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therobit posted:Why is this person still your accountant after the first time he lied to you? My other family members have no sense for numbers at all and are ok with him.
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Nov 28, 2016 00:06
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Does anyone know who is responsible for paying school taxes in Pittsburgh? I rent a house in the city but see over $100 a month coming out for 'Pittsburgh Schools'. It was my understanding that the property owner should be paying this and not the renter (me). Anyone know for sure?
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Nov 28, 2016 20:21
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Blinky2099 posted:I'm pretty sure RSU vesting is treated like normal income and you should treat it as such for AGI and how much you expect to be taxed. Not quite sure how gains/losses are treated while you're trying to sell your awarded RSUs though. I assume short term capital gains on gains, no idea on losses. Also not sure about AMT other than just running through the calculation form. Would be interested if someone else could give us more info. Lord of Garbagemen posted:Usually the event of the purchase is reflected in your w2 box 1 as the fmv of the stock by the number of shares. Any gain or loss on the sale is capital. Amt is amt it depends on many factors. The gains are subject to NII if you are in that bracket. Long story short if you are in a big tech co. dont worry they have u covered. If you are in small one it could be a train wreck for reporting correctly, especially if they do their own payroll.
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Nov 28, 2016 20:42
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cr0y posted:Does anyone know who is responsible for paying school taxes in Pittsburgh? I rent a house in the city but see over $100 a month coming out for 'Pittsburgh Schools'. It was my understanding that the property owner should be paying this and not the renter (me). Anyone know for sure? You are responsible for payroll school district taxes. The property owner is responsible for property school district taxes. PPSD levies both.
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Nov 28, 2016 20:43
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They levy a $100/month tax for schools on renters in Pittsburgh? Jesus christ the east coast is loving weird.
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Dec 1, 2016 15:43
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Pryor on Fire posted:They levy a $100/month tax for schools on renters in Pittsburgh? Jesus christ the east coast is loving weird. I was actually rounding down.
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Dec 1, 2016 21:38
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Does anyone know if mandatory pre-tax pension contributions count towards the Retirement Saver's Tax Credit? I know SARSEPs do, but the rules mention "if the employee chooses" and I don't know if that would include mandatory pension payments.
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Dec 1, 2016 22:26
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When does the IRS put their withholding calculator for the new year up, generally? I'm exempt this year, and want to know what I should expect my withholdings to be like next year.
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Dec 1, 2016 23:55
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Does anyone know if mandatory pre-tax pension contributions count towards the Retirement Saver's Tax Credit? I know SARSEPs do, but the rules mention "if the employee chooses" and I don't know if that would include mandatory pension payments. Mandatory contributions do not count. If you make optional contributions on top of that, the optional contributions count.
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Dec 2, 2016 02:46
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Pryor on Fire posted:They levy a $100/month tax for schools on renters in Pittsburgh? Jesus christ the east coast is loving weird. Pittsburgh levies a 1% earned income tax, and the school district levies 2%. The property tax rates sit at 8.06 mills for the city and 9.84 mills for the school district. Most of the suburbs are higher.
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Dec 2, 2016 03:39
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Looks like H&R Block is loving things up TurboTax style and will now require their Premium product (~$55) for anyone with investment income.
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Dec 4, 2016 21:38
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baquerd posted:Looks like H&R Block is loving things up TurboTax style and will now require their Premium product (~$55) for anyone with investment income. As someone who does taxes for a living, the costs and time involved to prepare returns has skyrocketed over the past five years, and I'm sure the software companies are having a hell of a time as well getting the programs done.
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Dec 5, 2016 17:54
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AbbiTheDog posted:As someone who does taxes for a living, the costs and time involved to prepare returns has skyrocketed over the past five years, and I'm sure the software companies are having a hell of a time as well getting the programs done. The tax software companies have a particularly tricky problem because they are inefficiently partitioning their market segment. People with hundred-page 1099-B's and $600k in income pay the same rate as someone who bought 5 shares of AAPL.
