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Epi Lepi posted:A lot of people think their credit card statements are good enough back up that they don't need to save their receipts. Correction: you must always be able to demonstrate the business purpose of a meals or entertainment deduction, but if it is under $75 you do not need a receipt - just proof that the expense was paid (ie a credit card statement). If you think Best Buy is bad, try Costco sometime.
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Feb 1, 2013 18:32
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furushotakeru posted:Correction: you must always be able to demonstrate the business purpose of a meals or entertainment deduction, but if it is under $75 you do not need a receipt - just proof that the expense was paid (ie a credit card statement). Good to know! I usually ask for 2 receipts/transactions if there are personal items mixed in. Then again I only buy computer equipment about once every 3 years or so or when something breaks. So to demonstrate the business purpose of M&E, is that just who you went to dinner with and the general description as to what you talked about as to how it related to your job? Wouldn't a more specific "trying to drum up business" be good enough?
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Feb 1, 2013 19:09
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slap me silly posted:By IRS, natch, although I'm pretty sure that every time I find this page it has a different style and is at a different URL Awesome, thank you. Looks like I'm good
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Feb 1, 2013 20:23
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QuarkJets posted:Awesome, thank you. Looks like I'm good Contribution amount limits went up this year from $5000 to $5500 for those who qualify, which is nice. I just wish there wasn't as much of a gap between the AGI cutoff for deducting traditional IRA contributions and the AGI limit for Roth contributions.
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Feb 1, 2013 20:59
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This is almost certainly wrong, but a (less than brilliant) friend of mine tells me "FYI talked with the IRS yesterday your 1098-T is NOT required to file." That can't be right, can it? Because most of my money last year was non-withheld fellowships/grants (I'm a grad student), so only shows up on the 1098-T. Ugh, grad student taxes are the worst.
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Feb 1, 2013 21:25
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berzerker posted:This is almost certainly wrong, but a (less than brilliant) friend of mine tells me "FYI talked with the IRS yesterday your 1098-T is NOT required to file." That can't be right, can it? Because most of my money last year was non-withheld fellowships/grants (I'm a grad student), so only shows up on the 1098-T. It might be worth waiting for the form to make sure that what you are reporting agrees with what your school is reporting. Although they don't always match anyhow as 1098-T reports what was billed in the calendar year and you are required to report what you actually paid in the calendar year. Legally speaking, I believe you can file as long as you have any documents reporting withholding that you are claiming. Since you don't have any withholding, I doubt there is anything technically barring you from filing.
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Feb 1, 2013 21:43
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Quick question about itemizing property tax. In 2012 I paid city and county tax as usual. I also paid the 2011 county property tax late in 3/2012 due to a "misunderstanding" between my wife and I on what had been paid when. Anyway, can I claim all three payments on this year's tax as I paid them all in the 2012 calendar year? If it matters, I do not pay taxes through my bank mortgage account, I write separate checks annually.
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Feb 1, 2013 22:36
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I received my W2 and my state taxes on it are significantly lower than what my last pay stub from the 21st of december shows. What am I supposed to do?
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Feb 1, 2013 22:43
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nowhinezone posted:Quick question about itemizing property tax. Yes. For federal you should claim what was actually paid in that tax year.
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Feb 1, 2013 22:43
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Too Poetic posted:I received my W2 and my state taxes on it are significantly lower than what my last pay stub from the 21st of december shows. What am I supposed to do? Ask your employer about it
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Feb 1, 2013 22:48
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Furu, I have a question about reporting financial aid grants. I'm an older independent full-time student, and only earned like $1000 last year. The University was very generous with the grants: For Fall 2012 University Grant: 22,955 Pell Grant : 2,775 SEOG: 1375 work study: 1000 Loans: ~6000 === This is similar for Spring of 2012 and Spring 2013 (idk it says I can account for the first 3 months of 2013, if this is relevant) So I'm the section of TurboTax where it's asking about my tuition. I said that I paid 0, because loans/grants covered it. Then when I entered my assistance (the above info), my refund shot up by thousands of dollars, which seems a little too good to be true. Should I be entering the cost of tuition where I put zero, even though I didn't pay out of pocket? Or does this seem correct? I got no 1098, either, if that helps. e: I know the OP says no TurboTax questions, but I think this is more a question about education deductions in general rather than something specific to TT. Turkeybone fucked around with this message at 23:32 on Feb 1, 2013 |
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Feb 1, 2013 22:58
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Turkeybone posted:Furu, If you didn't pay any tuition then there is nothing to deduct or count toward the credit. Any scholarship funds you received that are in excess of the cost of tuition and books, is taxable income. The loans are not income however.
