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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. For paying quarterly, all you have to do is just get copies of Form 1040-ES here and the similar state equivalents and mail them in with a check, or you can even just pay the IRS/state(s) via their website, God knows they are quite delighted to help people pay them. You are NOT required to make even payments throughout the year if your income is not evenly earned throughout the year, the whole point of the quarterly setup is actually to reduce any penalty for under-withholding in cases like that, since they look at when you earned the money vs. when you made payments on it. If you hit at least 90% of what you need (or 100% of what you needed the year before) even that doesn't matter; technically if you pay close enough to what you actually owe you could dump it all on the IRS in a lump sum in December and they don't really care. You are responsible for reporting your income even without a 1099-MISC, as long as you have the right income reported and some sort of records to prove it there's no requirement for having a 1099-MISC though (for you anyway; if someone pays you more than $600 without one the IRS might drop on THEIR heads). 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. Uhhhhh, dunno if there's some sort of experience value surcharge (I can see somebody who specializes charging more) or it's a independent contractor vs. big company like me thing, but I have never seen a return cost that much for me at H&R Block. Most I've usually seen charged is closer to maybe $800 - $900, and that's things like spouses owning multiple businesses and/or having pretty much the entire drat alphabet of schedules to go along with their 1040. I'm hesitant to say it's highway robbery because I may be very well speaking from a nice privileged position as a member with limited personal price control in a large firm that can get the benefits of economies of scale, and of course I'm not local to you so for all I know H&R Block fees are that high there too, but it does seem higher than what I would expect based on the items you listed. Not so high it's an obvious rip-off though, just... enough to make my eyebrows go up. God knows I've had plenty of "you paid WHAT for this last year?" experiences thanks to that discount program where we charge based on last year's cost somewhere else; I have no idea what logic if any goes into the fees some CPAs decide to charge, high AND low. quote: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. OK, might just be a CA price thing for the $1200 (California income taxes are very annoying to prepare and qualify for preparing, so you're likely paying more to cover their overhead on that and cost of living, not to mention they're doing taxes for states from across the country for you so having to get the expertise for that might be costing more). $2500 for the rest of the year is silly unless you have some really weird rental deductions or something though. I'd think just preparing it for the actual return would cover everything if they're doing a good job. Might also include non-income tax things like housing regulations or property taxes or similar maybe? I can't think you'd need a whole drat year of "getting everything in order" unless you were at the level of just shoving semi-random receipts into shoeboxes for your recordkeeping. El Jebus posted: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. State employees might not have FICA for social security; which is why I'm guessing the box 3/4 info for social security wages/withholding are empty. Have you tried entering 0 for those boxes in the software? Any info in the box 14 section? Also, that box 12 G code is for her 457(b) retirement contributions which is why it's the difference between box 1 and box 5 (it's taxed for Medicare purposes, which is why it's in box 5, but not regular income tax which is box 1). theHUNGERian posted:I just heard back from them, and indeed they screwed up, and I now get an extra $2k back. Ouch, sorry for your trouble. Spent last summer/fall on H&R Block's off-season fixing problems like that; all I can say is EVERYBODY even the most insanely competent veterans can screw up sometimes (and then you get the IRS and state agencies screwing up in the mix...). Just glad they found it and fixed it for you.
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Mar 2, 2016 08:08
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I am an Arizona resident, and contributed in 2015 to a Vanguard 529 plan for my daughter. Being that Vanguard's 529 is a Nevada state plan, do I still report these contributions on my Arizona return where it asks for 529 contributions? e: maybe answered my own question from az529.org: "Is there a tax benefit for investing in the Arizona 529 Plan? Yes, the state offers a tax deduction for investing in the Arizona 529 Plan of up to $4,000 for married tax filers who file a joint return and $2,000 for single filers." Leads me to believe that I should not be reporting the contributions I made. Gray Matter fucked around with this message at 13:59 on Mar 2, 2016 |
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Mar 2, 2016 12:52
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What are the restrictions on using HSA money to pay for COBRA premiums? Basically I am leaving my current job voluntarily but taking a couple months off to relax before starting my new job. If I wanted to pay the COBRA amount to keep myself insured for those two months can I use my HSA money for that even if it's a voluntary separation and I have a fairly high income?
