actually paid during the calendar year. Since you didn't have any out-of-pocket tuition in 2012, you can't claim the tax credits for 2012. You also have to pay income taxes on the extra $1000 in scholarship money. If you've got multiple items, you can do two things: Technically correct would be to send a PDF copy of the data when you efile (look into Form 8453). What I do for my firm is code the dates to get the proper long/short term and 8949 "coding" and put "TD Ameritrade #XXXX detail available upon request" and put in the total basis/proceeds/costs so the taxable income is correct. If the IRS wants the details, they can ask for the details.
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Feb 4, 2013 17:46
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furushotakeru posted:I don't know, I spend several thousand dollars a year on my software so $45 seems pretty reasonable by comparison Wow, what does that software do differently?
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Feb 4, 2013 22:36
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Three-Phase posted:Wow, what does that software do differently? I use it to prepare about 500-600 returns instead of just one. And it is geared toward professionals not Joe Sixpack so the data entry is much more efficient.
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Feb 4, 2013 22:45
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furushotakeru posted:I use it to prepare about 500-600 returns instead of just one. And it is geared toward professionals not Joe Sixpack so the data entry is much more efficient. Makes sense; that's cool.
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Feb 4, 2013 23:43
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Three-Phase posted:Makes sense; that's cool. No, not really. I would much rather pay $45 for my software if it would still do the same job
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Feb 4, 2013 23:47
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Question: I got out of the active duty military in 2010 and have been effectively unemployed ever since. I am an independent (25+ years old, nothing to do with my parents) full-time student at a UC, supported with the GI-Bill (non-taxable, not considered income) and a combination of non-taxable scholarships, grants, and money that I have saved over the years. Now, once a year the military has me show up and shoot the poo poo for a few hours, and for that, I receive ~$200. This is the only income I get for the year, and the only thing that could be considered employment in any sense of the word. This $200 shows up on a W-2, and I usually file through H&R Block and end up getting a decent amount of money back. This year, it looks like I'll be getting back almost exactly what was taxed (~$80). After going through H&R's system, which has worked for years, the fools are trying to pocket a little over half of the money I should be getting back, in part because they only consider the Federal filing to be free. Does my "employment" mean I must file state taxes, even though it's a federal employer? Should I probably go with another program, like TurboTax? I'm the easiest person on the face of the earth to file taxes for--no kids, no wife, no house, no income, etc.--and I'd really like to avoid paying out the relative rear end to do something a monkey could do (but not me).
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Feb 5, 2013 00:24
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Cream-of-Plenty posted:Question: That's the trick the tax filing companies use to get money out of free efiling - they let you file the federal tax for free, let you fill out the state tax return, then turn around and say you have to pay money or else you can't file the state return. Since you're in CA, I know that the state of California has its own online free filing stuff here: https://www.ftb.ca.gov/individuals/efile/allsoftware.shtml. I haven't used it myself, so I'm not sure how it works. Edit: If your only taxable income is $200 then I sincerely doubt you'll have to pay a penny to California. Caveat: I do know that they consider some things taxable that the feds don't tax, but I don't know anything that might pertain to your situation. Shear Modulus fucked around with this message at 10:28 on Feb 5, 2013 |
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Feb 5, 2013 01:01
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Shear Modulus posted:That's the trick the tax filing companies use to get money out of free efiling - they let you file the federal tax for free, let you fill out the state tax return, then turn around and say you have to pay money or else you can't file the state return. Yeah, according to my W-2 from the government, about $12 was withheld for state taxes, but I was getting all of it back. I didn't know about the site for filing CA taxes for free, which will definitely be helpful. That means I can drop the the CA filing from H&R Block and get all of my money back without H&R getting their (ridiculous) cut. Thanks for the advice!
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Feb 5, 2013 02:34
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furushotakeru posted:I use it to prepare about 500-600 returns instead of just one. And it is geared toward professionals not Joe Sixpack so the data entry is much more efficient. You've got me beat. I spent $12k on the software and another $5k on the research libraries as well.
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Feb 5, 2013 02:37
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For 2011, I filed for an extension, which I believe expired in September but I still haven't filed. Should I file both 2011 and 2012? Also, in 2011, "I" bought a car... my parents made the payment, but they said the money was "mine" from an investment account that was doing poorly (it was supposed to grow and be a gift for a down-payment on a house, but it lost most of its value and was barely enough for a car... so I took them up on it before it was gone entirely). Can/should I use this for a deduction on my 2011 taxes? (I could really use it, I worked a cash job and would probably owe them a lot otherwise) I have no idea whether my parents made the account in my name or not, but I've never known about it or declared it on my taxes before. My income is very, very low otherwise, and it might look suspicious if I try to declare that I bought a new car outright. One more quick question: Someone mentioned to me that the IRS can deduct an unpaid court judgement from the defendant's tax return and use it to pay my taxes. Is this true? Where can I find more info on this? AgentCow007 fucked around with this message at 10:09 on Feb 5, 2013 |
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Feb 5, 2013 10:02
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Can someone explain why the mileage rate for health expenses is different and much lower than the rate for business expenses? I would have thought the cost to use a car for a mile would just be a single number. Is it not covering depreciation or something?
