Stopped in for a dose of sanity

Whew! I had to come up or air...been slaving away on taxes for over 8 hours. Don't get me wrong, I love being a tax payer. From my window I can see paved streets, bordered by green lawns. there are no bullet holes in the walls or debris from shelling littering the landscape. My electricity is on 24/7 and the water from the tap is (relatively) clean. I have access to emergency responders and medical treatment, grocery stores 90% of the world envies and endless diversions on radio and TV. I'm in no way complaining- all this infrastructure has to be supported and repaired. You really appreciate what comes 'natural' to us here when you've lived outside the U.S. and experienced other lifestyles. I just wish all this came with an easier way to support our luxuries. If I got to keep what I made, I'd be estatic, but does paying the piper have to be so demanding and complicated? Sorry for the rant, but I just had to get my head in the clouds on TRF for a minute and enjoy everyones' posts. Thanks guys,you keep me sane! back to the deep end...blub, blub, blub!

Indiana is fiscally responsible with a balanced budget for like a decade now... Saying that, Illinois gets all the new/improved roads and Interstates because of Obama-whatever (and Illinois is broke and crooked with a list of governors in prison). Yes, taxes are a necessary evil, but jeez really unfair and not in the "little person's" best interest.

Yep, I'm with you. For me it's gotten to the point that I now pay a CPA to do my taxes, primarily to keep me out of trouble.

Worsaer said:

Yep, I'm with you. For me it's gotten to the point that I now pay a CPA to do my taxes, primarily to keep me out of trouble.

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i'm prolly too Scottish and stubborn. maybe next year! I think H&R could be replaced by Shakespear's monkeys, I tried them a few years ago- never again!

Turbo Tax. Even an idiot like me can do taxes with this. Don't bother with Tax Cut by H&R blockheads. Mom talked me into it one year. What a mess.
Because I own farmland, I have to use the Home and Business edition. And I still manage to get through it.
My mini rant is that they keep moving the date back that companies have to get you their 1099's or the like. Used to be Jan 30th. Now it's Feb something or other. I want to get my crap done and not have to wait until April to do my taxes...

Adrian

jd2cylman said:

Turbo Tax. Even an idiot like me can do taxes with this. Don't bother with Tax Cut by H&R blockheads. Mom talked me into it one year. What a mess.
Because I own farmland, I have to use the Home and Business edition. And I still manage to get through it.
My mini rant is that they keep moving the date back that companies have to get you their 1099's or the like. Used to be Jan 30th. Now it's Feb something or other. I want to get my crap done and not have to wait until April to do my taxes...

Adrian

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plus 1

Back when I was working as an independent contractor in Minnesota, I once made a $10k mistake trying to figure taxes on my own - that is - not paying any while I was figuring I would write it all off... someday. Doesn't work that way. Took me years to pay 3 years of AMT back. :eyeroll:

These days I'm working a normal salary job so I do TurboTax as soon as I can. Otherwise if my situation was more complicated, I would have a professional do it. So worth it.

Here in Canuckistan, the CRA(IRS equiv) will automatically re-assess your taxes a few times a year and will send you a Notice of Re-Assessment - which means they found a way to get more money from you. You can't fight it, they have more lawyers than you, just pay. Last year I had two and found myself owing another $900 even though I filed correctly.

jd2cylman said:

Turbo Tax. Even an idiot like me can do taxes with this. Don't bother with Tax Cut by H&R blockheads. Mom talked me into it one year. What a mess.
Because I own farmland, I have to use the Home and Business edition. And I still manage to get through it.
My mini rant is that they keep moving the date back that companies have to get you their 1099's or the like. Used to be Jan 30th. Now it's Feb something or other. I want to get my crap done and not have to wait until April to do my taxes...

Adrian

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I use TT for federal taxes, but I refuse to pay $35 to do Ohio taxes with them. Since TT automatically forces you to calculate the state taxes, I just write down what they say the state amount is. Then I go to the Ohio website and do it online in about 15 minutes. I've done that several years now and I just put in the numbers and it has always come out to what exactly TT said it was.