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Mar 2, 2016 14:07
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MadDogMike posted:For paying quarterly, all you have to do is just get copies of Form 1040-ES here and the similar state equivalents and mail them in with a check, or you can even just pay the IRS/state(s) via their website, God knows they are quite delighted to help people pay them. You are NOT required to make even payments throughout the year if your income is not evenly earned throughout the year, the whole point of the quarterly setup is actually to reduce any penalty for under-withholding in cases like that, since they look at when you earned the money vs. when you made payments on it. If you hit at least 90% of what you need (or 100% of what you needed the year before) even that doesn't matter; technically if you pay close enough to what you actually owe you could dump it all on the IRS in a lump sum in December and they don't really care. If I pay my quarterly online do I still have to mail in a 1040-ES?
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Mar 2, 2016 15:11
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Ur Getting Fatter posted:If I pay my quarterly online do I still have to mail in a 1040-ES? No
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Mar 2, 2016 19:06
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So what I'm hearing is that it's a steal to pay ~$245 for a MFJ single state return?
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Mar 3, 2016 00:11
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NancyPants posted:So what I'm hearing is that it's a steal to pay ~$245 for a MFJ single state return? Our minimum is almost $500 for return. What you need to realize is the amount of due diligence, paperwork, and liability your paid preparer has for returns. It's nuts and only gotten worse. Half of this job is CYA.
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Mar 3, 2016 00:33
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AbbiTheDog posted:Our minimum is almost $500 for return. No, I totally understand overhead and the need to check it twice. I mean we're getting it for a steal, not that we're getting robbed.
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Mar 3, 2016 01:05
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mrmcd posted:What are the restrictions on using HSA money to pay for COBRA premiums? As far as I can see you can use HSA funds for the employee portion of COBRA without issue, Pub 969 made no distinction between voluntary and involuntary job termination. Note this is only for COBRA or Medicare Part B/D/Advantage premiums after age 65, otherwise no dice on paying premiums (and it needs to be an HSA specifically, not FSA).
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Mar 3, 2016 03:12
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AbbiTheDog posted:Our minimum is almost $500 for return. That's insane, youd charge that much for a 1040 and a Schedule A? Do you just not have clients below upper middle class?
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Mar 3, 2016 06:50
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Epi Lepi posted:That's insane, youd charge that much for a 1040 and a Schedule A? Do you just not have clients below upper middle class? If your income is less than $100k and you're not self employed, you're probably wasting your money having someone do your taxes for you.
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Mar 3, 2016 06:57
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Are these retirement account related assumptions correct? - I don't need a form for my 401k contributions because the elective deferral is on my W-2 (box 12a) - I don't need a form or to report anything for my Roth IRA contributions because the contributions are post tax and shouldn't effect my tax liability
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Mar 3, 2016 07:01
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KernelSlanders posted:If your income is less than $100k and you're not self employed, you're probably wasting your money having someone do your taxes for you. Don't tell my clients that. Besides, there's enough posts in this thread to show that people can gently caress up the very simplest things. Edit: I mean, I agree that a lot of people can probably handle their own taxes and TurboTax is good enough for them, but if someone wants to pay me to prepare a 1040EZ I'm going to do it. Peace of mind that someone who thinks about this stuff way more than you is making sure you get filed correctly is worth it to a lot of people, and being able to call me during the tax year if things change and the client has questions is a big part of my value to them. They don't get the right to do that though unless I'm preparing their returns and I'm gonna charge them $100-$125 even though TurboTax is way cheaper for a 1040EZ. I'm not a CPA though, nor am I the owner of my office so pricing isn't entirely in my hands. Epi Lepi fucked around with this message at 08:59 on Mar 3, 2016 |
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Mar 3, 2016 07:35
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Epi Lepi posted:That's insane, youd charge that much for a 1040 and a Schedule A? Do you just not have clients below upper middle class? Charging people $400 bux for their EITC returns is the bread & butter for the big three chains. Well, that and high-interest short term loans against the EITC refund.