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Feb 2, 2013 00:06
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furushotakeru posted:If you didn't pay any tuition then there is nothing to deduct or count toward the credit. Any scholarship funds you received that are in excess of the cost of tuition and books, is taxable income. The loans are not income however. Sorry to repost, but I think if I'm reading this right I can apply this to a problem I had posted about earlier: Shear Modulus posted:I have a question about grad student stipends. Here's the situation (amounts are fake): I think what you're saying is that any scholarship money above what's spent on qualified education expenses is taxable income, and (applied to my situation) therefore the amount that the school made me spend on stuff they don't think are qualified education expenses is income. Am I interpreting this right? I asked some fellow students and the general advice I got was to just declare what I had actually been given a check for, but I think I'm going to err on the side of caution and go with the other interpretation since I don't want to unintentionally commit tax fraud over a relatively small amount. Edit: VVVVVVVV Thanks! Shear Modulus fucked around with this message at 09:28 on Feb 2, 2013 |
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Feb 2, 2013 05:27
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Shear Modulus posted:Sorry to repost, but I think if I'm reading this right I can apply this to a problem I had posted about earlier: Yes
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Feb 2, 2013 08:44
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If I did not earn any income in a state I lived in until June of 2012, do I need to file my taxes with that state? Probably a dumb question but I just want to be sure.
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Feb 2, 2013 17:48
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Earlier in the thread, I asked for help about a 1099-C. I'm pretty sure I can exclude it due to insolvency. My question is do I send along proof of my liabilities when I send Form 982? The only proof I can think of showing my debt is a credit report. Should I get a copy of that and send it along with the other form? Again, thanks in advance.
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Feb 2, 2013 17:57
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I have a Vanguard Roth IRA. I put $5000 in my account in June. I don't have any tax forms from them on their site. I called, and the rep explained that they don't mail until May, so I don't have to file anything from them on my taxes that are due in April. I remember submitting a form from them on my taxes last year. What's going on?
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Feb 2, 2013 18:41
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I live with my SO, and am on her insurance policy at a cost of under $300 per month. I don't meet any the "5 tests of dependency." I should not file as dependent, right?
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Feb 2, 2013 19:24
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Is it even worth considering not claiming the Foreign Earned Income Credit so I can contribute to a Roth IRA? Or would it just end up being a lot of hassle? The FEIC more than covers what I earn in a year.
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Feb 2, 2013 20:08
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Never mind; found my answer.
Dragyn fucked around with this message at 04:40 on Feb 3, 2013 |
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Feb 2, 2013 20:09
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I just received my 1099-B for stock sales during 2012. One of the entries lists an incorrect date of acquisition, listing a date in 2012 instead of 2011. Is it worthwhile requesting a revised form, or can I just put the correct date on my taxes and file regardless?
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Feb 2, 2013 20:57
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I've tried filling out my taxes through a couple of different free programs and I am having trouble figuring out why I don't qualify for any education tax credits. I think the problem lies in a discrepancy in my 2011 1098-T. My 2011 1098-T gave about $27K for tuition billed. This included winter semester of 2012 (boxes 2 and 7 were checked). My grants were only $7K so I qualified for the tax credit. My 2012 1098-T gave $9K for tuition, and $10K in grants. But that $9K is only summer and fall 2012. Because my grants exceed my tuition on my 2012 1098-T, it seems I may not qualify for an education grant this year. But that's because only part of my 2012 tuition was on this--if the $9K that should have been on this year's 1098-T was on it instead of last year's, I'd easily qualify. So do I qualify or not? The online programs say I don't, but I don't know if that's because I don't actually qualify or because they're dumb. Should I just use the fillable forms the IRS provides? Do I need to revise my 2011 return or something?
