Tax Time Approaches!

Woody13

New Member
Original Poster
I prepared my Federal income tax using H&R Block's Tax Cut computer program. I have used this program for the last 5 years and have found it to be very easy to use and very accurate. It's simple to import the information from last years return and update the figures for this year. It saves me the time and trouble of filling in my name, address, SS number, W2's, 1099's,etc.

I always make sure I owe the IRS money each year. I hate the thought of giving the government an interest free loan. I try to keep the amount I owe to about $500.00. This year I owe $942.00. That's a little too close for comfort because if I owed over $1,000.00 then I would be subject to the estimated tax penalty. Again, kind of like giving Uncle Sam the extra money he would have made in interest if you over withheld.

Also, since I had several hurricane Katrina victims that stayed at my place rent free for longer than 60 days, I was able to take a deduction of $500.00 per person (up to the maximum of $2,000.00). That helped a little.

I file the old fashioned way. I print out the 1040 and supporting forms and send them in by mail with a check. I prepared my son's and daughter's returns as well. In their cases, they got all their money back form the IRS. I filled out those returns back in February and did it all via the Internet and had the money sent directly to their accounts.

So, how did you all make out with your taxes this year? :wave:
 

tigsmom

Well-Known Member
We still use an accountant (he is a former IRS agent) and we got a healthy refund. That will go to pay off some bills and towards Princess #1's (aka Lil'mermaid) first semester of college tuition. :wave:
 

Wilt Dasney

Well-Known Member
I used TurboTax online to do my state and federal returns. It was fairly easy. I ended up with about $600 in combined refunds.
 

Nemo14

Well-Known Member
We use TurboTax and got a decent refund this year. We really didn't expect to, since our overall income decreased, but yey, I'll take it!:)
 

Woody13

New Member
Original Poster
Wilt Dasney said:
I used TurboTax online to do my state and federal returns. It was fairly easy. I ended up with about $600 in combined refunds.
Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I forgot to add that I live in Florida, and we do not have state income tax. :D
 

K-dub

Member
I always do my own tax returns, but this year I used the free H&R Block Tax Cut disk that came in my PC WORLD magazine subscription after having already completed my return by hand just to check for accuracy.

The results were identical. I also printed out the return and mailed via snail mail. I'm one that believes it to be unfair for the IRS to allow "Free" electronic filing for some taxpayers but not all, and refuse to PAY for the privilege of filing electronically!

As to how we made out with our taxes this year, well,

We're flying to WDW tomorrow, :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy:
 

Woody13

New Member
Original Poster
K-dub said:
I always do my own tax returns, but this year I used the free H&R Block Tax Cut disk that came in my PC WORLD magazine subscription after having already completed my return by hand just to check for accuracy.

The results were identical. I also printed out the return and mailed via snail mail. I'm one that believes it to be unfair for the IRS to allow "Free" electronic filing for some taxpayers but not all, and refuse to PAY for the privilege of filing electronically!
I could not agree with you more! :wave:
 

Wilt Dasney

Well-Known Member
Woody13 said:
Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I forgot to add that I live in Florida, and we do not have state income tax. :D
...as I found out during my 5 months on the WDW College Program. One state over, us Georgians have to send levy to Emperor Perdue in the faroff Province of Atlanta.
 

miles1

Active Member
I've been using Turbotax for a few years. Since I'm partially self-employed and depreciate some assets on my taxes, it's nice to be able to import everthing from the prior year's returns. I also file on paper; for some reason I'm just more comfortable with it. I believe it also reduces your chances of being audited.

As for the estimated payment penalty, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I've owed considerably more than the $1000 limit and the penalty isn't all that much.

Refund? Remember that pesky federal deficit? It will all be gone when they get my check!

The good news is that we were left with just enough to squeeze in a WDW trip for August.
 

SpongeScott

Well-Known Member
Got a decent chunk of change back--enough to put down on some extra principal for our mortgage and to put toward my wife's root canal job.
 

artvandelay

Well-Known Member
For all taxpayers, I have three words that are going to scare you in the coming years...

Alternnative Minimum Tax

The AMT was first enacted to make sure wealthy people paid taxes. In some cases, wealthy people would have a lot of deductions that would cause them not to pay any federal tax (eg. large charitable donations, a lot of mortgage interest). The AMT would then kick in to make sure they paid something to the Federal govt. Sounds good and just, right? Unfortunately, Congress never tied it to rise with inflation, and now it's starting to affect people in the higher middle class. Within 10 years, studies have shown that the AMT will bring in more income than the income tax will. Pres. Bush's independent commision on tax reform concluded that to get rid of the AMT, ALL DEDUCTIONS WILL BE PHASED OUT!!!

