Taxes

[John Coloccia]

I always wait until the last minute, and always try to owe them just a little bit. Why should I loan the government money? I'd invest in bonds if I wanted to do that...at least I'd make a little that way.

[Brian Tymchak]

I rough ours out in mid February with Turbo Tax, then let them sit until end of March before I mail them in. I'm usually within a few hundred bucks of the target, so I don't sweat it either way.

BTW,we here in OH-IO now have this arrangement where you might be selected to take a quiz to verify your identity to get your state refund. They contracted with Lexis-Nexis to come up with quiz questions like "which is your phone number from when you lived at <xxx address> in 1985?" (a real question a friend of mine at work was faced with..) There have been cases where the database is wrong (imagine that..) and people have to submit records and wait an extra month or 2 get their refunds.

[glenn bradley]

They have your money. Why would you let them keep it any longer than they already do? I file ASAP and hate the fact that some forms do not have to be delivered to me until late into March. How do we get that changed? I want to file January 2nd. This is moot if you are lucky enough to owe them something. If that's the case, file late.

[George Bokros]

I thought I was ALL DONE yet again and had it ready to mail Satuirday. What shows up in the mail? A 2014 1099-MISC (postmarked April 9th).
-Tom

I used to prepare taxes part time for an accountant. I thought all 1099's had to be mailed by the end of February.

[David Masters]

Institutions can be granted an extension by the IRS. I had one this year that mailed them out at the end of March. Their reason was that tax information for certain investments were still fluctuating, and rather than send out 1099's that they knew were going to have to be revised, they opted to get an extension from the IRS.

[Jerry Thompson]

I am always happy to owe the IRS a little. I don't want them to have my extra with holding for free.

[Bill McNiel]

Extensions every year. Procrastination is my bread & butter.

[Steve Peterson]

Lifetime Turbo Tax user and I always try to owe but balancing state and fed is something I've yet to figure out.

I assume around $1100 per extra deduction claimed. The logic is that each deduction will reduce your taxable income by $3950. In a 28% tax bracket, this will reduce your tax burden by $1106.

So if you expect a $3000 refund, you may be close to balanced if you claim 3 extra dependents. I think you can claim up to 20 dependents even if you don't have any children. But, there may be a penalty if you claim too many and owe too much at the end of the year.

Note: I am not a tax accountant and I did not stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Steve

[Erik Loza]

We always do ours early but pay at the last moment. Need to write that check tonight, in fact.

Erik

[Steve Peterson]

Owed a lot of money, so I mailed them in yesterday, thanks to Turbo Tax I'm still able to do them myself, but it sure get's more complicated each year.

No kidding, it gets more complicated each year. I do my own manually by downloading the blank forms and filling in the numbers. I am fairly good with numbers, but the convoluted way that they write the equations is extremely frustrating to me.

The worst example is the long term capital gains that are taxed at a different rate than normal income. The long term numbers get added in to your taxable income on the first page, but there is not a single calculation that takes place without subtracting it back out. Many calculations send you to a separate worksheet to subtract it away and calculate it at a different rate.

Steve

[Mark Patoka]

Had mine completed in March once all the paperwork came in but waited until last week to efile because I owed both Fed and State. Otherwise I like to get them done as quickly as possible and be done with it.

[Tom Stenzel]

I used to prepare taxes part time for an accountant. I thought all 1099's had to be mailed by the end of February.

The outfit that sent it has plenty of good lawyers. If there's a way to send late and legally get away with it they will find it.

Another problem I had was a check that came from an annuity fund. I was in a two week long inpatient chemo treatment, my wife asked about it but I didn't have any sense at all. (OK, not that anything has changed much since!). She cashed the check.

Of course at tax time, turns out it was an early disbursement and subject to a penalty. One long form and lots of computation calisthenics later, I had to pay the penalty- ONE WHOLE DOLLAR. These penalties are KILLING ME!

-Tom

[Brian Henderson]

Not I, my taxes were in by the end of January, had my refund by the middle of February.

[Phil Stone]

Just finished mine this weekend, using TaxAct for the first time after years of using TurboTax. The last straw for me with TurboTax (aside from them lobbying the government to scuttle simpler filing proposals) was them warning me that if I didn't file by a certain date (a couple of weeks ago) my software cost would go up even more. TurboTax last year (home and small business, two states): $225. TaxAct this year: $40. TaxAct had a little less hand-holding, especially on things like depreciation, but all in all, it worked out great, and will be even easier next year.

I sure resented losing most of a weekend to this chore, though. I don't really mind paying taxes, but I do mind paying to pay taxes, if you know what I mean (whether it's time or money). I've got a workbench to finish!

[Brian Elfert]

I used to get a small refund from the IRS, but now I have to pay in every year. I already made an estimated payment in 2014 and thought I would owe more. I realized I could get the $500 energy credit so now I am getting a refund I am applying to my 2015 taxes. My deductions have decreased due to a smaller mortgage.