Filing Taxes

[Jdurg]

Boy, I miss the days when I could file an EZ form and not have anything to itemize or adjust, or even worry about.  It was just fill out what you had been given in your W2 and get a refund.  The older you get, the more complicated it gets.

This past year (2007) I bought myself my first home.  Very complex process, very long process, and very paperwork heavy process.  Thankfully, my lawyer told me which things to put at the top of the pack so I could find them easier when doing my taxes for the year.  (The Amoritization Schedule, and the HUD-1 document).  I also had my automobile taxes from the town I live in, and my two student loan 1098 forms.  So overall, I had my W2, my four different 1098 forms (Two from student loans, and two from the two companies that housed my mortgage), a 1099-INT from my bank for the interest obtained on my savings account while I saved for the house, and my tax bill for my car.  Thank god for the tax software out there because it was well worth the $20 I spent on it.  (Really ended up being free due to other stuff I also bought).

The nice thing about the tax software is that it told me about things I never would have thought of.  Things like the property taxes that were already paid for the September-December timeframe by the previous owners could be claimed by me.  This is because in the closing, I reimbursed them for that timeperiod and this is denoted in my HUD-1 on the front page.  SWEET!  In addition, even though I didn't pay "points" on the mortgage, I did pay some initial premiums that are equivalent to points but denoted as such.  They even told me what line on the HUD-1 to find this amount.  It was pretty significant and added a lot to my deductions.

With all said and done, my federal and state taxes were filed and I'm getting a nice refund back of near $2,500!!!     So this means that my cabinet is paid for in full, or I can get myself a nice laptop like I've always wanted, or I could take a vacation someplace nice which I've never done before, or I could go and fill out my DVD collection, or I could do a bunch of other things.

Kind of funny how the most expensive purchase of my life is resulting in a great tax refund from both the feds and the state.     I am in a DAMN good mood right now.   

[Chris G]

Yup, the mortgage interest and property tax deductions are awesome.  As is Turbotax.

[Dartful Dodger]

Yup, the mortgage interest and property tax deductions are awesome.  As is Turbotax.

The first year I bought my house I didn't want to make any mistakes so I went to H&R Block.  The person on the other side of the desk had a program that showed her what questions to ask me, and she filled them in.  I don't think the person asking me the questions was an accountant.  The next year I skipped the middle man and just used Turbo Tax.   

A $20-30 program is better than a $150+ charge for a high school drop out to walk you through their program.

[ChadTower]

$40 program, plus $15-20 filing fee, plus state app $20-25 if you need more than one state (I do), plus state filing fee of $15-20... it's not all that much cheaper anymore.

[boykster]

I have used turbotax web edition for the past few years and it's teh awesome!   

And oh yes...nothin better than being able to deduct mortgage interest and property taxes...

[zaphod]

$40 program, plus $15-20 filing fee, plus state app $20-25 if you need more than one state (I do), plus state filing fee of $15-20... it's not all that much cheaper anymore.

Go with the basic $15 Taxcut Federal and that saves you $25 right off.  Still have the $20 electronic fee (you could always mail instead and pay the 8 week penalty).  Fortunately Illinois has a very nice online form on the gov site that takes me maybe five minutes to complete, using the Fed 1040's numbers.  I imagine other states are similar.  5-7 days for state refund to hit the account and 8-14 for federal.

As far as 'larger' returns, you could always adjust your withholding for the year so you get the extra money in each paycheck, rather than lump sum.  Have that money automatically moved to an separate interest-bearing account.  Just a thought.  I like to limit the money I lend to the government interest-free.

[ChadTower]

I have used turbotax web edition for the past few years and it's teh awesome!   

And oh yes...nothin better than being able to deduct mortgage interest and property taxes...

I used to use the web edition when it first came out in the mid 90s.  It was definitely a major leap ahead back then.

The homeowner deductions really do help in places like mine and yours... when you're paying more in interest over a year than people in other parts of the country  pay for their whole mortgage payment over two years, every bit helps.

[Jdurg]

$40 program, plus $15-20 filing fee, plus state app $20-25 if you need more than one state (I do), plus state filing fee of $15-20... it's not all that much cheaper anymore.

Go with the basic $15 Taxcut Federal and that saves you $25 right off.  Still have the $20 electronic fee (you could always mail instead and pay the 8 week penalty).  Fortunately Illinois has a very nice online form on the gov site that takes me maybe five minutes to complete, using the Fed 1040's numbers.  I imagine other states are similar.  5-7 days for state refund to hit the account and 8-14 for federal.

As far as 'larger' returns, you could always adjust your withholding for the year so you get the extra money in each paycheck, rather than lump sum.  Have that money automatically moved to an separate interest-bearing account.  Just a thought.  I like to limit the money I lend to the government interest-free.

Yeah, I went with the basic edition for only $20 or so, then the $20 to file electronically.  I thought it was worth it.  I was still able to print out a copy of my return and used the numbers off of that to fill out my state form.  The State of CT has a free online filing system so I went and used that. 

