2018 Taxes

[SoapyCy]

I can't do mine until I get my 1099s from Vanguard which don't come out for a few more weeks.

 

[ISUAlum2002]

It was a con job.

Took all of 5 minutes for someone to make this political.

 

[MeowingCows]

Took all of 5 minutes for someone to make this political.

It took 0 minutes -- the title is already there.

 

[CycloneDaddy]

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.

Just because the refund is less for 2018 doesnt mean you paid more taxes.

 

[ISUAlum2002]

It took 0 minutes -- the title is already there.

Snap. Totally didn't even see it. OP's statement that he knew the topic was teetering on political seems ridiculous now.

 

[MeowingCows]

Snap. Totally didn't even see it. OP's statement that he knew the topic was teetering on political seems ridiculous now.

I had to double-take the forum name when I read it to see if it was OT or PRGW. Caught me off-guard.

 

[AgronAlum]

Where are the deals this year for online tax filings? (Sorry Curt) Mine is really simple this year with only a couple W-2s and the standard deduction being what it is. I have used tax hawk, tax act and turbo tax in the past.

 

[dirtyninety]

Chris *



(*copyright 2019 rural)

 

[benjay]

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?

You are vastly over-estimating the capabilities of the IRS.

 

[Bader]

Where are the deals this year for online tax filings? (Sorry Curt) Mine is really simple this year with only a couple W-2s and the standard deduction being what it is. I have used tax hawk, tax act and turbo tax in the past.

H&R block will allow you to file both federal and state for free online. It's what I did last year (and am doing again this year) after TaxACT bumped their costs way up

 

[dirtyninety]

You are vastly over-estimating the capabilities of the IRS.

I agree with you.....just deleted about three sentences....not worth it and the boring and predictable people don't get it.

 

[benjay]

H&R block will allow you to file both federal and state for free online. It's what I did last year (and am doing again this year) after TaxACT bumped their costs way up

That will only work for simple returns. If you're itemizing deductions, have investment income, etc you will need to do some window shopping to find the best deal.

 

[IcSyU]

You are vastly over-estimating the capabilities of the IRS.

If you saw the IRS computer system you'd ****. They need a one-time overhaul of their software and so much stuff would be a ton better.

 

[wxman1]

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.

Fill it all out as I get them and well I have everything now so I went ahead and filed. Also didn't want to wait and see how the last and likely next government shutdown would affect it even though they claimed it wouldn't.

 

[VeloClone]

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.

The next time my employer gets me my W-2 before February will be the first time.

 

[benjay]

If you saw the IRS computer system you'd ****. They need a one-time overhaul of their software and so much stuff would be a ton better.

They spent over a decade on a modernized relational database migration (90's into 2000's). At the end of that timeline they had migrated around 10-15% of their data before the project got indefinitely suspended.

 

[mkadl]

Ours will almost certainly be worse, and it will be worse for a lot of people, especially if you have more than 2 kids.

Or lose a lose a kid from college to a job!! Last one gone. Now I am paying in.

 

[khardbored]

The only way to really know if the tax changes "hurt" or "helped" you would be to compare your total federal taxes paid (not the refund, the actual amount paid) to your gross income as a percentage -- your effective tax rate for federal taxes.

I'm guessing like 1% of people would actually do this.

 

[capitalcityguy]

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).

Deductions are created for a reason. Maybe not always valid (or maybe skewed by special interests) or maybe not to your personal liking, but they are put into the Code to help incentive something that we have decided we want more of.

electric cars
money given to charity
more homes purchased
and yes, more children (they eventually add to the workforce)

Historically (not a judgement, just recounting reality) there wasn't a reason to encourage (or reward) as many people to be single as possible thus no reason to write benefits in the tax Code to encourage or reward that lifestyle choice.

 

[06_CY]

Just need the wife's W2 so I can run a preliminary and estimate what we will owe. Pretty sure we will owe this year; just hope it's not more than a thousand. Never had to pay in before.