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I've a question for the proessional tax preparers in the thread. I'm working at a VITA site, and yesterday we had a woman come in who wanted us to amend her 2011 return (which we prepared last Friday). Apparently someone at the IRS told her she qualified for a special credit for people who receive Social Security Disability but have started working again. No one here has heard of this credit, and since she was headed to the local IRS office anyway for help amending her 2009 and 2010 returns (definitely out of our scope) we told her to have them help her with 2011 as well. So, can anyone shed some light on this credit?
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Feb 11, 2012 06:40
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seymore posted:This link may help ( all I found quickly ): Thanks. Looking at that I'm thinking she was confused about the requirements for the Credit for the Elderly or Disabled (Pub 524).
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Feb 12, 2012 23:45
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kaishek posted:Where does the self employment income go? Do I pretend like she got a 1099? Yes, you report it on Schedule C (or C-EZ)
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Feb 21, 2013 18:59
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heliotroph posted:I gifted around $160 to a non-profit over the year, and had my taxes done for me. The person that did my taxes said to not bother with filing the gift, although I thought it would be tax-deductible. I don't make a lot of money, so I was wondering how much of a difference that the gift would make, if any. Donations to charity are one of the itemized deductions - you have a choice whether to take your actual itemized deductions or the standard deduction. The other common itemized deductions are mortgage interest, real property taxes, state or local income taxes paid, and medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of income. If the sum of those deductions doesn't exceed your standard deduction it's better for you to take the standard deduction. For a single person the standard deduction is $5950 this year, head of household is $8700, and married filing jointly is $11,900. So if all you had for itemized deductions were your charitable contributions, your tax person did the right thing in having you take the standard deduction.
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Feb 22, 2013 03:07
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FISHMANPET posted:Can anyone provide an explanation of the difference between the Hope Credit, American Opportunity Credit, and the Tuition & Fees Deduction? A credit is better than a deduction, right? The Hope credit became the American Opportunity Credit and was extended so that it can be taken up to 4 years in the first 4 years a student is pursuing a degree. Your choices are AOC, Lifetime Learning Credit, and the deduction. For most students the AOC is better, but it depends on your individual situation. Check the limits on the AOC again-you should be able to use up to $4000 of expenses, and the maximum credit amount is $2500->$1500 nonrefundable credit and $1000 refundable.
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Mar 6, 2013 12:42
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Meta Ridley posted:Tax Question. Technically applies to 2014 returns but laws would be the same then too. Reimbursments from your employer for employee expenses are not included in income. See http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc514.html
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Mar 9, 2013 05:35
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SilkyP posted:Alright so with my W-2 form only, its looking like I would be getting about 700 hundred back. With the 1099 only I owe about a grand. So if that's the case should I only be paying about 300 dollars when I file? Somehow filing them together will cost 1400 dollars. I'm so confused :/ Does this mean I will pay the 1400 and then get back 700 from the return? No. You cannot calculate each form individually and then put the results together. You add up all your income from all sources, then subtract your deductions and exemptions, calculate the taxes owed, and compare your taxes owed to the amounts that were withheld already on your W2. When you calculate an "amount owed" at the end of your return, that should already account for the amounts you've paid in. If you are using software to calculate your taxes owed on each of those forms individually, it is probably subtracting your standard deduction and personal exemption each time. This would make it give you a lower tax liability than you should have because you only get to subtract your deductions and exemptions once, not twice. It's also possible that putting both forms together bumps you into a higher tax bracket than either of them would put you in individually. Your software may also be giving you the Earned Income Credit when you do your forms individually, but when you put all the income together you may be over income to take the credit. tl;dr - do your taxes with all the income together, don't expect it to match with calculating each form individually.
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Mar 9, 2013 06:00
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Heads up to anyone using Intuit products to file Minnesota taxes - don't: http://www.revenue.state.mn.us/individuals/individ_income/Pages/Online_Filing_Software.aspx Intuit products include TurboTax, Lacerte, Intuit online, and ProSeries.
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Mar 10, 2013 16:19
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Rubber Slug posted:I'm 19 and I've had a part-time job since July of '09. I usually make less than $2,000 dollars a year, but I've never filed for a federal tax refund because I didn't care/was lazy. Since I've never filed any kind of tax return or refund or anything like that, is it possible for me to get a refund for years past, or only this year? You can still file a late return until 3 years past the due date - the 2009 return was due April 15, 2010, so you have until Monday to file it before you lose the chance forever. 2010 and 2011 can still be filed anytime.
