Tax prep

[spaz]

Anyone else started work on taxes? Yesterday I made the piles from our income tax folder: W2, 1099, 1098( not sure about that number the ira one), charity giving pile, college expenses pile, trust pile, farm pile, etc. I also made it halfway through our accountants questions leaving some blank that I wasn't sure about. I've finished the college expenses and typed out the 529 account contributions and distributions and have those forms together. I'm probably going to tackle charity today... I dread that. The regular expenses won't be too bad, but figuring up the mission trips and goodwill contributions, yuck.. That may be all I tackle today. I'll save farm with its various categories for tomorrow. My goal is to be done by Friday so hubby can go over it this weekend. Our appointment with the accountant is the 14th. Happy Valentine's day, huh?? At least our part will be done.. But we still won't have our forms to sign until close to the deadlines because we don't typically get our K1 until April sometime... I'm kind of glad we haven't had to do FAFSA because we can't get it done as early as they like. And ours is so incredibly confusing.

I always get a headache this time of year.

[SuzySunshine]

I'm just waiting for our 1099-div to show up which should be around the 15th. Otherwise we're done but ours are pretty straight forward since my husband is on a W-2, we can't deduct student loan interest or pretty much anything else except house taxes and charity. I still do ours on Turbo Tax myself.

[HouseofWool]

I am nearly done with the federal, I just need to run through all of the numbers one more time on Turbo Tax and then do the state. I have to admit that doing a small amount of work as a contractor made a significant difference in the refund.

[SoonerTexan]

Waiting for my W-2 and a bunch of other things. HURRY UP!

I cashed out some stock options this year and I'm hoping that is a PITA. I want this done before the baby comes.

[Sheherezade]

Tax prep

As in it went down? @HoW

[OrionGrad]

I keep track of deductible expenses (charity, business travel, etc) in a spreadsheet throughout the year, so hopefully that won't take me too long. I'm just waiting on a few more 1099s, then I should be able to fill out the paperwork from the accountant.
I think we could probably do our taxes ourselves, but it's worth the peace of mind for me to pay a professional.

[spotty_dog]

DH has done some preliminary entries into the Turbo Tax. This was his first year with his second job, and it's looking like we'll have to pay in a bit above our expected amount (which we've been paying on quarterly). Boo for making an already five figure check to the gubmint even bigger. But the extra savings has been nice. (Our net worth grew by twice as much between 2012-2013 as between 2011-2012, though some of that was because of paper adjustments to asset value in 2012.)

[JDAZ11]

We've done ours, but we're wondering if we should have someone else look at them.

First year (well not full year) that DH is out of training - we both freaked out looking at the numbers. It's crazy how much we paid! And half the year was his fellow salary. I don't think there is any point to me working - my income gets totally pounded by taxes. It's certainly making us look at "extra income" quite a bit differently than we had been.

Anyway - we just finished last night, so I am still in shock. We are getting money back, but the amount a total joke. We can't decide whether it's even worth having an accountant look at it - things were kind of complicated with moving and some 1099's etc, but I doubt they'll be able to get us much more.

And - although I always knew it would happen - the f'ing student loan interest thing really pisses me off.

Ok I'm done. Sorry.....

[SuzySunshine]

And our first full year out we're still getting a refund and DH has adjusted his W-4 because its pretty large and ridiculous. Of course our effective tax rate is also ridiculous

[HouseofWool]

As in it went down? @HoW

Yup - $500 of income reduced the refund by about $250. FML How in the hell does it qualify for a 50% tax rate? And seriously, I still qualify for the EIC, so it isn't as if my tax rate changes by having this income.

Although the memories are totally worth it - the trip was awesome and I would do it again in a heartbeat if I could.

[SuzySunshine]

It seems to me that any income not on a W-2 does that - like a DIV, etc.

Sucks because that is a huge chunk but I'm glad you got to go!

[HouseofWool]

I just don't understand why it should be subject to a higher tax rate than regular W-2 income.

And for the record? I think we need a simplified tax code, everyone pays the same damn rate (15%?) and the rest of the taxes are collected through sales tax. Make it a use tax. Spend a lot? Cool. Save a lot? Also cool.

[JDAZ11]

I just don't understand why it should be subject to a higher tax rate than regular W-2 income.

And for the record? I think we need a simplified tax code, everyone pays the same damn rate (15%?) and the rest of the taxes are collected through sales tax. Make it a use tax. Spend a lot? Cool. Save a lot? Also cool.

You have my vote.

[OrionGrad]

Tax prep

I just don't understand why it should be subject to a higher tax rate than regular W-2 income.

And for the record? I think we need a simplified tax code, everyone pays the same damn rate (15%?) and the rest of the taxes are collected through sales tax. Make it a use tax. Spend a lot? Cool. Save a lot? Also cool.

Basically, the employment taxes a company would usually be paying for you are being 100% covered by you with a 1099. I'm sure there are other things, too, but that at least accounts for 7.5%(ish) of the difference.

ETA: I totally agree about things needing to be simplified. Almost 100% of my income comes from 1099s, and I pay WAY too much in taxes each quarter.

[diggitydot]

You might be surprised how our current tax system disproportionally taxes those in the lowest socioeconomic group. Unfortunately, flat tax rates exacerbate the problem.