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Data point -- submitted return via H&R Block's website (the free service) on 2/10. Obsessively checked return's status via the IRS's app nearly every day. Finally got "approved" status today (2/20).
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Feb 20, 2016 09:56
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I'm going through Turbotax and they asked if on my mortgage the points were amortized over the life of the loan or not. How do I find out? My mortgage 1098 says $0 points paid on purchase of principal residence, does that mean my points are amortized?
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Feb 22, 2016 11:53
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Did you pay points? Did you write a check to pay them up front?
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Feb 22, 2016 15:48
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Steve Yun posted:I'm going through Turbotax and they asked if on my mortgage the points were amortized over the life of the loan or not. You need to grab what used to be known as the "HUD settlement statement" (they call it something else now). Page two, at the top, will list "loan origination charges." This usually is the points paid, and typically if you get a loan from certain places they turn around and sell it off before you make a payment, so you might not pay attention and miss it. Note if the "loan origination charges" has "POC" next to it, note that stands for "paid outside of closing." You paid for them separately for some reason.
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Feb 22, 2016 17:06
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I put the wrong bank account number for direct deposit on my return  Don't be an idiot like me, triple check that.
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Feb 22, 2016 17:30
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I have a question about IRA deductions. I made $62k last year and right now I owe another ~$1500 in federal income taxes above what has already been deducted. I'm considering opening a Traditional IRA for the 2015 tax year and sticking the maximum in so I don't have to pay as much. The problem is that I am single and it looks like there is a $61k MAGI limit to take the full IRA deduction. If I made the $5500 max contribution to an IRA, would that bring my MAGI for 2015 down low enough so I could take the full deduction for my IRA contribution?
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Feb 23, 2016 05:54
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OctaviusBeaver posted:I have a question about IRA deductions. I made $62k last year and right now I owe another ~$1500 in federal income taxes above what has already been deducted. I'm considering opening a Traditional IRA for the 2015 tax year and sticking the maximum in so I don't have to pay as much. The problem is that I am single and it looks like there is a $61k MAGI limit to take the full IRA deduction. If I made the $5500 max contribution to an IRA, would that bring my MAGI for 2015 down low enough so I could take the full deduction for my IRA contribution? "MAGI" is your AGI excluding certain items. Such as an IRA deduction. So no.
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Feb 23, 2016 13:43
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Here's my situation and I hope you can help me out! I have a 401k loan which I had been paying every month until recently. I was laid off from my job and needed to save where I could. I couldn't afford to make a couple of payments so the loan when into default. I called my 401k company (Fidelity) and they said I only had two options to reduce/minimize my tax liability. Either I pay off the full amount of the loan before March 18th (60 days since the first missed payment) or I put how ever much I can into an IRA 60 days after the loan defaults on March 18th. First, is the 60 day IRA rollover even an option? The fidelity rep. assured me it was but I'm still unsure. If the IRA rollover is an option, I would prefer that as I don't have the money to pay off the entirety of the loan before March 18th. The IRA option at least gives me flexibility. EDIT: Another option I guess is to take out a bank loan to pay off the 401k loan but then I'll be stuck paying interest. At least I won't be hit with additional taxes and 10% penalty. MrMidnight fucked around with this message at 23:20 on Feb 23, 2016 |
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Feb 23, 2016 21:07
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Admiral101 posted:"MAGI" is your AGI excluding certain items. Such as an IRA deduction. Ah, ok that's disappointing but thanks for your help.
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Feb 24, 2016 01:42
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Teeter posted:I put the wrong bank account number for direct deposit on my return Good news, I'm fairly sure if they have a direct deposit that's wrong they just default to mailing you a check to the address on the return. Annoying obviously, but you won't be out your refund because of it.
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Feb 24, 2016 17:42
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I'm in a situation where I have the same RSU income counted on both my W-2 and on my 1099-B. When the RSUs vested, a portion of the RSUs were automatically sold to cover tax withholding. I'm trying to figure out how to account for the income being counted twice (once on my W-2 and once on my 1099-B). Does anyone have any advice?