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Apr 13, 2013 02:36
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HondaCivet posted:This seems like a dumb question but I'm confused . . . I'm doing my taxes via TaxACT and I'm getting that I owe the feds about $400 and the state of Oregon about $300. In the past I've always gotten a refund. The only things that have changed are that I now make more money (almost twice what I made last year, first full year of my big-adult-person job) and I made contributions to my HSA this year. Is this normal? Why didn't my workplace take enough out of my pay during the year to cover my taxes? I feel like I screwed something up but I can't find any mistakes. Talk to HR, say you want to fill out a new W-4 to change your withholding. You can do it anytime. If you want to be sure you have enough withheld this year, the IRS has a withholding calculator that is WAY more accurate than the worksheet on the top of the W-4. Find it at http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator
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Apr 14, 2013 13:33
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neogeo0823 posted:is there a recommended website to e-file my taxes for cheap/free? I used taxact.com last year, and would be willing to do so again, but I'd like to know if I can save a bit of money using a different service. If you made less than $58000, you can file fed and state for free through myfreetaxes.com. I work for a non-profit that offers free tax preparation through the IRS VITA program and free self-preparation through http://www.myfreetaxes.com/lincolncap. Myfreetaxes uses the H&R block platform, but it's free if you're under the income limit and you access the service through the myfreetaxes link.
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Feb 8, 2014 17:27
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Akumu posted:Getting a 1098-T where Box 5 has a larger amount than Box 2 is totally hosed, right? If you get more scholarships and grants than you had qualified expenses, you have to report the excess scholarship/grant money as income. It happens for some people. Don't take the number in box 2 at face value-you count qualified expenses that were paid during 2013, which might not be what they billed during 2013, AND schools are notoriously inaccurate when reporting qualified expenses. The best way to make sure you're counting all the qualified expenses is to contact student accounts and get an account statement showing all the charges and payments related to your account in 2013. Look through that and add up the qualified expenses from your account statement and see how they compare to the scholarships/grants/stipends you got in 2013. If your expenses are still smaller, you'll report the difference as income. If the expenses are larger, look at the American Opportunity Credit and Lifetime Learning Credit and see if you'd qualify for either. For the American Opportunity Credit you can also add in required books that you bought from a source other than the school.
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Feb 8, 2014 17:44
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razz posted:Really? I read somewhere that if you did the 1040EZ you can't do an amend online, you have to do it on a paper form. It would be great if I could do it online. You can't e-file an amendment, but you could use an online software to prepare it, then print it and mail it in. Don't expect to see the additional refund for 6-8 months. The 8880 can be e-filed as part of the original return. If it's available in the turbo tax package you have, you should be able to use that to prepare your amendment for printing and mailing.
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Feb 8, 2014 19:35
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Akumu posted:Right so, why is it taxable because I work as a graduate assistant? Likely because the school didn't pay part of your insurance premium as an employment benefit (if they had, that amount would be reported on your w-2 in box 12 with the code DD), and instead they paid it as a stipend because you are a grad student. Are you a full-time employee who qualifies for benefits through the university? You could ask payroll or the financial aid office, and find out exactly why the university is subsidizing your insurance.
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Feb 8, 2014 22:10
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furushotakeru posted:Usually more like 6-8 weeks The official IRS timeframe is 8-12 weeks after receipt, yes? Maybe it's because we're a VITA program and the amendments people being to us generate refunds, but our clients usually don't see their checks until August. I've chalked it up to the IRS largely ignoring amendments until they process current returns, and then a couple months to process and mail the check. There's probably a good amount of confirmation bias in my experience, though-we're not actively following up with people to find out when their refund came so I probably only hear from the people who think it's taking too long.
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Feb 8, 2014 22:21
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Lawnie posted:I'm probably just a huge idiot for never having claimed this before, but is it possible to claim credit for higher education expenses (based on the 1098-T form) for years other than last tax year? I think I may have missed out on that chance, but some extra money in return for education expenses would be nice. Yes, assuming that you qualified educational expenses exceed your scholarships and grants for each year. You can still go back and amend 2010-2012 to take the education credits for which you qualify. (After April 15 you will no longer be able to amend 2010) Make sure you're using all your qualified expenses-most schools under-report the expenses on the 1098-T, and for the American Opportunity Credit you can use the cost of required books regardless of where you bought them.