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Feb 2, 2013 23:39
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Using taxes.hrblock.com and getting an error with my 1099-B. I use betterment.com for automatic investing and my 1099-B says IRS Box Item Amount 1a Date of Sale or Exchange Various 1b Date of Acquisition Various 1c Type of Gain or Loss Short-Term 1d Stock or other symbol Various 1e Quantity Sold Various and so on. But the program barks at me when I put the word Various in 1a for Date of Sale. Looking at the long version of my 1099-B there's many, many, many transactions; should I put the last transaction, which would be 12/31/2012? It also wants a date for date acquired so should this be the earliest transction date?
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Feb 3, 2013 03:17
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ATP5G1 posted:I've tried filling out my taxes through a couple of different free programs and I am having trouble figuring out why I don't qualify for any education tax credits. I think the problem lies in a discrepancy in my 2011 1098-T. 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. Edit: Actually, that's not entirely true. That would be the case unless you're applying for the American Opportunity tax credit, and you have extra expenses beyond that $10000 that fall under the American Opportunity tax credit's expanded definition of qualified educational expenses. sublyme posted:Using taxes.hrblock.com and getting an error with my 1099-B. I use betterment.com for automatic investing and my 1099-B says Shear Modulus fucked around with this message at 07:27 on Feb 3, 2013 |
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Feb 3, 2013 07:20
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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. 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.
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Feb 3, 2013 07:52
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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. So your date of billing was in 2012 but you paid the bill in 2011? Is the amount reported as amounts paid in box 1 or amounts billed in box 2? My schools always reported stuff in box 1 so I don't have any experience with working with amounts billed, but my understanding is that the important date is the date of payment. Here's what the instructions say, straight from the horse's mouth: IRS posted:Prepaid Expenses Yeah, it sucks but students just don't happen to be one of the protected classes that get to carry costs/losses forward. Shear Modulus fucked around with this message at 08:10 on Feb 3, 2013 |
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Feb 3, 2013 08:06
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Looking at my transaction history, all of my grants and stuff were paid on 1/18/2012. I also paid out-of-pocked approximately $1500 in February.
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Feb 3, 2013 15:28
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GobiasIndustries posted:If I did not earn any income in a state I lived in until June of 2012, do I need to file my taxes with that state? Probably a dumb question but I just want to be sure. I wouldn't Dominoes posted:I have a Vanguard Roth IRA. I put $5000 in my account in June. I don't have any tax forms from them on their site. I called, and the rep explained that they don't mail until May, so I don't have to file anything from them on my taxes that are due in April. Roth IRA contributions don't actually show up on the return unless you took a distribution before retirement age. Put it into your software though so that it will track your basis. vas0line posted:I live with my SO, and am on her insurance policy at a cost of under $300 per month. I don't meet any the "5 tests of dependency." Right Gold and a Pager posted:Is it even worth considering not claiming the Foreign Earned Income Credit so I can contribute to a Roth IRA? Or would it just end up being a lot of hassle? The FEIC more than covers what I earn in a year. I'm not aware of anything saying you can't claim less FEIE than you are entitled to. You might be able to leave off $5K to have enough earned income to qualify for a Roth contribution, and then your standard deduction would make sure you won't owe any tax on that $5K.
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Feb 3, 2013 17:05
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furushotakeru posted:Roth IRA contributions don't actually show up on the return unless you took a distribution before retirement age. Put it into your software though so that it will track your basis.
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Feb 3, 2013 17:09
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I'm trying to claim a HSA deduction for the first time, and want to make sure I'm inputting the figures correctly. The HSA was on my own private plan and was self-funded, so the amount I put into it shouldn't be treated as taxable income. Is there anything to be wary of when entering the amount of contributions + the expenditures? I don't want it to look like an employer put the money in there and have that taxable.