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Feb 24, 2016 18:29
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MadDogMike posted:Good news, I'm fairly sure if they have a direct deposit that's wrong they just default to mailing you a check to the address on the return. Annoying obviously, but you won't be out your refund because of it. Yep, I had looked in to it and that's the case. A minor annoyance at most and it's a good thing I wasn't relying on this money in any way. In my case, I left off a digit so it was an invalid account number and the bank automatically refused it. The IRS got wind of that and cut a check that is already in the mail. Their tracking website has been pretty good. If I had instead put a wrong (but valid) account # and it got deposited into someone else's account entirely then there's an extra form to fill out and probably a bit more headache but it's still possible to get the money back. I was fortunate to screw up in the right way.
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Feb 24, 2016 18:43
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My wife's job stopped giving her itemized paystubs sometime in August. In January she discovered they stopped paying the health insurance in December (despite her getting the same paycheck amount with health insurance deducted). Her 1095-C shows coverage Jan - Nov with December showing no coverage. I'm struggling to figure out if we're going to have to pay a penalty or not for not being covered for December. Also, she received a W2 from her employer with them saying it was incorrect, but a corrected one would be on its way. A couple weeks later she got the "corrected" one, but we did the math and the federal tax witheld was off by a couple thousand. Her employer acknowledged that, said they would get another corrected one soon. My question is, if we get close to the deadline and we still don't have an accurate W-2, should we just file using it, and try and correct it later?
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Feb 24, 2016 18:56
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I'm pretty sure the answer to my question is to find a professional, but I'm pissed off that this information isn't available anywhere: I was divorced in a community property state during 2015. According to pub 555 and my state law, that means that part of the year has community income and should be reported as such. I can't figure out how to report an adjustment to income and withholding - form 8958 looks like it only applies to people who are married filing separately.
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Feb 24, 2016 21:53
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Last year I was able to deduct server expenses off a 1099-MISC form. This year I have the same server costs, but the site made under $600 over the course of the year, so I didnt get a 1099-MISC. Would there be a means for me to deduct those costs, since it was intended as a "small business", but operated at a loss?
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Feb 24, 2016 22:50
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Peanut and the Gang posted:Last year I was able to deduct server expenses off a 1099-MISC form. This year I have the same server costs, but the site made under $600 over the course of the year, so I didnt get a 1099-MISC. Would there be a means for me to deduct those costs, since it was intended as a "small business", but operated at a loss? It sounds like you need a K-1 or equivalent from your small business, then you can claim any losses on your personal return
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Feb 25, 2016 01:00
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Dazzo posted:I'm in a situation where I have the same RSU income counted on both my W-2 and on my 1099-B. When the RSUs vested, a portion of the RSUs were automatically sold to cover tax withholding. I'm trying to figure out how to account for the income being counted twice (once on my W-2 and once on my 1099-B). Does anyone have any advice? Tax software will handle this for you; you need to adjust the basis for your RSU sales to account for the income reported on your W-2. The 1099-Bs used to do this for you and then the IRS made them stop because gently caress you.
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Feb 25, 2016 04:37
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Hed posted:It sounds like you need a K-1 or equivalent from your small business, then you can claim any losses on your personal return No, no it doesn't. For the OP, there's a difference between "yes, you can" and "yes, you should." You don't need a 1099 form to claim income on your return, you can just slap that income on a schedule C (or line 21 of the 1040). The issue of the expenses > income will raise a few eyebrows at the IRS and/or state level - if you have $300 of income and $5,000 of expenses, don't be surprised to have an audit triggered. So yes, technically OP *could* list a schedule C with minimal income and large expenses. The bigger question is *should* OP do it - not from a legal perspective (I'm sure it was a legitimate venture to make money - not passing judgement there) but from a "do you want to waive a large red flag on your return."
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Feb 25, 2016 16:40
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Bisty Q. posted:Tax software will handle this for you; you need to adjust the basis for your RSU sales to account for the income reported on your W-2. The 1099-Bs used to do this for you and then the IRS made them stop because gently caress you. Yeah I'm still confused why that happened. Is it just because turbotax is genuinely evil?
