Tax day - who's feelin' the pain???

Da Nag

Da Nag

Administrator
Staff member
Dang - I'm one happy camper today.

I'm one of those folks who stupidly gives the government an interest free loan all year. We've always received a tax return, sometimes big, sometimes small. I just hate the thought of writing them a check.

So, it was with great disgust and surprise when I fired up the tax software last January, started punching in the numbers, and saw that we would have to send in some cash - almost $3000!

I've been a grumpy dude ever since, and with no refund coming, I put off finishing the taxes until - you guessed it - today. Why rush to pay? Grumble grumble...

Then, just a couple clicks before submitting, it prompted me to run the data through some error checking. One of the warnings that popped up indicated the software had guessed on one of my line items, and I should check the decision it made. Basically, it guessed wrong, and when I manually corrected it, my $3000 deficit turned into a $4000 return.

Woo hoo! Now let's see...what else can I cram on that new boat...:mrgreen:

Makes me wonder if I should trust these programs down the road...I've used them for years (TurboTax and TaxCut), but a good accountant wouldn't have made the "bad guess" that needed correcting.

If any of you used TaxCut this year, and contributed to more than one pre-tax retirement plan, you may have been hosed as well. Drop me PM, and I'll cough up the details...
 
Bill,

Wow, from grumble grumble to woo hoo in one posting!

We always loan Uncle Sammy the bucks too. We know several freinds that try to play it way too close and then stress like a bait fish for months before filing. We got $2500 back. I guess were going to remodel a bathroom instead of getting that new windlass I've been hinting about daily since January :cry. Thought I had her sold on it after Catchlimit :roll:.

Jon
 
Bill,

Put some Cathlamet pics in the Denebola album just now. They loaded fine according to the upload message and it says there are the correct number of pics, but now I can't get to the album at all, just says "page not found".

Can you help when you get a chance Pleeeeeeease?

Thanks :hug

Jon
 
Hmm...your album and the river pics are coming up fine for me - clicked on the Denebola link in your post, and saw two pages of pics.

You might try clearing your cache, and trying again. Assuming a recent version of IE, click Tools...Internet Options...Delete files...Delete all offilne content...OK.
 
Wow -- I've been using Turbo Tax for years -- you mean if I switch to TaxCut maybe the gummit will owe me something??
It sure pays to look at the details, eh? Some years ago we discovered the IRS didn't know the difference between an oil royalty (that we certainly don't have) from a book royalty (that we have a little of). That took three years to resolve but we treasure our little momento of victory, the cover from the court case -- El and Bill Fiero vs. The United States Government. And, hey, we're about the most patriotic people around. But you sure have to watch those complicated forms from the IRS and they aren't usually on your side.
 
That's great news, Bill (Da Nag)

I've only used Turbo Tax (about 10 years now), and I'm neither broke nor incarcerated, so something must be working right.

That kind of a swing sounds HUGE, so it sounds like a simple reality check might be in order. I always calculate my final tax as a percentage of my GROSS income, to see if it makes any sense. If not, then I look at any significant changes that may have occurred in the process (dependents, etc.). Since I have been doing the "reality check" (from about 1966), my percent of tax against my gross income hasn't varied more than about 2 percentage points (except for very large swings that I knew about, such as investment gains or losses).

If you can't explain the big swing in your own mind, I'd go for a third party opinion, because Uncle has a way of catching up, even though it may take several years. And there are no boating facilities at Leavenworth!

Good luck, and I hope it comes out your way.

Ken
 
By the way, I never came across TurboTax "guessing" at any line items. I'm surprised that any legitimate software publisher would try that. But heck, in the short term, it might be a great way to sell software!

Doesn't sound like any normally accepted accounting practices, to me!

But what do I know?

N. Ron
 
Da Nag":3ew3pkzd said:
I'm one of those folks who stupidly gives the government an interest free loan all year.
Click to expand...

I enjoy loaning the government $$$ also.....after all, I loaned them my body for three years for a few mere coins (Army)....of course they gave me a vacation in S. E. Asia. At any rate I'm sure my extra money to them does a bit to strengthen the economy.

At any rate, received our money the end of February and guess what we spent it on!

I've used the accountant method for years.....the one year IRS questioned me, I called the accountant on the phone and he checked it out and said, "No, we're right, the IRS is wrong!" Guess what? My accountant was right! Kind of like a life jacket at sea....wouldn't be without one. (After all, he keeps up on all the rules, regs, and changes and does a lot more tax forms than I'd ever do in a year....so I pay the expert!).
 
KenMcC":xwwr693x said:
By the way, I never came across TurboTax "guessing" at any line items.
Click to expand...
I used TurboTax for years, and was quite happy with it - up until last year, when they decided to incorporate their mis-guided product activation scheme. Made me drop them like a hot rock, along with a bazillion other customers.

Perhaps "guessing" was a bad choice of words. Basically, TaxCut has a bug, but it probably doesn't affect too many people. It handled our 401K pre-tax contributions as it should, but did not handle our 457B pre-tax contributions correctly - it counted the entire amount as taxable income, which resulted in the huge error. I had to drop out of the "interview mode" and into the forms to correct it manually.
 
El and Bill":37kmj88d said:
Wow -- I've been using Turbo Tax for years -- you mean if I switch to TaxCut maybe the gummit will owe me something??
Click to expand...
You guys are far too smart to take tax advice from somebody named Da Nag...:shock:
 
Hi All,

The crew from the Lynn Marie uses a tax accountant that hounds me for everything and then makes sure we don't owe and that our returns are minimal. The best part is while he's in the office putting our return together, we're out on the boat playing. This years returns are already on the boat or in the bank. Works for us.

Tim
 
Bill,

Cleaned up cache files,(pretty full). Can open first page in album but second page still comes up "page not found" :embarrased.

Hmm. Let's see, I start talking about taxes and government, and now I can't get in my own files :twisted:.

Jon
 
C-Brat TaxPayers aand Protesters-

Good News and Bad News:

The good news is that since my wife joined me in retirement this year, we overpaid a bid and will be getting $7k back from the Feds and $3k back from Arnold's World. The bad news is that my wife decided she wants a pontoon boat to lay back on, swim around, and enjoy the hot summer afternoons on Shasta Lake. After writing out a check for $21,000+, the good news is that half of it was paid for by the returns.

The other good news is that we will have the resulting 24 foot Fisher patio style boat to mess around with during the C-Brat get together on Shasta on October 8-10!

By the way, Bill (DNDN), we'll have to talk soon with Les and the EQ Gang about how to integrate this with their plans and set up some kind of loose agenda as needed for that weekend, including any moorage arrangements necessary for those who want to stay at any of the marinas over night, or reserve camping space (where necessary). Talk to you all later. Joe.
 
I did the paid accountant a few years ago, until I calculated his costs versus anything he might save me in taxes. Not only that, but this guy was basing his fees on how much money he was saving me.

A little research on how he was instructing my wife to use the house as a writeoff in her counselling business (when none of the house is used at all), made me smell a rat.

A little more research, and everything he said on the subject was determined to be illegal by the IRS. When I questioned him, he said all this stuff was still being determined by the Courts.

Fired his ass immediately, went to Turbo Tax, and my bottom line savings have been greater than anything that bean counter came up with, even excluding his fees!

Just one man's experience, but I'm still not broke, and still ain't in jail.

Ken
 
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