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Feb 5, 2013 14:49
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ATP5G1 posted:But the date of billing for the winter semester $9K is 1/17/2012 . . . Does that make a difference? Ugh, that really burns me up. If my tuition had just been distributed equally I would've qualified. Now I just over-qualified one year and under-qualified the next. My completely uneducated research leads me to conclude that you claim what you paid, in the year that you paid. This may be different from what is on the 1098-T, because of the way they are allowed to shift a spring semester to your previous years 1098-T. However, if you already paid taxes and took a deduction last year, for amounts including this year's tuition (because it was on last years 1098-T), then you can't claim it again. If you did that, you may be able to amend last year's taxes so that you aren't taking that tuition deduction last year, and are taking it this year. That may end up with you having to pay back (or partially pay back) a refund you got last year. The IRS posted:You should receive Form 1098-T, Tuition Statement, from the Again, not a tax expert by any means whatsoever. Not even a tax novice.
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Feb 5, 2013 17:13
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So last year my husband and I lost $40k in a house fire and received $15k from our rental insurance. This year (hopefully this month!) we'll be getting another insurance settlement for the rest of the depreciated losses from the responsible party, ~$15-22k. I don't want to get in trouble next year, so how should I deal with this? Is this something that I can do on Turbo Tax, or should I go to an actual tax preparer? Aside from the fire we're going to do the standard 1040 with two W2s (first time doing married filing jointly) and two 1098-Ts. I've always been fine with turbo tax in the past, I'm just worried.
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Feb 5, 2013 18:35
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dopaMEAN posted:So last year my husband and I lost $40k in a house fire and received $15k from our rental insurance. This year (hopefully this month!) we'll be getting another insurance settlement for the rest of the depreciated losses from the responsible party, ~$15-22k. Insurance reimbursements are not taxable unless you receive more than what you paid for the lost property, and even then only if you don't spend the reimbursement money within 2-3 years. AgentCow007 posted:For 2011, I filed for an extension, which I believe expired in September but I still haven't filed. Should I file both 2011 and 2012? Yes, you should file 2011. "Your" car has absolutely nothing to do with income tax so I am not sure what you are going on about, unless you used the car for contract work and are looking to deduct the usage against that income. In which case the IRS doesn't care who bought the car.
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Feb 5, 2013 18:39
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furushotakeru posted:Insurance reimbursements are not taxable unless you receive more than what you paid for the lost property, and even then only if you don't spend the reimbursement money within 2-3 years. What about the losses, can I deduct them? Our fire was at the end of March and when I was preparing our 2011 taxes two weeks later, I saw that there was a field for losses from disaster/fire.
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Feb 5, 2013 18:43
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dopaMEAN posted:What about the losses, can I deduct them? Our fire was at the end of March and when I was preparing our 2011 taxes two weeks later, I saw that there was a field for losses from disaster/fire. Unreimbursed losses are an itemized deduction, but are first reduced by $100 and then by 10% of your AGI for the year.
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Feb 5, 2013 19:00
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furushotakeru posted:Unreimbursed losses are an itemized deduction, but are first reduced by $100 and then by 10% of your AGI for the year. Thanks! Our gross will probably be ~50k, $60k at the absolute max, so we'd still have a substantial deduction. It seems weird to be able to deduct losses one year but not get taxed on reimbursement the next year.
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Feb 5, 2013 19:05
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dopaMEAN posted:Thanks! Our gross will probably be ~50k, $60k at the absolute max, so we'd still have a substantial deduction. It seems weird to be able to deduct losses one year but not get taxed on reimbursement the next year. Only deduct losses that aren't reimbursed. If you deduct a loss that is later reimbursed, that reimbursement is taxable.
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Feb 5, 2013 19:13
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furushotakeru posted:Only deduct losses that aren't reimbursed. If you deduct a loss that is later reimbursed, that reimbursement is taxable. Okay, that sounds much more reasonable. I assume that I should only use the depreciated value to calculate deductions? If so, I'll just leave all of the fire stuff out of my taxes entirely! Much simpler!
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Feb 5, 2013 19:26
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I just wanted to say thank you to Furu and the other regular posters in this thread. I have asked a few small questions here over the years and always gotten good advice. Maybe I'm weird, but this is one of the megathreads I follow regularly just because I think some of the questions & answers are interesting.
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Feb 5, 2013 20:35
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I'm trying to figure out if this financial aid "refund" counts towards my income or if it's offeset by my tuition. So I received monthly installment bills for my tuition, which I paid temporarily on my credit card in advance of the financial aid By the time the financial aid went through/was applied to my account, I had already paid the tuition for that semester, so I was given a "refund" of the money as cash. That money was then used to pay the credit card. Is that extra income, or does it just offset the tuition? My 1098-T lists it as "scholarships and grants: 2825" (different grant) and "cash or equivalents: 3506." So I got "cash" but really it went to paying the tuition... Elysium fucked around with this message at 21:07 on Feb 5, 2013 |
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Feb 5, 2013 21:04
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Elysium posted:I'm trying to figure out if this financial aid "refund" counts towards my income or if it's offeset by my tuition. Reduce the tuition paid in 2012 by the amount of the scholarship. If the scholarship doesn't exceed the tuition, it isn't taxable income. Tyro posted:I just wanted to say thank you to Furu and the other regular posters in this thread. I have asked a few small questions here over the years and always gotten good advice. Maybe I'm weird, but this is one of the megathreads I follow regularly just because I think some of the questions & answers are interesting. You're welcome! 