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Feb 26, 2014 05:43
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Lawnie posted:Will I have to have receipts for those books? I may have kept some, but not all, I'm certain. You should have some documentation of what you spent on the books, but you won't have to show it unless the IRS asks. Education credits are available separately for each student, so yes, the American Opportunity Credit would be available for your sister if she meets the requirements. But, if someone claims her as a dependent, they get to take her education credit. So she should coordinate with your parents/whoever if she can still be claimed as a dependent.
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Feb 28, 2014 03:00
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furushotakeru posted:Round to the nearest dollar when reporting, so it doesn't matter. gently caress the police amirite Half-time student status is the threshold for the education credits-for being claimed as a dependent, it's full-time student under 24. The American Opportunity Credit doesn't have to be claimed in consecutive years; you only get to claim it 4 times, and during those years you have to be attending at least half-time pursuing a degree and you cannot have completed your first four-year degree before the year of the expenses you're claiming.
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Jan 26, 2015 04:32
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Boris Galerkin posted:Cool, that answers one question. I'm still at a standstill on filing because I'm not sure if/how to report employer contributions to my HSA. The employer contributions should be included in the code W account in box 12 of your W2-the contributions you made pre-tax through patrol deductions should also be in that amount and are treated as employer contributions.
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Feb 14, 2015 19:48
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Harminoff posted:So my Daughters mother and I are separated. Would filling out a 8332 allow me to claim the child tax credit while still allowing her to claim head of household and get the earned income credit? She already filed and got the eic, and when I tried to file mine it got rejected saying that my daughter was already claimed as a dependent. I want to get the child tax credit but don't want to screw up her return at all. Only 2 child benefits can be transferred from the custodial parent to the non-custodial parent: the dependency exemption and the child tax credit. Your daughter's mother should sign an 8332 to allow you to claim the exemption and the child tax credit. She will still use your daughter as a qualifying person for the head of household filling status and earned income credit (and child and dependent care credit if she paid anyone to watch your daughter while she worked or went to school). If the rejection says that your daughter has already been claimed as a dependent, her mother claimed her for everything and you'll have to file on paper-and her mother should amend her return to remove your daughter as a dependent and remove the child tax credit for your daughter.
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Feb 15, 2015 16:00
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baquerd posted:The employer contributions count towards your maximum contribution for the year too, right? Yes
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Feb 15, 2015 16:01
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kaishek posted:I'm pretty sure I know the answer, but I'm pissed nonetheless. If your 1099 says that basis wasn't reported to the IRS, then it wasn't reported to the IRS, even if it's on the form they sent you. So if you don't report the basis, the IRS will assume it's $0 and send you a notice in about 6 months, saying that you owe that extra bit of tax. If your income is under $60,000, you can still file for free using https://www.myfreetaxes.com
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Feb 15, 2015 16:08
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Rotten Red Rod posted:Got a quick question - this is unrelated to me, but for a friend. Her husband (separated, but not divorced) filed taxes and claimed her as a dependent without her permission, so now she can't file and collect her return. Does she have any recourse to fix that? File on paper by mail. The irs will process her return, maybe ask both of them to justify their position re her dependent status, and adjust his return. If it wasn't the husband who claimed her as a dependent she should contact the irs identity protection unit (800-908-4490) to get an ip pin and she should check her credit reports for any fraudulent activity.
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Mar 19, 2015 00:47
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Meta Ridley posted:Have a question about the Obamacare penalty. It's 2% of your income above the filling threshold, so the numbers will be closer than that. Married filling separately the filling threshold is $4,000 so you'd subtract that 4k from your 40 before figuring the penalty. Married filling jointly the threshold is $20,600 so you'd subtract that from your combined 70 before figuring the penalty. The penalty is also capped at the average cost of a bronze plan from the marketplace, that may or may not affect your penalty. You can figure it using the worksheets in the instructions for form 8965 https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8965.pdf. The instructions also tell you how to figure your household income for this purpose-it's not just AGI. I would strongly recommend that you prepare your return both jointly and separately so you can compare the final results before you decide which way to file. Filling separately instead of jointly can affect a lot on the return.
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Dec 17, 2015 15:17
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Not a Children posted:So, I'm in an educational program that gets reimbursed by my employer after grades come in. If I paid for the education last year, and it won't be reimbursed until this year, can I claim the Lifetime Learning Credit for that expense? Over the long term you'll have to reduce your lifetime learning expenses (or tuition and fees deduction) by the amounts that your employer reimbursed you. If you take the credit (or deduction) and then later your employer reimburses for those expenses, you'll have to recalculate the credit based on the reduced expense account and pay back any tax benefit you got from the reimbursed expenses. Long story short, if you know you're getting reimbursed, you'd just be making a bunch more work for yourself to take the credit.
