Tax Season

[mac5155]

You're right.

https://www.rapidtax.com/blog/breakdown-w-4-allowances/

All I know is my wife and I are each at 1 and it works out almost perfectly that we get a small refund, mainly because of two things:
I get a bonus which is taxed at 40%
We deduct $2500 in student loan interest

[King Colby]

Why is it telling me I have to pay $34.99 to upgrade to deluxe on Turbo Tax for HSA, but yours was only $24.99?

[mac5155]

I am a member at PSECU and received promotional pricing

[King Colby]

ok i was wondering if i was getting screwed. So if I pay the $34.99 now it will do the federal but try to make me pay for state?

[mac5155]

Yeah I believe you'll have to pay extra for the state, or start all over again. I'm just going to use PA Efile to do my state... At some point.. Probably April 14

[King Colby]

Yeah i just found PA direct file.

I did it all by hand and waited 6 weeks last year because i was pissed Turbo Tax wouldn't handle a 1099-MISC for free. I got a $100 promotion from a lender for a referral, and couldn't get myself to swallow paying $25 tax on it and then another $35 to file.

[mac5155]

I just threw the 36 dollar 1099 MISC I got last year on a 1099 DIV. Come at me bro. I paid the necessary tax

[King Colby]

I should have done that. Unfortunately because of my HSA, I can't file for free because of the need to do Form 8889. Whatever i'll pay the $34.99 this year I guess. Next year i'll own a house so it I may have to pay somebody to do it anyway.

[willeyeam]

I just threw the 36 dollar 1099 MISC I got last year on a 1099 DIV. Come at me bro. I paid the necessary tax

did you though?

[robbiestoupe]

turbo tax is a ripoff. I've used olt.com for the past 5 or so years. Never had to upgrade to get any of their services.

[Silentom]

Is it common to owe money, even with mortgage interest and whatnot? Filed jointly with the missus, and somehow owe money this year (got money back last year), even though we added our 1098 info that we didn't have last year.

[willeyeam]

It happens. All depends on what your employer is withholding

[TobiasFunke]

turbo tax is a ripoff. I've used olt.com for the past 5 or so years. Never had to upgrade to get any of their services.

Turbo Tax is TERRIBLE. Coming from someone who works in the accounting world I can tell you you're better off watching a youtube video on doing your taxes. Turbo Tax misses a lot nuance in tax prep that could either cost or save you money.

[TobiasFunke]

Is it common to owe money, even with mortgage interest and whatnot? Filed jointly with the missus, and somehow owe money this year (got money back last year), even though we added our 1098 info that we didn't have last year.

In the tax world nothing is "common" for the most part. Depends what you do for a living. Are you W2? 1099? Fully self-employed? You could have missed items to add to your Schedule A when itemizing.

[willeyeam]

yes another accountant @MrKennethTKangaroo @NAN

[tifosi77]

Got our taxes back from the perparator over the weekend, and it was a good news/bad news thing.

Good news: The People's Republic of CA has agree to refund us approximately $350!

Bad news: The IRS has determined that we still owe over $7,000.



(I think Mrs Tif has filled out her I-9 incorrectly)

[llipgh2]

Yeah I believe you'll have to pay extra for the state, or start all over again. I'm just going to use PA Efile to do my state... At some point.. Probably April 14

Tax Day is April 18th this year, as the 15th is a holiday weekend. So you can wait until the 17th...

[Silentom]

Source of the post In the tax world nothing is "common" for the most part. Depends what you do for a living. Are you W2? 1099? Fully self-employed? You could have missed items to add to your Schedule A when itemizing.

Well, I see using Turbo Tax wasn't advisable, lol.

Both of us are W2's. Paycheck wise, I have less taxes taken out of mine, so I don't expect much back in my refund. The missus, though, is the opposite - she likes getting a big chunk at refund time. The reason I'm questioning this, is because I was set to get north of 5 hundies back, but then when I added hers, we dropped to owing money.

Then I added the mortgage stuff (interest, property taxes, etc.) and nothing changed.

[Beveridge]

Well, if the interest, property taxes, etc + state/local withholdings don't surpass 12,600 it won't change anything. That's the standard deduction for married filing jointly. Was there charity you forgot to add in. Did you add in what's withheld for unemployment? It's a small amount but it all helps if you are close to itemizing. TurboTax will miss this unless you listed in on the W2 part as SUI.

Did she get a raise and only had a set amount withheld, not a percentage and forget to change it? Was there any type of capital gains or dividends or interest that added to adjusted gross income? What's the % of Income tax withheld to gross wages for both of you? This could tell a story.

Most people's effective tax rate is below their tax bracket just because of deductions, credits, etc, but if you guys are 15% bracket but only had ~10% withheld that can be an issue.

Trying not to pry too much, but those are some quick things to look at.


Did you forget student loan interest, or IRA contributions not from work pay?

[LITT]

forgot to include cash basis on some investments we cashed in for 2015 for our house so uncle sam sent us a note that we under reported our taxes.
went through and filed the section d correctly. they want the updated schedule d, form 8949 and a letter. do i need to refile my 2015 return or just send this stuff with the monies we owe

[columbia]

I sent the IRS a large amount of money in March and was pleasantly surprised to get a $311 check in the mail yesterday. H&R Block was slightly off in one of their calculations, so....minor win.

[Beveridge]

forgot to include cash basis on some investments we cashed in for 2015 for our house so uncle sam sent us a note that we under reported our taxes.
went through and filed the section d correctly. they want the updated schedule d, form 8949 and a letter. do i need to refile my 2015 return or just send this stuff with the monies we owe

You will want to include any forms that needed corrected. Sounds like in this case it's the schedule D, form 8949, and of course the 1040 itself. No need to resubmit any other forms as the summary numbers on the 1040 will still be correct for other areas.

[LITT]

forgot to include cash basis on some investments we cashed in for 2015 for our house so uncle sam sent us a note that we under reported our taxes.
went through and filed the section d correctly. they want the updated schedule d, form 8949 and a letter. do i need to refile my 2015 return or just send this stuff with the monies we owe

You will want to include any forms that needed corrected. Sounds like in this case it's the schedule D, form 8949, and of course the 1040 itself. No need to resubmit any other forms as the summary numbers on the 1040 will still be correct for other areas.

that was my understanding as well but the irs is unnecessarily complicated - job security i suppose

[TobiasFunke]

Well, if the interest, property taxes, etc + state/local withholdings don't surpass 12,600 it won't change anything. That's the standard deduction for married filing jointly. Was there charity you forgot to add in. Did you add in what's withheld for unemployment? It's a small amount but it all helps if you are close to itemizing. TurboTax will miss this unless you listed in on the W2 part as SUI.

Did she get a raise and only had a set amount withheld, not a percentage and forget to change it? Was there any type of capital gains or dividends or interest that added to adjusted gross income? What's the % of Income tax withheld to gross wages for both of you? This could tell a story.

Most people's effective tax rate is below their tax bracket just because of deductions, credits, etc, but if you guys are 15% bracket but only had ~10% withheld that can be an issue.

Trying not to pry too much, but those are some quick things to look at.


Did you forget student loan interest, or IRA contributions not from work pay?

Yup, good points. Chances are though most homeowners can get well over half-way to that threshold before factoring in all the other deductions. It doesn't hurt to look at any medical expenses spent outside of what your insurance covered. I forget how much you had to spend for it to count.

Other things you can calculate for misc.:
-computer depreciation if used for work
-any tools or equipment you purchased to use for work
-a portion of your home expenses if you work a lot from home

[willeyeam]

^^^ only if your employer doesn't have an office for you to work at