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Feb 3, 2013 17:24
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Oh this sucks. I always seem to have something messed up on my taxes. I got two W2s for two companies I worked for this year. Company A and Company B. Company B came to my state in mid-2012. Company A has a federal EIN and a state EIN. Company B has a federal EIN, and for the state EIN it has something like "APPLIED FOR" listed! Everything else appears to be OK on each of the W2s. It does show that I've paid federal, state, and local taxes the amounts I expected. Will I be unable to file my state or federal taxes due to this? I'm going to talk to HR (Human Resources, not H&R Block) tomorrow morning, but this really worries me and I haven't found much on Google about this. I am hoping that I can still file my federal return (since that doesn't use, to my knowledge, the state EIN), and if HR can't get this resolved, I'll have to file my state form by mail. I guess the upshot is that a ton of people where I work are going to be having the same issue. Interestingly enough, the tax software I'm using doesn't give a poo poo what is entered in the State ID field. However, if the federal field is missing or screwy, it bitches instantly and loudly. I guess the Federal Id missing would be a much more serious situation. Three-Phase fucked around with this message at 18:39 on Feb 3, 2013 |
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Feb 3, 2013 17:36
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Three-Phase posted:Oh this sucks. I always seem to have something messed up on my taxes.
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Feb 3, 2013 18:53
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I received a Bachelor's Degree in 2006. I returned to school in 2009 for another Bachelor's Degree in a different subject. Do I qualify for the American Opportunity tax credit? I know I've claimed it at least once since 2009.
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Feb 3, 2013 19:56
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scribe jones posted:Doesn't matter. As long as the state e-file goes through they should be able to credit you for withholding. I haven't attempted to e-file either my federal or state yet. Ok, this gets weirder - on the state's telefile instructions (it was part of their 1040 booklet) they want the employer's Federal EIN (box b) and NOT the State EIN (box 15)! They specifically tell you to not use the State ID number, only the Federal number. That is bizzare, you'd think it would be the other way around, unless they had so many problems with the State ID they said "hell with it, use the Federal number". Three-Phase fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Feb 3, 2013 |
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Feb 3, 2013 20:16
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Three-Phase posted:I haven't attempted to e-file either my federal or state yet. OK. I honestly don't remember if not having an ID# will cause the state e-file to reject or not--if it does, just paper file the state return and remember to attach a copy of the W-2 and you should be golden.
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Feb 3, 2013 20:27
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I'm moving to a new address on the 15th. If I file *now*, should I select that new address to receive my refund? edit: Looks like it takes 8 weeks, cool. the fucked around with this message at 20:32 on Feb 3, 2013 |
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Feb 3, 2013 20:30
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So, quick question. My parents are married, and although they've been pretty much ready to divorce for years, they have not (pretty much entirely for financial reasons.) This year, my father decided that he would want to file separately (MFS) from my mother. Since my mother usually does the taxes (MFJ), I offered to help him by doing them this year. I've run through the federal packet and basically he's not gonna get any federal tax money back. I understand that he loses quite a bit for not being able to claim student loan interest from my sister and such, but last year they got back $4100 being together. This year, he owes $14. Could I have made a mistake? Their AGI was ~84k last year and they got two American Opportunity Tax Credits, plus they could deduct student loan interest. He paid all of the property taxes and mortgage interest, so he deducted that himself. I guess, I'm just looking for a little clarification.
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Feb 3, 2013 21:18
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the posted:I'm moving to a new address on the 15th. Why don't you direct deposit your refund? Much faster and no worries
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Feb 3, 2013 21:35
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scribe jones posted:OK. I honestly don't remember if not having an ID# will cause the state e-file to reject or not--if it does, just paper file the state return and remember to attach a copy of the W-2 and you should be golden. Does the IRS even look at State data when you e-file?
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Feb 3, 2013 22:21
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ATP5G1 posted:Looking at my transaction history, all of my grants and stuff were paid on 1/18/2012. I also paid out-of-pocked approximately $1500 in February. You need to only claim qualified educational expenses for tax credit purposes in the calendar year they were paid. If these expenses were paid in 2012 and you used them as a basis for a tax credit in 2011, you overclaimed your 2011 tax credit. the posted:I received a Bachelor's Degree in 2006. No. You can only claim the American Opportunity credit during the first 4 years of postsecondary education.
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Feb 3, 2013 22:47
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