2018 Taxes

[SoapyCy]

I have no idea how this will affect us because I sold an investment property at a huge loss. It's going to be hard for me to know if my refund is based on that loss or the tax changes. We always itemized and either got back or paid in around $500/year. This year I'm hoping to get back about $7,500 due to the business loss.

Edit - I've gathered everyone on CF is wealthy.

 

[isufbcurt]

Yes, and charge you for it.

ok? I guess if $40 or $50 is a sticking point for you then it's a problem but to me it's a life cost.

I have a client that complains about his QB's subscription costing $30/month but he spends at least $20 on alcohol from the local gas station every night. I guess everyone has their own priorities.

 

[wxman1]

I took @isufbcurt advice and adjusted my withhold as he indicated that the withholding tables were somewhat set up so you may not have enough withheld. This seemed to work as our return was slightly higher than years past. Getting more back in the return than I would like but my wife being self employed and some stuff that goes with it makes taxes a little more interesting. Looking forward to having that behind us from now on.

 

[isufbcurt]

I have no idea how this will affect us because I sold an investment property at a huge loss. It's going to be hard for me to know if my refund is based on that loss or the tax changes. We always itemized and either got back or paid in around $500/year. This year I'm hoping to get back about $7,500 due to the business loss.

Edit - I've gathered everyone on CF is wealthy.

Hint: Do your taxes with everything except the investment loss first and see what the results is. Then add in your investment loss and the difference between the 2 results in due to your investment loss.

 

[everyyard]

The benefits of the tax code went mostly to the wealthy. Surprise, surprise.

 

[arobb]

My taxes dropped 15%.

 

[capitalcityguy]

The benefits of the tax code went mostly to the wealthy. Surprise, surprise.

The wealthy pay the bulk of the taxes...surprise...surprise.

We are trying to keep this out of the cave.

 

[Sigmapolis]

I have no idea how this will affect us because I sold an investment property at a huge loss. It's going to be hard for me to know if my refund is based on that loss or the tax changes. We always itemized and either got back or paid in around $500/year. This year I'm hoping to get back about $7,500 due to the business loss.

Edit - I've gathered everyone on CF is wealthy.

From a world or historical perspective, everybody on here is fantastically wealthy.

I would imagine a board dominated by college students, college-educated young adults, and middle-aged adults, nearly all of which will have/have a college education, at a school that hangs its hat on relatively lucrative majors in engineering, the sciences, agriculture, and business, and then, of course, your humble history major turned software salesman here...

This board is probably mostly upper-crust by the standards of the U.S. in 2019.

I have no doubt this place is mostly people with significant assets holdings (e.g., farmers), entrepreneurs, or your typical college-educated professionals. Those who are not are probably mostly college students who are working their way towards that.

 

[throwittoblythe]

Last year was the first year I did my taxes using one of the off-the-shelf software packages. We have fairly simple taxes (W2, one kid, and mortgage deduction). The year before last, I ran our returns through turbotax in parallel to what our CPA was doing. Turbotax allows you to fill everything out and doesn't require you to pay until you submit. The result? Turbotax and our CPA were identical in the return we received. His $500 cost was no longer justified and he totally understood.

That's not to say CPA's aren't worth their weight in gold because they are. In years with complicated returns, that peace of mind is totally worth the nominal cost of a CPA. Our returns are too simple at this point to justify a professional.

 

[Rabbuk]

Last year was the first year I did my taxes using one of the off-the-shelf software packages. We have fairly simple taxes (W2, one kid, and mortgage deduction). The year before last, I ran our returns through turbotax in parallel to what our CPA was doing. Turbotax allows you to fill everything out and doesn't require you to pay until you submit. The result? Turbotax and our CPA were identical in the return we received. His $500 cost was no longer justified and he totally understood.

That's not to say CPA's aren't worth their weight in gold because they are. In years with complicated returns, that peace of mind is totally worth the nominal cost of a CPA. Our returns are too simple at this point to justify a professional.

CPAs aren't really meant for basic tax prep.

 

[BoxsterCy]

So I spent a whole hour of time last night beginning my 2018 federal tax return. Having received my wife and I's W2s I was kind of excited as I considered the prospects of a better tax result for our family in 2018. The increased standard deduction (we were close to the new standard amount with itemization in 2017) and rate decreases are cool but the doing away of the person exemptions sucks. Basically from what I can tell so far, my tax situation improves none, and may even be worse than prior years. That is strange to me because I have heard a lot about the good the tax law changes will bring. Still a lot of detail for me to wade through though so hopefully my initial high level view is off.

Disclaimer: I chose off topic to keep this about 2018 tax return filing and how it goes for others but I am well aware this teters on the edge of a political topic.

I quick cursory check and mine looks like a push. I am a middle class single filler who itemizes and that's not a demographic that moves the needle. The new standard deduction for singles blows for me as it is much less than my charity, state tax and property tax itemizing even with the new $10k limit on state/local tax deductions. Politicians love talking donations from rich people and corporations while lying to families. They don't have time for singles. The best I can hope for is not to pay more or maybe just a few hundred more. Seriously, if they gave me any thought at all they would probably do something to **** me (well they did try before deciding to still allow some state/property tax deduction).

 

[ArgentCy]

How have all of you already filed Taxes? Geez, I don't even think about it until mid-February. Usually file in March sometime. It's not that exciting when you have to cut a check most of the time.

 

[Cyched]

Haven't done mine yet, but the past few years I've been pretty balanced (my federal return last year was something like 6 bucks), so it'll be easy to see if this helps or hurts me.

 

[arobb]

How have all of you already filed Taxes? Geez, I don't even think about it until mid-February. Usually file in March sometime. It's not that exciting when you have to cut a check most of the time.

It's -20 degrees out, seems like a good use of time.

 

[dmclone]

No kids and only the mortgage deduction last year. Made about $5k more this year, put more towards Roth, taxes went down about $3k.

 

[Sigmapolis]

I got my 1095-C today.

Thought it was my W-2.

I was disappointed.

Thanks Obama.

 

[mramseyISU]

The wife usually does our taxes because she's super type A and can't handle anybody else touching them. I think she got them all done last weekend and we're getting about half the refund we normally do. Not a whole lot of changes for us this year, the bonuses were a touch bigger but not substantially and we both got about a 3% merit increase. We're still a good $20k under the next tax bracket.

 

[Cydkar]

The idea that we have to do our own taxes in this era when the government has all the information they need to calculate taxes automatically for the vast majority of us is ridiculous. They already calculate them and cross check them with our returns. Why can't they just send us a friggin bill and if adjustments are needed we can send them in? What other service do you have to calculate your own bill and get penalized if you don't do it correctly?

Would you want the government doing your taxes? Hard pass.

 

[Bader]

We're still a good $20k under the next tax bracket.

Which would have no effect on the taxes you owe (other than having an additional 20k in income), because the brackets are graduated

 

[Cydkar]

I think this is what one of the Dakota's does for their state income tax.

Counting sheep isn't that hard.