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Dec 5, 2016 18:00
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baquerd posted:The tax software companies have a particularly tricky problem because they are inefficiently partitioning their market segment. People with hundred-page 1099-B's and $600k in income pay the same rate as someone who bought 5 shares of AAPL. From my side of the desk, it really doesn't take that much longer to input the two (assuming the 100 page 1099-B doesn't have some stupid exotic poo poo his broker talked him into). Gathering and organizing the info before hand takes the most time, but actually putting them into the software takes about the same time. Takes me the same time to drop in a $10,000 W-2 as it does to drop in a $250,000 one. Edit: From a programming perspective, you can't just "carve out" things that *MIGHT* not show up on a small, simple schedule D for stock sales and charge those people less money. You're just going to program your software to handle everything in the tax code regarding it, so you're going to spend the same time programming the software and double checking it's accuracy. Yes, typically small stock transactions *PROBABLY* won't have some of the complex items Bill Gates might have on his return, but as a software programmer, are you going to trust some guy slamming down Bud Lights in his kitchen on the evening of April 15th amid a pile of paperwork with making the best judgments as to what is on his tax return? Or are you going to plug everything in there to make sure your program works? AbbiTheDog fucked around with this message at 19:52 on Dec 5, 2016 |
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Dec 5, 2016 19:00
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Speaking of things getting more expensive, looks like the IRS is going to charge preparer penalties on a few more credits; more paperwork for low-income returns.
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Dec 6, 2016 01:19
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sullat posted:Speaking of things getting more expensive, looks like the IRS is going to charge preparer penalties on a few more credits; more paperwork for low-income returns. Yeah, the "interview" requirement now applies to the Child Tax Credit and a few others. Good luck with that, guys.
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Dec 6, 2016 01:53
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scribe jones posted:Yeah, the "interview" requirement now applies to the Child Tax Credit and a few others. Good luck with that, guys. We've bumped up our minimum fee a few years ago to weed out those kind of clients - between the EITC checklist and the Obamacare hassles, it's not worth it trying to deal with low-income returns that require all this paperwork that the client just can't/won't pay us for. I know it sounds elitist, but it's been far smoother without those kind of clients.
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Dec 6, 2016 19:53
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Just a heads up - anyone with a Credit Karma account should log in and sign up for their new free tax preparation Credit Karma Tax https://blog.creditkarma.com/credit-karma/holiday-gift-credit-karma-dont-pay-filing-your-taxes-ever-again/ quote:A Holiday Gift from Credit Karma: Don’t Pay for Filing Your Taxes Ever Again
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Dec 10, 2016 23:31
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I saw that yesterday and signed up. Probably a little sad how excited I got when I heard about it.
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Dec 11, 2016 01:12
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If you're filing a 1040EZ, Turbo Tax is already free. Is there anything about the Credit Karma software that would warrant a switch?
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Dec 11, 2016 01:53
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:If you're filing a 1040EZ, Turbo Tax is already free. We'll see once filing season begins and people start using it, I guess? Are they a front for the Ukrainian mob?
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Dec 11, 2016 02:36
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:If you're filing a 1040EZ, Turbo Tax is already free. Capital Gains and Losses (Schedule D) is free with Credit Karma Tax - with TurboTax it's only available with their $79 package Here's a list of forms that Credit Karma Tax supports: https://help.creditkarma.com/hc/en-us/articles/217378726
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Dec 11, 2016 03:18
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sullat posted:We'll see once filing season begins and people start using it, I guess? Are they a front for the Ukrainian mob? ? Turbo Tax is by far the most popular e-filing service and I doubt many people are going to switch without a reason. I hope more places like Credit Karma come out with competing services, but they need something to get people to jump ship. I just wanted to know, since the press blurb doesn't mention specifics. EugeneJ posted:Capital Gains and Losses (Schedule D) is free with Credit Karma Tax - with TurboTax it's only available with their $79 package Ah, that is a fairly significant difference. I'll be curious to see how the software actually looks.
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Dec 11, 2016 03:39
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I know last year I was able to file my state return for free with turbo tax, but in previous years I had to pay extra to file my state return. I could be mistaken, but I believe a few of my friends had to pay last year to file state returns.
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Dec 11, 2016 14:19
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BAE OF PIGS posted:I know last year I was able to file my state return for free with turbo tax, but in previous years I had to pay extra to file my state return. I could be mistaken, but I believe a few of my friends had to pay last year to file state returns. TurboTax actually lost a lawsuit in Federal Court about charging for state returns. Other places charged as well, but now nobody can do it for a standard return. If your friends paid, then they could get in on the class action refund. Not sure if it is still available. I get $29 back from Intuit over the lawsuit last year.
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Dec 11, 2016 15:37
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Last year H&R Block was great for a lot of people because you could get 10% bonus on your refund by buying a giftcard, and included Amazon.com. In the worst case, I could've just sold the gift cards on easily for a few percent off. That only helps if you're getting a refund, of course. If they continue it this year, it'll depend on the refund amount I'd be looking at to see if it makes more sense to go with them for $45-55 or try the free Credit Karma.