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Feb 25, 2016 22:50
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Raimondo posted:My wife's job stopped giving her itemized paystubs sometime in August. First, that sounds sketchy as hell that they stopped covering her health insurance but she kept getting amounts deducted for health insurance from her paycheck. I would investigate that further and see exactly what was being deducted and when. Second, you probably will not have to pay a penalty as missing up to 2 months of coverage can be excluded. Third, if you think you guys will end up with a refund, just file an extension and wait. If you think you will owe or have no idea either way then I would consider filing using the numbers you calculated out. Those should be closer to your W-2 when it is corrected. Engineer Lenk posted:I'm pretty sure the answer to my question is to find a professional, but I'm pissed off that this information isn't available anywhere: You're gonna want to find an accountant in your state because I cannot figure out how to show that for IRS use. There are probably tax forms through your state that may clarify things, try searching their website, but this is a surprisingly tough topic to research. You could even try calling the IRS if you don't mind waiting anywhere from a half hour to 2 hours on hold. Peanut and the Gang posted:Last year I was able to deduct server expenses off a 1099-MISC form. This year I have the same server costs, but the site made under $600 over the course of the year, so I didnt get a 1099-MISC. Would there be a means for me to deduct those costs, since it was intended as a "small business", but operated at a loss? Report the income. You don't need a 1099 to report it. Take the costs. If you have clear records that that's what those servers cost, and that they're for business and not personal use then even if the IRS does send you an exam letter in 3 years you should be okay. Abbi is right though, $600 income and thousands of dollars in expenses can be a red flag. If you can back up your deductions there's no reason not to take them.
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Feb 25, 2016 23:21
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quote:You could even try calling the IRS if you don't mind waiting anywhere from a half hour to 2 hours on hold. If you try that for complicated issues, they'll put you on hold for two hours and then say, "I dunno, check our website for answers."
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Feb 25, 2016 23:45
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Epi Lepi posted:You're gonna want to find an accountant in your state because I cannot figure out how to show that for IRS use. There are probably tax forms through your state that may clarify things, try searching their website, but this is a surprisingly tough topic to research. You could even try calling the IRS if you don't mind waiting anywhere from a half hour to 2 hours on hold. My state doesn't have income tax. Tried calling the IRS, followed the phone tree down to a recorded message that said they don't do human advice anymore and to look at the website. I'm mainly just pissed off, because this is a common enough situation that they tell you obliquely about it in pub 555 without offering any clarifying details.
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Feb 25, 2016 23:59
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AbbiTheDog posted:No, no it doesn't. Yeah I'm sorry now that I review that form I am thinking back to what is probably an uncommon situation I had to deal with last year. I shouldn't have posted at all
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Feb 26, 2016 01:52
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Raimondo posted:My wife's job stopped giving her itemized paystubs sometime in August. quote:In January she discovered they stopped paying the health insurance in December (despite her getting the same paycheck amount with health insurance deducted). Her 1095-C shows coverage Jan - Nov with December showing no coverage. I'm struggling to figure out if we're going to have to pay a penalty or not for not being covered for December.
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Feb 26, 2016 15:08
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My wife and I live/work in NY. I just got a new job with the federal government. I was sent to Oklahoma for training for 4 months (Oct 15-Feb 16) and my "duty station" was listed as Washington DC so they could pay me per diem while in training. My W-2 lists Washington DC as the state for taxes paid. I'm working on our taxes right now in turbotax and it looks like I'll have to do a Washington DC tax return also, does that sound right?
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Feb 27, 2016 01:29
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So I've asked around a few places but I figure it's always good to get information from multiple sources. This year I've been having a lot of success with my design work, it's not the most glamorous thing ever. Mainly working with existing assets or creating simple new ones for advertisements through an agency that hires out contractors. I've looked up the general taxes I need to be aware of working independently like this, and have been putting aside 25% of everything I make weekly from the agency. I also put aside 25% from any side work, such as jobs from UpWork or other websites. I'm going to pay quarterly so that I'll receive a tax return (hopefully) next year. The agency will send me a 1099, however I wouldn't receive one elsewhere except if I might do other contracted work from a company. I understand that the 'quarters' for paying the taxes aren't exact, however I'm just wondering what might be the best way to go about sending the set aside money to the government. I know... most of what I need to for the Federal Taxes I think, though State Taxes are another story entirely. There is also the possibility of my income simply not being steady over the course of the year. This month felt like a very good one, essentially making all that I did the entirety of last year. But I know things could either become slow and easily have me make half of that in a month, or possibly get even better. Hopefully this wasn't a post full of loaded questions. It's mostly my trying to get my thoughts clear after getting some guidance elsewhere.
