Filing Your Taxes

[Rufus Krile]

Done my own taxes forever. Had 18hrs of accounting... including tax... in college and i'm still as confused as five blind lesbians in a fish market. Last year they told me I didn't have to pay ANY tax on my SS receipts and returned a chunk of money to me. I figured it was a trap. Went all thru their worksheets and whereas'... "divide this sum by the square-root of the height in inches of your first-born child, add to it the current temperature in centigrade, and double it. If this is larger than line 8, then blue." They sent back, along with the check for more money, a perfect explanation... "You were wrong, Here's the right number." I'm gonna try it again this year and roll 'em up a phatty with my return. Can't hurt.

[Gewehr-Guy]

Sorry, this is a little off topic, but my 16yr. old son asked me why do they withhold from his paycheck to spend on all the insanity he sees in gov't, and he CANT VOTE!

I told him to call his Congressmen , they'll fix it!

[HeavyMetal]

AS long as I can file a simple 1040 & CA 540 I'm good to do it myself, usually file by mid march!

I do snail mail my return in, usually get a small small refund in relations ship to my income, but I feel if these dorks are gonna make me do their bookkeeping I'm going to make them do it manually rather than give them the auto check on a computer.

I think the refund is an insult and there are better ways to compute tax's with out withholding what they do, even worse is the rare case where I need to send them money!

To add insult to injury last year I did my Cali tax's and had a refund coming, 5 weeks later received a letter saying I owed an additional $4500.00??!

Turned out the person who checked my tax's at the FTB entered my income twice, must have been out of coffee that morning, when I called to find out how they messed it up the FTB agent informed me of my corrected income, I advised him to things: A check the W2 for the right income and B if I really made that much money I'd be going home to a 20 year old stripper and I wasn't, LOL!

Guy had a good sense of humor and after we got done laughing he fixed the paper work and promised me a check in 3 weeks, which happened on the
nose.
Most likely the only Republican in the building, LOL!

HM

[marlin39a]

The first day off I have in February. I get it over with fast.

[dragon813gt]

Sorry, this is a little off topic, but my 16yr. old son asked me why do they withhold from his paycheck to spend on all the insanity he sees in gov't, and he CANT VOTE!

I told him to call his Congressmen , they'll fix it!

Had this same discussion w/ my step daughter. She asked why they took so much of her money. I told her welcome to the adult world. We will see how she turns out in the long run but she seems to grasp reality.

[44man]

I am retired many years, had medical expenses last year from eye surgery and could not reach the standard deduction. WV the worst, had to pay over $550 but only $50 to the fed.
I lost a lot of retirement when the PBGC took it over and can't deduct the loss anymore from the state.
I only make about $26,000 a year and have to pay taxes on some SS. Blame the Democrats for that. I need to change my name to Gonzales.

[William Yanda]

I hate to let the govt handle my money so I try to arrange deductions to minimize my return. I realize some folks look at it differently and use it as a savings plan. I also belong to the file early to discourage identity thieves club. To keep peace in the family and utilize all applicable rules we use a tax preparer. Now that I am semi retired and we are empty nesters it may be simplified enough to go back to self preparation.

[whelenshooter]

Considering I pretty much always have to pay money in, I set an appointment with the CPA mid March and send everything in on the due date. I have to wait for my money, so can they. The difference is that I earn mine.

this^^

[lightman]

I have had mine done by a CPA for a long time. When I worked and ran a side business I just about had to. I usually get the info to him shortly after I get all of my W-2's and 1099's in. Some years there were a lot of them and some of them would be late. I'm retired now but I still use the same guy.

[km101]

A. E file and get $ back, so I want it asap.

[rockrat]

Haven't filed yet, be a few more weeks. Self-employed here. Have to pay estimated tax. One year I got a tax bill from the state saying I owed $$. Called them up and found out that they zeroed out my estimated taxes!!! I told the lady that you can't zero out what I paid and claim I owed the amount I had already paid and she told me "well, we did!" She insisted I owed the money so I asked for a supervisor. Supervisor took one look and went "what, why did they do that?? I will get it straightened out for you"", which she did.

[alamogunr]

rockrat's post reminded me that last September I sent in my federal estimated payment. When the check had not cleared in 3 weeks, I got concerned. Had a stop placed on the check and sent another check in mid October. Cost about $40 to place a stop but was worth it for peace of mind. Explained all this in a letter with the 2nd check.

[DCP]

Filed tax 3/20 Turbo Tax
Accepted on the 3/21
Refund was in checking 3/24

Now that was fast