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Dec 11, 2016 19:42
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sullat posted:We'll see once filing season begins and people start using it, I guess? Are they a front for the Ukrainian mob? What's that line? If you're not paying for a product, you ARE the product? I'm guessing buried in the fine print is something about how they can use your info for marketing. I know the IRS cracked down hard on H&R Block for selling info to marketers 10 years ago or so, but if you click on "I agree" for a long TOS you might want to make sure you read it first.
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Dec 12, 2016 18:11
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Quick question, I live abroad and I'm joint-owner of one of my father's bank accounts. None of the money in it is mine, I'm joint-owner simply in case of an emergency. I've been joint-owner for about 2 years now but I had honestly forgotten about it because I never use it so I never filed form 114 (none of my personal accounts had held $10.000 or more over the year). Is it worth amending my 2014-2015 statements and file form 114? I will be filing it for 2016, for what it's worth.
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Dec 12, 2016 21:08
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Ur Getting Fatter posted:Quick question, I live abroad and I'm joint-owner of one of my father's bank accounts. None of the money in it is mine, I'm joint-owner simply in case of an emergency. 114 is for foreign bank account reporting, so assuming it's not a domestic account. If you failed to file this, you'll need to call and talk to an attorney - everything I've read/heard is that the risk you run by raising your hand and volunteering that you didn't file the form is asking for trouble, but not telling them about the account might also get you in trouble, so you might be screwed either way.
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Dec 12, 2016 22:05
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Ur Getting Fatter posted:Quick question, I live abroad and I'm joint-owner of one of my father's bank accounts. None of the money in it is mine, I'm joint-owner simply in case of an emergency. Is the account foreign? Did it exceed $10,000 US at any time that you were a signer on it? If so there are several things you should do, starting with PMing me (I specialize in this kind of thing).
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Dec 13, 2016 00:22
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AbbiTheDog posted:What's that line? If you're not paying for a product, you ARE the product? I'm guessing buried in the fine print is something about how they can use your info for marketing. I know the IRS cracked down hard on H&R Block for selling info to marketers 10 years ago or so, but if you click on "I agree" for a long TOS you might want to make sure you read it first. It's not even in the fine print, they openly say in the press release that they will use the information gathered to make recommendations for stuff like credit cards and other products, and the referral fees they generate from that pays for it all.
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Dec 13, 2016 00:57
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Ancillary Character posted:It's not even in the fine print, they openly say in the press release that they will use the information gathered to make recommendations for stuff like credit cards and other products, and the referral fees they generate from that pays for it all. Double-check what kind of information they can share too; it's illegal to share tax related info without express consent, but of course if you sign paperwork you are giving said consent.
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Dec 13, 2016 22:15
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MadDogMike posted:Double-check what kind of information they can share too; it's illegal to share tax related info without express consent, but of course if you sign paperwork you are giving said consent. Yeah, they're getting their $50 worth of value from selling off your personal stuff, that's for sure. I can't even talk to my client's investment adviser without a prior signed, written consent. The IRS even helpfully has a form for us to use.
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Dec 14, 2016 01:51
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We recently sold our home at a significant profit, and because we occupied it for more than two years we qualified for the home sales exclusion to income tax. I have read that since 1997 there is no requirement to spend the proceeds from a home sale on a new home, but I have had a number of people tell me otherwise. I think they're mistaken, but due to the large amount of money involved I'm worried that I've missed something. Do I have anything to worry about or is this money truly tax-free?
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Dec 14, 2016 17:25
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I went through a divorce which was final in January of 2016. In the decree we are to alternate years in which we can claim our one daughter as a dependent. I am ok with that, however I have a couple of questions. She lives with me over 50% of the time and will continue to do so. First, am I allowed to claim Head of Household even on the years that her mother can claim her as a dependent? Second, we split daycare evenly and it is approximately $4k or so each. Am I able to claim that as a deduction when doing my taxes on the years that she is not my dependent or would that only be for the years I file with her as a dependent?