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Feb 5, 2013 21:09
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My grandmother gave me several shares of stock for Christmas several years ago. When she gave them, they were worth less than when she bought them. According to my googling, the basis I should report is her original purchase basis. Is there anything else I need to account for? (Gift Tax does not apply)
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Feb 5, 2013 23:27
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Cmdr. Chompernuts posted:My grandmother gave me several shares of stock for Christmas several years ago. When she gave them, they were worth less than when she bought them. According to my googling, the basis I should report is her original purchase basis. Is there anything else I need to account for? (Gift Tax does not apply) Nope
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Feb 6, 2013 00:09
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I live in New York State, but don't live in New York City. In fact, I've never even visited NYC. In the Spring of last year, my company changed payroll providers, from ADP to some other company who is apparently staffed by infinite monkeys on infinite adding machines. On one of the first few paychecks under the new system they deducted a NYC resident income tax. I believe they refunded the tax with the next paycheck, and did not deduct that tax again. My W-2 showed up, and it lists the $20 NYCR withholding. My first course of action will be to contact my boss and tell him that I think my W-2 is inaccurate. However, lets say my boss says "Looks OK to me LOL" and I file with the current W-2. I don't really see how to indicate that I don't like in NYC, but have NYC taxes withheld. (I use Tax software, but I like to understand what it's doing) Also, will NYC challenge/audit my return? (Probably not over $20, but I've heard that NYC can be a bunch of dicks.)
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Feb 6, 2013 00:46
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edit: nevermind, looks like the company took care of it all and I should be good to go.
skipdogg fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Feb 6, 2013 |
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Feb 6, 2013 17:39
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Guy Axlerod posted:I live in New York State, but don't live in New York City. In fact, I've never even visited NYC. NYC doesn't have a separate return, it is all lumped together with your NY state return. On this return, NY and NYC withholding are also lumped together. You should be able to file a NY state return and mark that you were not an NYC resident, and still get credit for your NYC withholding and have it refunded or credited toward your state income taxes if you owe. At least I think you should be able to do that.
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Feb 6, 2013 20:06
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Hi, I have 2 (hopefully simple) tax questions! 1. I'm recently married and now we're wondering how many allowances we should be putting on our W4s (to get as much as possible per month without owing money next year)? A few facts: We rent an apartment, have no debts/loans and have no children/dependents. I currently have my W4 set to 0 allowances and my wife has hers set to 1. My salary is around 4-5 times higher than my wife's. We live in Washington state. All the sites we've read say different things like "set mine to 2 and hers to 0" or "set mine to 'withhold at a higher rate'" (whatever that means), so we are a bit confused  .2. My wife worked in Minnesota before moving to WA, so one of her W2s shows state tax, would this add a lot to the complexity of trying to file this by ourselves/online? Are we better of hiring someone to do it? (Our tax knowledge is limited to what the internet has taught us!  )
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Feb 7, 2013 01:56
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Do I have to/where do I report money made from selling scrap metal on taxes? I earned approx. $200 on this from dropping off metals at two different scrap yards and neither even gave me a receipt, I don't have the exact amounts. This was paid in cash. I also shipped out roughly $250 in computer scrap and I do have record of that, but no receipt. I was paid via PayPal for that. I am in Connecticut, it isn't a significant portion of my income. Is this applicable, that I don't have to declare it if it's under $600? http://www.scrapmetaljunkie.com/253/scrap-metal-and-irs-1099-taxes-form-2 http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/6041 Zodijackylite fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Feb 7, 2013 |
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Feb 7, 2013 03:26
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Night55 posted:W4s... While I generally use different means myself, I've always found the IRS Withholding Calculator to give results that are reasonably close. Unfortunately, so sad, it seems to be down for maintenance at this time. If you will be filing jointly, since all your income is viewed together but her income only comprises 15-25% of the total income, indeed withholding more income from your pay checks will be more accurate, but I don't see how claiming 2 exemptions is going to work out for you unless you have significantly more deductions than you've identified. I could see a 1/1 or 1/0 situation working, or maybe 1/1+a little extra money withheld each paycheck, but I'd expect you to come up short with a 2/anything. Well, with the IRS calculator being offline, have you checked any other online calculators? Do the worksheet instructions on the W4 not cover a case like this? According to Pub 505, the multi-page instructions for the W4 should contain the necessary worksheets. If not, I believe you want worksheets 1-3, 1-4, and 1-5 from Pub 505 (why is this over a year old?!) Please note that you should plan to review your withholding in May or June to ensure you're on track with expectations. PhantomOfTheCopier fucked around with this message at 04:54 on Feb 7, 2013 |
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Feb 7, 2013 04:40
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