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Feb 27, 2016 09:02
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two_beer_bishes posted:My wife and I live/work in NY. I just got a new job with the federal government. I was sent to Oklahoma for training for 4 months (Oct 15-Feb 16) and my "duty station" was listed as Washington DC so they could pay me per diem while in training. My W-2 lists Washington DC as the state for taxes paid. I'm working on our taxes right now in turbotax and it looks like I'll have to do a Washington DC tax return also, does that sound right? That sounds right. http://otr.cfo.dc.gov/page/individual-income-tax-filing-faqs indicates that you wouldn't have to file in D. C. but you might want to check if you could get money back if you did. Training pay for only 4 months might not be much above the standard deduction so you could be due money if you did.
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Feb 27, 2016 14:23
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Arthil posted:So I've asked around a few places but I figure it's always good to get information from multiple sources. I'm not 100% what you're asking but if you're asking about how to make Estimated payments, you just send Form 1040 ES with a check for however much you want to the IRS. Your state will have a similar system. The tricky part is determining how much to send to the state. Here is a link to the form on the IRS website: https://www.irs.gov/uac/Form-1040-ES,-Estimated-Tax-for-Individuals-1 If you were in NY I'd tell you to send 5% of your earnings to NY and 20% to the IRS to get to the 25% you've been saving. It's guesswork though. When you do your taxes next year see what happens and adjust your habits. You seem to be hinting that you're unsure about reporting income from the non agency jobs. Report it. There's no legitimate reason not to. There's nothing special you have to do to report it, just add it all up and stick it in the Gross Receipts line of Schedule C.
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Feb 27, 2016 18:06
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Oh I certainly didn't try to suggest I wasn't going to report it, at least with UpWork they have my W-9(though oddly don't send out 1099 forms anymore). But yeah it's more just figuring out how much to send out, especially with the second quarter being all of two months from the first. I'm going to wait until the first week of April to see where I'm at with my income. I did some estimates, and if I have a similar income as I did in February I should be sending around $565 to the IRS for my Federal Taxes. State is another matter, still need to figure that out entirely and see if there's anything specific to worry with self-employment/contracting.
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Feb 27, 2016 19:30
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Leviathan Song posted:That sounds right. http://otr.cfo.dc.gov/page/individual-income-tax-filing-faqs indicates that you wouldn't have to file in D. C. but you might want to check if you could get money back if you did. Training pay for only 4 months might not be much above the standard deduction so you could be due money if you did. Thank you for the link!
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Feb 27, 2016 20:02
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Epi Lepi posted:
That might be low. You might have: NY City tax NY state tax IRS regular tax IRS Self-employment tax (around 15%) If you live in a state/city with income tax, you might want to bump up the rate. Or, after 4/15 call a tax professional and pay them for an hour or two of their time to run some figures for you.
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Feb 27, 2016 23:30
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I just want to make sure I'm not screwing myself in the future here. I'm active duty military and have a Roth IRA through USAA, but want to start a Roth TSP. I am maxing out the $5500 max allowable contribution annually to the USAA Roth IRA. For the Roth TSP, I've heard it's a separate retirement account and I can contribute as much as I want to it (max of $18k if I recall correctly). But I've also heard that it is treated the same as my Roth IRA, and between the Roth TSP and Roth IRA, I can only contribute a max of $5500 between the two accounts, or else I'll get hosed on it. Can anyone give me the right information on it? Googling sets me down both paths and is pretty confusing. If needed, I'm single and my income for last year was about $60k.