If you haven't paid it yet, it could be just a matter of time.

Here's a link to Turbo Tax's site with info
http://www.turbotax.com/articles/FAQontheAlternativeMinimumTax.html
 

Wilt Dasney

Well-Known Member
artvandelay said:
For all taxpayers, I have three words that are going to scare you in the coming years...

Alternnative Minimum Tax

The AMT was first enacted to make sure wealthy people paid taxes. In some cases, wealthy people would have a lot of deductions that would cause them not to pay any federal tax (eg. large charitable donations, a lot of mortgage interest). The AMT would then kick in to make sure they paid something to the Federal govt. Sounds good and just, right? Unfortunately, Congress never tied it to rise with inflation, and now it's starting to affect people in the higher middle class. Within 10 years, studies have shown that the AMT will bring in more income than the income tax will. Pres. Bush's independent commision on tax reform concluded that to get rid of the AMT, ALL DEDUCTIONS WILL BE PHASED OUT!!!

If you haven't paid it yet, it could be just a matter of time.

Here's a link to Turbo Tax's site with info
http://www.turbotax.com/articles/FAQontheAlternativeMinimumTax.html
Why can't they just index the AMT instead of phasing out all deductions? Sounds like a stereotypically idiotic government response.
 

Tim G

Well-Known Member
Woody13 said:
So, how did you all make out with your taxes this year? :wave:
Alhough I have an accountant for that... but with selling the house, my goodbye bonus, it doesn't look that good... :( :lookaroun :D :lol:
 

artvandelay

Well-Known Member
Wilt Dasney said:
Why can't they just index the AMT instead of phasing out all deductions? Sounds like a stereotypically idiotic government response.

I think it's because the AMT is bringing in a lot of revenue currently. If they indexed it to inflation now, the loss of tax revenue would have to be made up somewhere else.
 

Wilt Dasney

Well-Known Member
artvandelay said:
I think it's because the AMT is bringing in a lot of revenue currently. If they indexed it to inflation now, the loss of tax revenue would have to be made up somewhere else.
And I'm sure the president's commitment to letting working Americans keep more of their own money has no role here.

If we're going to claim to be for lower taxes, then it seems hypocritical to push for tax cuts while allowing middle-class paychecks to creep closer and closer to the AMT. Bush's only out on that might be that any changes to the AMT would be dismissed by Congress. He should at least challenge them publicly on it. How many GOP lawmakers would want to be painted as for the current AMT in an election year?

*retreats back across no politics fault line*
 

Debbie

Well-Known Member
We have until August to file due to Hurricane Katrina. Being self-employed = owing taxes and I dread this year's filing. October, November, and December saw our business quadrupled. Now, noone is leaving their apartments so work is slow. And, the CPA we used is gone......with no forwarding address. So, I am going to look for someone else and I figure the later in the year, the more knowledgable they are with the special Katrina deductions. Hopefully, this will offset the last quarter of 2005.
 

GenerationX

Well-Known Member
We always get a little bit back. That provides me the incentive I need to get our taxes done. I downloaded the pdf forms from irs.gov, typed the numbers straight into the pdf files, printed them, and mailed them. I've already received the electronic refunds (Federal and IL).

As for my opinion about taxes in general, I don't believe there should be any income or property taxes. In a way, these polices discourage income and property ownership. A National Sales Tax is the only way our government should collect money. Exclude food and medicine, but tax everything else. Consumption taxes, to me, make far more sense than income taxes. Easy to collect, fair, no wacky deductions, no 100 page income tax instruction document. No IRS.

Note: This has been a non-partisan rant, and I have bothered my congressmen with my positions. Thank you.
 

artvandelay

Well-Known Member
GenerationX said:
We always get a little bit back. That provides me the incentive I need to get our taxes done. I downloaded the pdf forms from irs.gov, typed the numbers straight into the pdf files, printed them, and mailed them. I've already received the electronic refunds (Federal and IL).

As for my opinion about taxes in general, I don't believe there should be any income or property taxes. In a way, these polices discourage income and property ownership. A National Sales Tax is the only way our government should collect money. Exclude food and medicine, but tax everything else. Consumption taxes, to me, make far more sense than income taxes. Easy to collect, fair, no wacky deductions, no 100 page income tax instruction document. No IRS.

Note: This has been a non-partisan rant, and I have bothered my congressmen with my positions. Thank you.

X, go to www.fairtax.org I think you'll like some of the ideas there.
 

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