I saw this post somewhere that urged people to not use TT as they lobby Congress to keep taxes as complicated as possible. I don't know if that's true, but it's not too hard to believe. I actually like the Ohio website for doing taxes; I wish the feds had something like that. Ten times easier than TT too. And pretty secure as they made me jump through three or four hoops to actually start my tax return. Honestly, I would like to see the federal returns seriously streamlined. The idea that we many people have to have an accountant or use some expensive software to do our taxes is a sign that things are way to complicated.

I also "recommend" TurboTax....while it as a pain and sucks in a lot of ways, it is better than any alternative (Tax Cut was awful), seems to do it right, and I haven't gotten any flak yet (knock on wood, i.e., my skull) from the IRS or the California version.

I used to do the paper forms all by myself, and that was getting impossible...when I was young and single, everything was easy, once you have any complications and start itemizing everything, it turns into a monster. If I had my own business, I would definitely get a CPA to do them, but, I'm not doing that (yet).

And yes, my opinion: taxes are the price you pay for a civilized society. It's worth it.

I also use TurboTax and I have been using it since 2000. What I have learned is to keep everything organized and together and you can whip TurboTax out in an evening.

My broker sent me my 1099 this year in February and I shoved it in my tax file. So, while I was doing my taxes, I noticed a $2000 capital gains tax!!! WTF!. So, I called them and they said that the sold a company last year and that's why I have such capital gains. I asked why didn't you send out a notice to give investors time to prepare and set aside some dollars? Her reply was "we don't have too"...Crap, there goes my Mariner's tickets, hunting licenses and rocketry fund for this year.

Sorry for the rant.

Worsaer said:

Yep, I'm with you. For me it's gotten to the point that I now pay a CPA to do my taxes, primarily to keep me out of trouble.

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I also use a CPA to do my taxes,,,
but it's because I don't want to be in trouble ( or incarcerated ) alone.......

Teddy

tightwad said:

I also use TurboTax and I have been using it since 2000. What I have learned is to keep everything organized and together and you can whip TurboTax out in an evening.

My broker sent me my 1099 this year in February and I shoved it in my tax file. So, while I was doing my taxes, I noticed a $2000 capital gains tax!!! WTF!. So, I called them and they said that the sold a company last year and that's why I have such capital gains. I asked why didn't you send out a notice to give investors time to prepare and set aside some dollars? Her reply was "we don't have too"...Crap, there goes my Mariner's tickets, hunting licenses and rocketry fund for this year.

Sorry for the rant.

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Sounds like it might be time for a new broker. And when they ask why you switched, just tell them "because I can."

Plus III on TurboTax.

Did my taxes in about an hour and that included my paranoid double checking of all entries and multiple approaches.

Zeus-cat said:

I use TT for federal taxes, but I refuse to pay $35 to do Ohio taxes with them. Since TT automatically forces you to calculate the state taxes, I just write down what they say the state amount is. Then I go to the Ohio website and do it online in about 15 minutes. I've done that several years now and I just put in the numbers and it has always come out to what exactly TT said it was.

I saw this post somewhere that urged people to not use TT as they lobby Congress to keep taxes as complicated as possible. I don't know if that's true, but it's not too hard to believe. I actually like the Ohio website for doing taxes; I wish the feds had something like that. Ten times easier than TT too. And pretty secure as they made me jump through three or four hoops to actually start my tax return. Honestly, I would like to see the federal returns seriously streamlined. The idea that we many people have to have an accountant or use some expensive software to do our taxes is a sign that things are way to complicated.

Click to expand...

I used TT for my state (IL) taxes, but didn't E file those. $19.95 fee for a $15.00 return??? Yeah... Riight... So those got printed and mailed in. 6 weeks later I got my whopping $15.00 auto deposit in my savings account. It never occurred to me to see if I could go online to file the IL taxes...

Adrian

I do my Turbo Tax in a single evening in February, file electronically with direct deposit, get my refund a week later, and have it spent on something cool long before everyone else is standing in line at the post office in April.