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Mar 3, 2016 15:45
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sullat posted:Charging people $400 bux for their EITC returns is the bread & butter for the big three chains. Well, that and high-interest short term loans against the EITC refund. H&R Block charges $300 - $400 for 1040 returns. Hopefully I'm better than them. It also serves to "weed out" clients that pester you for time but don't understand that you charge by the hour - if you want to call and have a 1/2 hour conversation, I'm going to charge you for it. If you're not used to "paying by the hour" for professionals (lawyers, accountants, architects, etc.) you will through a hissy fit for a 1/2 hour invoice. Plus I'm tired of working 100 hour weeks. Only down to 70-80 hours a week this year, emails and phone calls I need to respond to about "why is my invoice $320 this year when it was $300 last year" are way down, and we're still turning away work. Edit: It's also really freed up time when the $300 clients with a job and a house want a one-hour sitdown as to why their refund changed $400 from the prior year and go over their returns line.....by.....line.....and they don't want to pay for the extra time. AbbiTheDog fucked around with this message at 16:49 on Mar 3, 2016 |
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Mar 3, 2016 16:38
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AbbiTheDog posted:H&R Block charges $300 - $400 for 1040 returns. Hopefully I'm better than them. My brother got his JD and passed the bar some 5-6 years ago and, after being pestered by friends and family with questions completely unrelated to what he focused on, he started saying "if a professional isn't charging you by the hour, don't take his advice seriously" before ever giving advice. He went on to explain that you aren't so much paying for the hour of work but for the expertise, knowledge, and the professional putting their name on the line by giving you said advice/work/whatever. It's also how the pay off the $100k in student loans they accrued doing night school at the local private college getting said JD. He is now a farmer. I'm not sure where I was headed with any of this but I might as well share it.
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Mar 3, 2016 17:38
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CA income tax website says it can take 2-3 months to process, which seems like a really long time to me. I submitted mine by mail about 2-3 weeks ago and their website doesn't even have a record of it yet so I'm unable to check the status. It also says online that e-filing is typically completed within about a week. At this point I'm not even sure if my return was received by them, but I'm not sure I want to wait so long to get it sorted out anyway. Would it be okay to e-file and assume that they'll disregard one of the duplicates? I only mailed it in because I was under the impression that there wasn't a free way to e-file but that turns out to be wrong.
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Mar 3, 2016 19:48
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If you do that, whichever return is processed second should just bounce, they will send you back a notice saying a return has already been filed for this social security number. The thing I'd be concerned about is them thinking there's an attempt being made to steal your identity and file a false tax return which could delay the whole process even further. I have no idea how CA will actually react though, since the numbers will be the same they shouldn't have any reason to look into it. It's hard to predict because who knows what part of the process is looked at by people and what part is done via computers. Or if the people involved have any idea what they're doing. Did you owe money to either the IRS or state? If not, I'd say just chill out. If yes, give it until April 1st for it to appear in their system and then try E-filing.
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Mar 3, 2016 20:21
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No money owed, they're actually set to give me about $500. I'm not hurting for the money and need it ASAP or anything, I'm mostly concerned with the fact that I'm unable to check if they even received my forms. I filed early to get it out of my hair so I don't like that there's uncertainty and a need to keep checking in to make sure I didn't screw anything up.
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Mar 3, 2016 21:11
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My company botched my W2 pertaining to the HSA so I need to double check this poo poo. Should box 12cW on the W2 be equal to the HSA contribution? Because right now it is almost 2x lower.