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Feb 29, 2016 01:47
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nwin posted:I just want to make sure I'm not screwing myself in the future here. source: I'm also active duty mil with a Roth TSP and Roth IRA e: one thing to note is that if you've contributed to both Traditional and Roth TSP, as I have, I'm pretty sure you can't take distributions specifically from one or the other. Both types of contributions are all kept in the same "pool", and TSP just keeps track of the ratio of Traditional to Roth contributions in your balance. When you withdraw from TSP, the amount withdrawn is proportionally taken from both the Trad and Roth balances (someone correct me if I'm wrong). I'm not sure how tricky this will make things when the time comes for RMDs but that's quite a few years down the road for me. Gray Matter fucked around with this message at 21:29 on Feb 29, 2016 |
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Feb 29, 2016 18:05
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Bah, Vanguard apparently sends out ETF 1099s over a month after its other ones so now I have to amend my taxes. I have to pay $142 more, but am more annoyed about having to physically mail them in.
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Feb 29, 2016 18:08
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My wife and I are hiring someone to do our taxes this year because they're more complex than they used to be, but I want to make sure this quote we got isn't complete highway robbery. I was quoted $1200 to file our federal return and two states (we live in MA, I work in RI). This also includes a "complementary" review of our 2014 returns. The complications are: Income from a pair of rental properties (this firm specializes in working with landlords to maximize rental deductions) 1 W-2 each 1 401k/403b each A bunch of itemized deductions for the income properties (primarily interest on loans) First time filing married We hadn't been paying taxes ahead of time on the rental income, so we're lined up to owe a bunch in this year, so we're hoping they can help us find more deductions, but I'm not sure it'll even be enough to offset their fees. In the past I've done our returns myself.
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Feb 29, 2016 19:24
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Dragyn posted:My wife and I are hiring someone to do our taxes this year because they're more complex than they used to be, but I want to make sure this quote we got isn't complete highway robbery. Depends on where the office is located (big city vs. the burbs) but given your fact pattern, seems pretty fair. All that crap takes time to drop in and check from scratch, and us paid preparers are stuck checking EVERYTHING twice. Plus, if they get the idea you're not coming back next year, they're not going to cut you a deal for a "one and done" return.
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Feb 29, 2016 19:49
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AbbiTheDog posted:Depends on where the office is located (big city vs. the burbs) but given your fact pattern, seems pretty fair. All that crap takes time to drop in and check from scratch, and us paid preparers are stuck checking EVERYTHING twice. They're in Fullerton, CA, which I imagine is pretty city. I haven't mentioned my intention, but in the future I'd likely just use the return they generate as a reference and do it myself unless circumstances change substantially. They're trying to sell us on another $2500 upsell to have unlimited access to a consultant for a year to get everything in order and find other tax opportunities, which we're not sure about either.
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Feb 29, 2016 20:34
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Dragyn posted:They're trying to sell us on another $2500 upsell to have unlimited access to a consultant for a year to get everything in order and find other tax opportunities, which we're not sure about either. *cough* Bullshit *cough* Edit: In following years, once the rentals are in and they've got you in the system, time involved should drop. Edit part II: If you and your wife both work, your income might phase you out from taking rental losses anyways (look for form 8582 on your return, and an AGI over $150k). If that's so, finding more deductions on your rentals might not do you any good anyways - all losses are suspended. Any dime you spend on the rentals is deductible anyways, so it really comes down to how good your recordkeeping is. AbbiTheDog fucked around with this message at 16:44 on Mar 1, 2016 |
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Mar 1, 2016 03:08
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Trying to do our taxes and I've come upon something new to me. My wife taught a class for the UC system in Southern California. Her W2 doesn't have any information for boxes 3 & 4. 1 is 4,233.80, 2 is 3.40, 5 is 4,577.08, and 6 is 66.36. 12a G is 343.28, which is the difference of 1 and 5. Now, I'm inputting this into HR Block and it is giving me errors because of the missing boxes. Any suggestions on why this is missing and what I should do about it?
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Mar 1, 2016 21:44
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theHUNGERian posted:Hey guys, I just heard back from them, and indeed they screwed up, and I now get an extra $2k back.
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Mar 2, 2016 04:11
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