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Jan 14, 2016 05:24
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Grem posted:Do I have to file this year? I get VA benefits (disability and GI Bill) that are tax free, I don't have a job, and I've taken out student loans (so basically get the student loan money refunded to my bank account since the GI Bill pays for everything). The only thing I have that might be taken as income is on the 1098-T from the school, where box 5 has 20k listed for (scholarships or grants). Is the school listing your GI Bill benefits as scholarships or grants, or do you also have 20k of other scholarships? What is listed in box 1 (qualified expenses paid during 2015) or box 2 (qualified expenses charged during 2015-if box 7 is checked this also includes amounts for the spring or winter term that were charged in December)? You should get a statement of your student account from the bursar or your school's online student portal to make sure these numbers are accurate. The GI benefits will reduce your qualified education expenses, increasing the likelihood that other scholarships Will counts as taxable income. If you did not have scholarships or grants besides the GI benefits you might not have to file. Publication 970 has more information about education expenses and income-Pub 970
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Jan 27, 2016 04:42
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NancyPants posted:I did not file 2013 and 2014 taxes. I was unable to get the proper 1098-E for 2013, but I got a statement from the servicer that shows what I think is the same info. Does the accountant need to send in an actual 1098-E when he files my taxes or would this suffice? To answer this part, just the number is fine, you do NOT need to actually attach the 1098-E.
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Jan 27, 2016 04:46
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Grem posted:Box 1 is empty, box 2 is 12,198, and box 7 is checked. The 20k would probably be for Pell grants and student loans, I suppose? Box 5 should include Pell grants and other grants and scholarships-it should NOT include student loans. Loans don't get reported because you have to pay them back. You'll need to get a copy of the student account statement to make sure that those numbers are accurate, and to see which expenses were actually paid in 2015. If the $20k doesn't include the GI benefit, then most of that is probably taxable income and you'd have to file. If it does include the GI benefit, then you'll have to compare the amounts to see what, if any of the $20k should be included on your return. Publication 970 explains that process.
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Jan 29, 2016 15:02
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alnilam posted:I'm soon going to buy a house for the first time. The mortgage will be in my name only, but the title will likely include my fiancee too. My question here is about splitting mortgage payments. Suppose the monthly payment is $1200, for this example. MadDogMike posted:Oh, right, he said she was just on the title? Yeah, that might complicate things, though I'm not sure how not being on both works since any mortgage by definition is secured by the home she has title to. I'd think you COULDN'T have a mortgage without the owners of the securing property all being in on it, how could you set up someone else's property rights to be taken away on a default without their consent? IANAL of course, but that seems like it should be an issue. In my state, and I suspect elsewhere as well, you definitely can have someone on the title but not on the mortgage-this commonly happens where one part of the couple has either a poor credit history or a large amount of debt and the other has income sufficient to support the loan. For mortgage interest deduction, if you itemize you can deduct the interest you pay on a loan secured by a house you have an ownership interest in. You don't have to be on the mortgage, you just have to be an owner of the property and pay the interest. The bank likely won't care whose checks they get as long as it's clearly marked which loan you are paying and the money is there. Check out Publication 17, starting around page 152. You can split the interest between you by each paying part of the mortgage. However, if the mortgage interest is there only reason one of you would itemize, you might find that it's better for one of you to deduct all the interest and itemize, while the other takes the standard deduction for their filing status.
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Jan 29, 2016 15:32
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MadDogMike posted:The general rule of thumb I've heard for Roth vs. traditional is when do you think you will be earning more money, now or when the money comes out? If you expect to have less income reported on your taxes when you retire/hit age 59 1/2+, then a traditional IRA works better because you are going to be in a lower bracket when the money distributes and you have to pay taxes on it. But if you're very low income now but might have higher retirement income like in my case (as a new-ish preparer I don't earn much now at it, but if I work into retirement age (a lot of preparers often are retired since it's just four months of desk work) I would undoubtedly earn far more with several decades of experience under my belt) then a Roth works better since my taxable income when I'm older is quite likely to exceed what I'm earning (and paying minimal taxes on) now. Barring special circumstances like that though, most people have lower taxable income at retirement (especially given how social security has favorable tax treatment) so a traditional tends to be better for most, Roth is more for said rarer situations or personal preference of not wanting to screw with taxes later on or expecting to take the whole thing as a lump sum or similar. A Roth is also tax-free at distribution for both the amounts you contributed and the growth in the account. So a Roth is more attractive the father from retirement you are and the more time the savings have to grow.