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Mar 4, 2016 22:50
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I purchased a modest investment last year whose behavior when it comes to taxes is a bit unexpected. I received a Schedule K-1 from a commodities-based ETF, which is organized as a limited-partnership; when I record the contents of this schedule in my tax software (TaxAct), it does affect my total tax burden (the investment lost value last year, and, although I did not sell it, it decreased my taxes). My question: If one owns a share of a limited partnership, are one's gains (and losses) taxed (or deducted) each year, regardless of whether they're realized or unrealized? This is what my research thus far seems to indicate, but I'd like to confirm, as it (1) may affect my taxes this year, and, (2) if this ETF were to increase in value, would seem to discourage long-term holding of the investment, as one's gains would be taxed each year. I appreciate any help, and hope that asking this question doesn't go beyond what's appropriate for this thread.
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Mar 5, 2016 16:50
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credibleDecibel posted:I purchased a modest investment last year whose behavior when it comes to taxes is a bit unexpected. I received a Schedule K-1 from a commodities-based ETF, which is organized as a limited-partnership; when I record the contents of this schedule in my tax software (TaxAct), it does affect my total tax burden (the investment lost value last year, and, although I did not sell it, it decreased my taxes). Yes this is correct. While it's still an unrealized transaction to you, the ETF is generating income and losses now and as a partner those must be passed through to you. The profits and losses each year affect your basis in the partnership so when you do sell your ownership figuring out your gain and loss is not just subtracting your purchase price from the sale price. You would subtract your current basis from the sale price. Theoretically if it turned a profit every year that would increase your basis and it would be like taxing you piecemeal on the gain you would recognize if it was a stock that you bought and sold. In practice different tax rates and such make it not so simple.
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Mar 5, 2016 18:52
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I am tax stupid and this is the first year I've had to deal with this, but if I work for a company as a full time employee, but my home is my office (ie I have no 'business income') can I use the home office deduction? I don't mind paying a tax pro to do my taxes, but I want to know if I really need someone for the home office portion, or if I can't get it, I'll just file the 1040EZ free turbotax. Also, if I rolled over my 403b (old job, non-profit hospital retirement account) to a 401k (new job, private company retirement account) is that considered a gross distribution?
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Mar 5, 2016 23:56
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Epi Lepi posted:Words I see. Thanks for your help.
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Mar 6, 2016 05:13
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Cacafuego posted:I am tax stupid and this is the first year I've had to deal with this, but if I work for a company as a full time employee, but my home is my office (ie I have no 'business income') can I use the home office deduction? Any sort of home office must be used regularly and exclusively for business only, nothing else. If you do anything else in that space, no dice. Also, home business expenses are part of itemized deductions (so if you don't have more than your standard deduction in those, generally due to mortgage interest, don't bother), and only the amount above 2% of your AGI counts for said itemized deductions. If these things aren't an issue, then you can do it; look up Schedule A and/or Form 2106 for more details if you want to try yourself, or just bring the total square footage of the office, the square footage of your home proper, and all your home associated expenses that could also apply to the office area (utilities and such) to a preparer and they should be able to handle it. As for the rollover, that is not a taxable distribution, you should probably get a 1099-R with a G distribution code reporting it assuming it was a direct rollover.
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Mar 6, 2016 07:08
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White Phosphorus posted:My company botched my W2 pertaining to the HSA so I need to double check this poo poo. Should box 12cW on the W2 be equal to the HSA contribution? Because right now it is almost 2x lower. The code W amount in box 12 should be the amount that was put in your HSA through payroll deductions and any amount your employer contributed. If you deposited into your HSA in any way other than payroll deductions, that amount will not show up on your W-2.
