2019 Taxes
- Thread starter Cyclone06
- Start date
Might be an Anarchist's Cookbook copy around too. And some materials that look suspiciously like they'd explode in the correct format.
What is this refund you speak of? I don't think I have seen one of those in many a moon
What is this refund you speak of? I don't think I have seen one of those in many a moon
It appears you live in LA. Don't you just hand your paycheck over to the nearest gov't agency to process?
pretty much.. I am moving to Vegas within the next year or so...It appears you live in LA. Don't you just hand your paycheck over to the nearest gov't agency to process?
Hey, if you can calculate your earned income credit at the beginning of the year more power to you.
Not a victim at all...just a CPA who actually prepares returns for a living so I actually understand the reality of tax prep.
Let's say someone gets a $2,000 refund. They would have an average balance of $1,000 for the year. A 10% return with the money in the market is still absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things.
Basically your "free loan to the government" argument is virtually meaningless in reality. The difference is completely immaterial.
In fairness, it took Iowa 12 months to notify me of an audit that was automatically triggered. Apparently not a bunch of speed demons on payroll.
My refund comes almost entirely from the taxes on my end of year bonus. We're about even throughout the year, but they tax the bonus at a higher level. Don't want to withhold less just in case that bonus doesn't show up.
Filed 1/27. Iowa refund was approved yesterday.
Direct deposit within 5 business days according to IDR.
Direct deposit within 5 business days according to IDR.
We should just pass a fair tax and get rid of the income tax. This would eliminate the headache of doing taxes every year and get rid of the IRS. Problem solved!
That's nice that you'd be able to adjust your withholding and balance it out if you wanted to, but that's not true for everyone: completely impractical exercise if your federal return is more than a handful of pages
The tax forms up here in Minnesota:
Line 1: What is your income for 2019?
Line 2: Take amount entered in Line 1 and send in.
Line 1: What is your income for 2019?
Line 2: Take amount entered in Line 1 and send in.
It's not a loan if they can send men with guns to take the money.
I will grant your professional credentials trump mine specifically towards taxation knowledge as I am not a CPA.
That said, I have done tax prep professionally in the past as a side job. Also, I’ve been working in the financial services industry for 26 + yrs.….mainly on the compliance/tax side of the enterprise so this isn’t exactly my first rodeo.
Your comment does cause me to ask questions that maybe you can enlighten on.
* if someone is able to qualify for Earn Income Tax Credit – why would they be paying for a CPA to do their taxes? I can’t imagine their taxes being complex given their modest income and thus, a lot of software companies provide prep for free. There are also volunteers who do taxes for individual of modest means too.
* why would you use the Earn Income Tax Credit as an example on this forum. Is that realistically relevant to the likely posters on this thread? If you think so, based on your experience what percentage of CF poster do you really think qualify and thus it makes that example even relevant to the discussion?
* I don’t think it is unfair to suggest that a portion of your livelihood is somewhat dependent on the unnecessarily complex process it takes for people to file their taxes. Caveat: with my background, I always push individuals with complex tax situations to a CPA (not just a tax preparer ) to get their taxes done correctly, so I am far from anti-CPA prepared taxes guy. I just bristle a bit that you pull the Earn Income Tax Credit, of all things, to try and make your point when you are probably speaking to college students and college grads that will never see this anyway. Can you provide a more solid (realistic?) example to the discussion that might be more relevant to the actual audience?
It really isn't that difficult...unless maybe you are a contract worker or a small business owner....or maybe a day trader .
That is not the majority of people on this thread. This isn't rocket science.
I think you would be shocked by the number of people getting EITC...especially in Central Iowa where there are a LOT of people who don't get paid what I would consider a living wage. Why do CPAs do their returns? Because in a lot of smaller towns that's the option available.
I also think you grossly overestimate the ability of the average person to figure out their taxable income. Or to know they may get $2,000 per child. Or to know what qualifies for American Opportunity Credit. How much student loan interest is deductible and when does it phase out? What numbers from my 1098 need to go on Schedule A?
A MFJ return with a pair of W2s, student loan interest, a minor child, a college age child, home mortgage, bank interest, and HSA distributions is 15 minutes of my time potentially. My parents do their own taxes and would blow an afternoon doing that...and not know if they did it right. I can change the oil in my truck and it'll take me 2 hours or I drive to QuickLane and it's 10 minutes.
Also, with the new W-4 form (which sucks but not nearly as much as the new 1040) there isn't really a way to manipulate your withholdings. Exemptions don't exist anymore so you can't just put Married and 4 to have less withheld.
I don't know that I'd say it's unnecessarily complex. Most people have very simple taxes. In general that keeps H&R and Intuit in business. True CPA firms make their money on business taxes and services. They do individual tax work because they have to....not because it's a great money maker.
YTD Pay stub:
$50,000 Salary
$2,000 FSA
$2,000 HSA
$2,000 ROTH
$2,000 Trad 401k
$2,000 health insurance
$100 dental insurance
$100 vision insurance
$4,000 employer health insurance
$50 Life insurance
$50 AD&D
$100 Short term disability
$50 Long term disability
$50 cancer insurance
$4,000 expense reimbursements
$3,000 social security
$1,000 Medicare
$10,000 federal withholding
$2,000 state withholding
Those are all extremely common items on pay stubs. Super easy to figure out the taxable income.