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Feb 6, 2016 04:24
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Deviant posted:1099-G is unemployment benefits. And yeah, but the names of the fields on the 1040X and the 1040EZ aren't identical, so i'm not sure how to cross the data over. It also seems to have a different concept of the standard deduction in the 1040X than it does in the 1040EZ? (EZ told me to enter 10,300 whereas the instructions for the 1040X say 6300) The EZ combines the standard deduction ($6,300) and the personal exemption ($4,000) because it's only for people with no dependents. On the 1040X you'll list those amounts separately.
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Feb 9, 2016 17:50
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stubblyhead posted:Is an Explanation of Benefits from your health insurance company sufficient documentation for medical expenses? It would show what your portion of the bill was, but it doesn't prove you paid it during 2015. Pair it with a receipt from the provider. Or just ask your providers for statements showing what you paid during the year.
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Feb 10, 2016 02:40
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RedQueen posted:I have a sole proprietorship with income reported on a schedule C-EZ. I reported business income from a certain source under general income and e-filed my return with TurboTax. Now I just learned they have a 1099 for me. The $ amount in the 1099 is the exact same as what I reported, so my overall income won't change. You might get an income matching notice from the IRS, once their computers realize that you didn't include the 1099-MISC. You would be able to respond to that indicating that the 1099 was the income you reported, you just hasn't received it when you filled.
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Feb 10, 2016 14:23
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stubblyhead posted:So you don't recognize them in the period they occur like business expenses? It's been a long time since I did any accounting classes, but we were taught that the period where the expense occurs is what's important, not when the bill actually gets paid. Individuals are almost always on a cash basis, calendar year accounting method. Being cash basis, you count expenses when paid and income when received. Many businesses do and should use an accrual basis method, where you count expenses when incurred and income when earned. Many businesses also have a fiscal year different from the calendar year.
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Feb 11, 2016 14:40
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Boris Galerkin posted:I held the same job for all of 2015 up until 12/25/16 where I moved out of the state (country really). I did the responsible thing and updated my home address on the payroll website to my current living address and just got my W2 sent to me. Unfortunately the address listed on the W2 is now my current address and when I tried to file my federal/state taxes with TaxAct just now it had a fit with my address (mostly the state return had a problem). Do I have to put the address the W2 is listing or am I safe to just put in the address I lived at for the entire year? The code DD in box 12 is the amount your employer paid for your health insurance premiums. The "cafe 125" amount is what you had taken out of your wages pre-tax to pay things like insurance premiums, dependent care benefits, or fund a flexible health spending account. This is the "cafeteria" or "section 125" plan that your employer offers. Look closely at the instructions for Ohio and see if you should only list amounts you paid out of pocket for health insurance or if you should include the amount you paid through your cafeteria/125 plan. Because the cafeteria/125 plan amounts are already taken out of your income pre-tax, they are usually ignored for other tax benefits.
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Feb 11, 2016 15:07
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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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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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KillHour posted:What do I do if my wife won't tell me if she's filing itemized or not? We're separated (and have been for a year), and filing separately. I can't get ahold of her to figure out which she is doing, but I'm definitely itemizing since I own a house and the difference is like $1200 in my return. If she did standard, will the IRS just send a nastygram saying to amend the return, or are they going to go straight to pounding me in the rear end? No, if you itemize and she didn't, they'll send her a letter telling her she has to amend to itemize as well. They won't force you to use the standard deduction. The IRS always sends a bunch of letters before they take any action to give the taxpayer a chance to amend the return or provide additional information.
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Apr 3, 2016 13:29
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KillHour posted:Edit: I actually did the math instead of going off of memory. Yes, because you are married filling separately (and don't qualify for premium tax credits to help pay for marketplace insurance) you would use the annualized premium for the lowest-cost bronze plan for your zip code for the months that you were not eligible for employer-sponsored coverage. For any months you were eligible for employer-sponsored coverage you have to use the annualized cost of that coverage to figure affordability.
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Apr 4, 2016 03:34
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Zero VGS posted:The deadline snuck up on me this year... I was going to file an extension and I noticed that I'll still pay a penalty if I owe money. Yes. Estimate what you'll owe and send that amount with your 4868. Then list it as "amount paid with request for extension to file" when you file your actual return.
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Apr 17, 2016 16:32
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