I've thought about changing how much gets taken out of my paycheck each time, but with salary increases, bonuses, raises, etc. I find that I may be walking a tight line based upon where my salary is and what my tax level is.  I absolutely do NOT want to ever pay money when filing my taxes.  I'd rather get a refund then owe.  Granted, I could just save that extra money each paycheck, but chances are I'd whittle it away and blow it on stuff that I didn't need to. 

At least with the refund I get it gives me plenty of money to purchase things I want but don't really need.     (I think I've found a pretty good laptop I want to buy, and I'll still have money leftover to get a few new power tools too.  )

[ChadTower]

I tend to take that refund and use it to blow away other debts all at once.  A couple of years ago it was the balance on my car, last year it was the end of my student loans, this year it will probably go to some medical bills and the mortgage principal.  Next year it will probably end the payments on my wife's car a year and a half early.  I find that clearing up those payment type debts frees up money each month the following year and that is what I use to drop into savings and earn some interest.  It's not 100% optimal but it works well for me and is definitely better than running out and buying toys with it.

[zaphod]

I tend to take that refund and use it to blow away other debts all at once.  A couple of years ago it was the balance on my car, last year it was the end of my student loans, this year it will probably go to some medical bills and the mortgage principal.  Next year it will probably end the payments on my wife's car a year and a half early.  I find that clearing up those payment type debts frees up money each month the following year and that is what I use to drop into savings and earn some interest.  It's not 100% optimal but it works well for me and is definitely better than running out and buying toys with it.

Using it to pay down/off debts is a fantastic use for it.  Our token amount will finish up a semester of pre-paid college for the 5 month-old (never too early to start), and remainder will hit the auto fund to eventually replace my 12yo car.  Last year it bolstered the home maintenance fund.

[zaphod]

I ditched TurboTax when they pulled the registration crap on 2002 that only allowed a single install on one machine.  If you needed to reinstall ever, you were hosed.  That and they loved to throw a bunch of other crap into their install that cluttered the heck out of the desktop.  Almost AOL-like.

No idea how much they've improved on that in recent years.

But I could see where a glitch like pin encountered would turn you off on it.

[ahofle]

Do you guys actually pay the ridiculous $20 fee to reduce the IRS's paperwork and file electronically?  They should be paying us!  I will continue to mail them a nice fat envelope full of paperwork until they remove that fee.

[whammoed]

Do you guys actually pay the ridiculous $20 fee to reduce the IRS's paperwork and file electronically?  They should be paying us!  I will continue to mail them a nice fat envelope full of paperwork until they remove that fee.

Last year I bought a version of TaxCut that included "free" electronic filing...otherwise I tend to agree with your point.  I never had any issues with TaxCut, but i've never been a student in Texas either.

[ChadTower]

TurboTax also allows you to export every form you needed, including filled out worksheets, into PDFs for your records.  You really don't need TurboTax itself once you're done submitting.

[AtomSmasher]

Do you guys actually pay the ridiculous $20 fee to reduce the IRS's paperwork and file electronically?  They should be paying us!  I will continue to mail them a nice fat envelope full of paperwork until they remove that fee.

Same here.

I've used TurboTax for years, but I just received a free copy of TaxCut Premium Federal + State in the mail, so I may try it out.  Since I am self employed and have a home office, I'm not sure if this version has everything I'll need, but it doesn't hurt to check it out.

TurboTax also allows you to export every form you needed, including filled out worksheets, into PDFs for your records.  You really don't need TurboTax itself once you're done submitting.

Yup, every year in my tax records I include a cd that has the turbotax save file and pdf versions of my federal and state forms and worksheets along with the printed out versions.  I know having a home office is a red flag for auditors, so I make sure to keep my ducks in a row just in case.

[ChadTower]

Yup, every year in my tax records I include a cd that has the turbotax save file and pdf versions of my federal and state forms and worksheets along with the printed out versions.  I know having a home office is a red flag for auditors, so I make sure to keep my ducks in a row just in case.

I do the same thing, two copies of the CD for redundancy.  I save the TurboTax CD too just in case.

[boykster]

the cool thing about the web edition of turbotax is that it saves your previous years returns, and you don't install squat onto your local computer.  I usually start working on my taxes during downtime at work (just logon and go) and then finish them up in the evenings at home.  When I had to file an amended return for my 2005 taxes (issues with sale of stock and reporting) I simply pulled up my old return, started an amended one and worked from there.  No digging up installation discs, backup files, etc....

The homeowner deductions really do help in places like mine and yours... when you're paying more in interest over a year than people in other parts of the country  pay for their whole mortgage payment over two years, every bit helps.

Heck yeah...   I think I pay more annually in interest and taxes than I MADE at my first job after college 

[SithMaster]

Does turbotax include a tutorial on using loopholes in the system?

[Samstag]

Does turbotax include a tutorial on using loopholes in the system?

If it doesn't, here ya go:

1) Get rich.
2) Hire a great accountant.