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Dec 14, 2016 17:51
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Charles Mansion posted:We recently sold our home at a significant profit, and because we occupied it for more than two years we qualified for the home sales exclusion to income tax. I have read that since 1997 there is no requirement to spend the proceeds from a home sale on a new home, but I have had a number of people tell me otherwise. I think they're mistaken, but due to the large amount of money involved I'm worried that I've missed something. Nope, no rules on the exempted money having to be used to buy another home, you're fine there. clopping and cumming posted:I went through a divorce which was final in January of 2016. In the decree we are to alternate years in which we can claim our one daughter as a dependent. I am ok with that, however I have a couple of questions. She lives with me over 50% of the time and will continue to do so. First, am I allowed to claim Head of Household even on the years that her mother can claim her as a dependent? Second, we split daycare evenly and it is approximately $4k or so each. Am I able to claim that as a deduction when doing my taxes on the years that she is not my dependent or would that only be for the years I file with her as a dependent? OK, it depends on how you're doing the split here. If it's just a full swap and she shows up on one return one year and not the other, then no, you can't file as head of household or claim dependent care credit on years she's not on your return (though your ex can't do head of household even with daughter since she's not paying 50% of the costs of the home said daughter is living in unless that's somehow part of the divorce decree). BUT, if you are just releasing the exemption and child tax credit to her on the alternate years with Form 8332, you can still use head of household status and claim dependent care credit even on years when your ex is claiming the exemption and child tax credit. So it matters how you do the split, because the Form 8332 is the only way you can split up the tax benefits for a dependent in this scenario.
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Dec 14, 2016 19:08
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Married, filing jointly, last year we had $43k AGI and overpaid through withholdings by $2.5k. That stuff hasn't changed much. Now I'm trying to figure out how to handle estimated taxes for 1099-MISC prize money (from daily fantasy sports, really it should be gambling winnings, but it's not for legal/political reasons).. The complicated thing is that the 1099-MISC will report net winnings, which were negative in some quarters, and it will not break this down over time. Let's say my four quarters went something like +$2,000; $0; -$3,000; +$20,000 (I have more precise records but this is the gist of it). I did not pay estimated taxes on those first quarter winnings since our refund was bigger than that last year (plus I didn't really expect to have net winnings on the year). So my questions are: - Is the best approach not to sweat the details and just ballpark a payment that would get withholdings plus estimated taxes close to what I expect to owe the IRS at the end of the year? - Should I take a similar approach with my state (CT)? - Or, would it work to just increase withholdings on our real jobs and avoid the hassle of estimated taxes? And less important questions: - Does the fact that my net winnings in the fourth quarter are greater than my net winnings on the year complicate things at all? - Am I going to get penalties from that first-quarter win? Or is that offset from later losses? - What should I do in the future? Should I have paid first-quarter estimated taxes? SurgicalOntologist fucked around with this message at 09:27 on Dec 16, 2016 |
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Dec 16, 2016 09:06
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Question about foreign property- my girlfriend is a foreign citizen living in the US who received some property due to eminent domain. Some apartment in her parents' city worth around $50k USD. She is considering selling it or transferring it over to her parents, but won't be able to do it by the end of 2016. If she sells that in 2017 and we get married same year, she has to report all income earned worldwide, right? How is that even reported? I don't know how to find the initial value, gain, etc. Better off waiting for 2018 to get married.  Going to be fun filling out all the paperwork these next couple of years.
Moneyball fucked around with this message at 04:35 on Dec 18, 2016 |
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Dec 18, 2016 04:30
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Deduction question: I'm getting married in October 2017, so for 2017 I'll be able to file MFJ or MFS. My questions are: 1) getting married that late in the year, should we file MFJ or MFS? 2) in January 2017, should we change our W4 withholdings? We each make about 65k each for a combined income of $130k. Standard deductions. I currently file single with 1 exemption and she does too.
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Dec 18, 2016 16:49
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Moneyball posted:Question about foreign property- my girlfriend is a foreign citizen living in the US who received some property due to eminent domain. Some apartment in her parents' city worth around $50k USD. She probably has to report all worldwide income regardless of whether you two are married. Residents (citizen or non-citizen) have to report worldwide income. Unless she has some kind of tax treaty exemption that allows her to file as a nonresident alien while living and working in the US, she's either including the income on her single or MFS return or you both are including it on your MFJ return. Once you are married, if she still has the treaty exemption, she COULD still file her nonresident return, and you'd also file a MFS return, or she could elect to be treated as a resident and you could file MFJ. She acquired the property through eminent domain? Does that mean she owned some other property that was taken through eminent domain and this property was given to her as compensation? Generally, selling property results in capital gain - your gain is the amount realized minus your basis in the property. How she acquires the property will likely determine her basis. If she received it as compensation for eminent domain seizing of some other property, her basis in this new property might be whatever her basis in the old property was or it might be the fair market value of the old property when it was seized, depending on how the transaction was structured. If she gives it to her parents, she wouldn't report it as income, but she may need to file a gift tax return to report the gifts. Whether you marry in 2017 or not, she should get tax advice from a professional who has all of the details about how she got the property and how she transferred it away.
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Dec 18, 2016 17:09
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