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Mar 6, 2016 14:23
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MadDogMike posted:Any sort of home office must be used regularly and exclusively for business only, nothing else. If you do anything else in that space, no dice. Also, home business expenses are part of itemized deductions (so if you don't have more than your standard deduction in those, generally due to mortgage interest, don't bother), and only the amount above 2% of your AGI counts for said itemized deductions. If these things aren't an issue, then you can do it; look up Schedule A and/or Form 2106 for more details if you want to try yourself, or just bring the total square footage of the office, the square footage of your home proper, and all your home associated expenses that could also apply to the office area (utilities and such) to a preparer and they should be able to handle it. Thanks, this is the advice I needed. I'll double check the form I got about from my previous 403b, I thought it said gross distribution, but I may have made a mistake.
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Mar 6, 2016 17:19
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MadDogMike posted:Any sort of home office must be used regularly and exclusively for business only, nothing else. If you do anything else in that space, no dice. Also, home business expenses are part of itemized deductions (so if you don't have more than your standard deduction in those, generally due to mortgage interest, don't bother), and only the amount above 2% of your AGI counts for said itemized deductions. If these things aren't an issue, then you can do it; look up Schedule A and/or Form 2106 for more details if you want to try yourself, or just bring the total square footage of the office, the square footage of your home proper, and all your home associated expenses that could also apply to the office area (utilities and such) to a preparer and they should be able to handle it. Side note - the IRS (and/or states) try and cut you off at the pass in an audit. You need to get a copy of your employee manual and see what it says in regards to home office (or other out of pocket expenses). If the manual states that in no way will you be reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses, great, keep a copy and you should be good. If the manual is vague (or doesn't even bring it up), you need to seek reimbursement from your supervisor and get a denial in writing prior to filing your returns. The IRS' position: How do you KNOW it wouldn't be reimbursed if you didn't even TRY? Simply ask your boss for a written denial and move on. This is an area that certain states (*cough* OREGON *cough*) love to audit.
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Mar 6, 2016 19:24
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IRS is adamant that you cannot deduct normal commuting miles. My wife has kind of a unique situation though, she needs to have her car available for work so she drives every day. If that was not the case, she could/would take a free bus to work instead, so I would argue that those are not "normal" commuting miles. Can I deduct that mileage?
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Mar 6, 2016 19:59
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ironlung posted:IRS is adamant that you cannot deduct normal commuting miles. My wife has kind of a unique situation though, she needs to have her car available for work so she drives every day. If that was not the case, she could/would take a free bus to work instead, so I would argue that those are not "normal" commuting miles. Can I deduct that mileage? You can deduct whatever you want, but it wouldn't hold up in an audit.
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Mar 6, 2016 21:08
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urnisme posted:The code W amount in box 12 should be the amount that was put in your HSA through payroll deductions and any amount your employer contributed. If you deposited into your HSA in any way other than payroll deductions, that amount will not show up on your W-2. Thanks! I did everything through payroll deduction only. I wonder if I glitched the W2 by raising my contribution near the end of the year.
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Mar 7, 2016 01:09
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ironlung posted:IRS is adamant that you cannot deduct normal commuting miles. My wife has kind of a unique situation though, she needs to have her car available for work so she drives every day. If that was not the case, she could/would take a free bus to work instead, so I would argue that those are not "normal" commuting miles. Can I deduct that mileage? If they send her out on a little field trip, those miles would be deductible; just not the first and last legs of her daily travels.
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Mar 7, 2016 04:39
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Partnership capital account reporting question. My partnership hasn't ever reported capital accounts because TurboTax Business never told me to. Bad excuse, I should have put our net income less distributions in there regardless. Thanks TurboTax. Our net income has been under or around a grand a year - its a hobby business - for the last 4 years. This year we took a small loss as we both got promotions and didn't have time to operate the business basically. We can't take the loss, so we are supposed to report the gross profit, gross expenses down to the amount of profit, resulting in 0 net income. The difference should be reported in the capital account balance. Because the entity is so small we answer Yes to Schedule B question 6 (total receipts under 250k, total assets under 1M, K1's are filed & furnished on or before due date, not required to file M-3) we can skip M-2 - the partnership capital account analysis. Does this mean I shouldn't worry about prior year non-reported capital account numbers, and I should just stick the loss in this years numbers and move on? I don't want to amend prior years, when technically they were filled out correctly due to Sch B #6 requirements. Any input would be great. SiGmA_X fucked around with this message at 07:55 on Mar 7, 2016 |
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Mar 7, 2016 07:04
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SiGmA_X posted:Partnership capital account reporting question. My partnership hasn't ever reported capital accounts because TurboTax Business never told me to. Bad excuse, I should have put our net income less distributions in there regardless. Thanks TurboTax. This is not even remotely how hobby income and expenses are supposed to be reported in a partnership. Who set you up with this idea? Did someone advise you to operate like that? To elaborate: expenses related to the hobby are deductions subject to the 2% AGI limitation. They do not net against gross receipts like a regular business. Any expenses related to the hobby business should be separately stated on the partnership schedule K, and reported on the owner's return on Schedule A (expenses subject to the 2% AGI limit). The deduction on Schedule A, however, cannot exceed the gross receipts from the hobby business. That is where the loss limitation comes into play. What you are currently doing is not correct. If I'm misinterpreting your post and it's a legitimate business and not a hobby, then your loss isn't limited and can be claimed like any other ordinary business loss. This thing you're worrying about regarding capital accounts doesn't apply in either situation though. Admiral101 fucked around with this message at 14:05 on Mar 7, 2016 |
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Mar 7, 2016 13:56
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Looking for a little guidance here. This year I got my tax documents all together, did my taxes, filed electronically, got a small refund, all done. Taxes accepted fine, and my I have received my refund. About 2 weeks after that, I got an additional tax form I was not expecting. It is a 1099-S (proceeds from sale of real estate). I was not expecting this because the sale of the home was well well below the threshold for being taxable income, and because I thought, erroneously, that we had passed the deadline for receiving those. My error for not being more patient and not doing more thorough research on all that. So, as I said, this has no $ effect on my taxes. Even if I ignored the cost basis of the home, and it was 100% profit, it still falls in the exemption for selling your primary residence etc. So, here is my question: Now that I have this form, should I file an amended return, or, since it does not change the $ value one penny in either direction, do I just leave it be?
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Mar 7, 2016 16:37
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Admiral101 posted:This is not even remotely how hobby income and expenses are supposed to be reported in a partnership. The section 183 guide gave me a start to how to handle the hobby loss, but reading further I am thinking you're right and the expenses are not fully deductible. Bah. The below quote made me think we could net revenue with COGS to the limit of revenue, and the remainder would be subject to the 2% rule. A few pages down it goes on to discuss Sub S' and the example seems to be what I have a problem with (expenses exceeding receipts) and how it flows through as a misc itemized deduction. quote:https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/irc183activitiesnotengagedinforprofit.pdf
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Mar 7, 2016 17:08
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emocrat posted:Looking for a little guidance here. The IRS is going to send you a friendly letter in a year or two asking you to pay taxes on the proceeds from the sale. I suppose you could go through the fun and exciting hoops of claiming the exclusion for income resulting from sale of your primary residence then, but it might be better to deal with it now.
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Mar 7, 2016 18:37
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This should be simple, but I can't figure it out from google. I transferred from Wells Fargo Advisors to Charles Schwab, should I expect to receive tax forms (1099-INT/DIVs) from Wells Fargo Advisors for the time when I was still their customer?
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Mar 8, 2016 01:25
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meatpotato posted:This should be simple, but I can't figure it out from google. Yes.
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Mar 9, 2016 13:06
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After filing my tax return and receiving my refund, I logged into my wife's Roth IRA account to make a contribution. Realizing she still had some space left for 2015 contributions, I applied it to 2015 because I will likely be able to max that year out before April 15th, and max out 2016 after that. Am I required to file an amended return to report the additional 2015 contribution even though it will in no way affect my taxes due? I already received the max benefit possible from the savers' credit and my effective federal & state tax rates were 0%.
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Mar 10, 2016 11:24
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