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Taxes are done.

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Originally posted by: ZeroIQ
I just got my "draft" W2s. Last year I think I got four W2s in total because of mistakes. This year they had four audits to fix their mistakes. Now they think they can get away with fuckups because we are suppose to double check them.

"Hey, we gave you a draft, if its screwed up you should have caught it first, not our problem."
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wtf!

where do you work? They are just asking for trouble... Watch how they go down the drain once they find out that they screwd up their finances and getting slammed by uncle sam. How do you screw such a thing anyways.. should be simple to keep up.
 
Originally posted by: xSauronx
Originally posted by: Exterous
Originally posted by: kranky
Originally posted by: Blain
The Idiots guide to taxes...

1. If you owe $$$ at the end of the year, you borrowed the government's money > INTEREST FREE. :laugh:
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I just want to cry whenever I see a reference to "the government's money".
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lol

I join the many numbers of people who have not gotten their W2s yet 🙁
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i wont have mine until the end of the month, meh. im pretty sure im going to owe, however, since i didnt keep up with my taxes fully last year as a contractor, so this is going to suck
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Oh, you didn't pay prepay quarterly as a contractor? :Q I hope you set aside at least quarter of your pay. If not, I see someone crying come April.
 
Heck, I work for Uncle Sam and my W2s don't arrive until the 22nd of Jan. The 1099s from school usually don't arrive until March, lazy bastards.

Edit - And yes, I will be getting back a 1000+ refund. Hope Credit.
 
I don't know how you win by getting no return. Are you allowed to tell your employer "don't withhold anything from me?" The people who win this game are the people who have the minimum withholding and still get a large return. 🙂

Also, the "tax free loan" - big deal. Let's suppose you get a $2000 return. The average amount that you loaned the gov't over the course of the year is about $1000. At 4% interest rate on a savings account, that's $40. Not a big deal.
 
I haven't even gotten my W-2s and 1099 yet. I'll probably try to get mine done early to see how much I owe (anticipating something in the range of $5-10k 🙁 ), but I'll hold off on paying until April.
 
I e-filed my federal and state taxes a couple of hours ago. After looking at how much the government takes from me, I feel sick to my stomach.
 
Originally posted by: GRIFFIN1
I e-filed my federal and state taxes a couple of hours ago. After looking at how much the government takes from me, I feel sick to my stomach.
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Yeah, but you get it all back in war and death and stuff.
 
Originally posted by: PhoenixOrion
Originally posted by: Jeff7
I can't even do mine, and I'd like to get my "refund" back - I haven't gotten my W2's yet.


Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
Originally posted by: PhoenixOrion
What's there to gloat? you don't have money coming back 😛
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That's what he's gloating about. He didn't give Uncle Sam an interest free loan. 😉
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Yes he did. But it wasn't enough, so he has to pay even more now.
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Bingo!

Every time a tax payer still has to pay more taxes on top of what was withheld from them throughout the year, regardless of what was their withholding allowance, more than likely could have done better with their tax preparation (deductions, tack on that capital/investment loss especially with the 2007 stock market, write up depreciation of a property, loss on a profit-motive hobby, open up an IRA before April 2008, etc.) to lower taxable income so that they always recoup some of their money back come year-end settlement. Think about it for a second.
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Yes, to save a few thousand on taxes I should have bought a house and gone into hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. :roll:

I don't own a house (doesn't make sense right now). I calculated my deductions; if I itemize I come out worse than taking the standard deduction. I don't have, and don't want, a "profit-motive hobby", and I already drop over 10% of my income into a 401(k) which does a good job of keeping my taxable income down. It's not worth saving a few hundred dollars in taxes for me to end up spending my weekends keeping books and setting up business plans for a hobby in order to qualify it as "for-profit" under IRS regulations. Given the value that I place on my time, I would come out behind by doing that.

In any case, even if someone was planning to use all those little loopholes, they still should not get a refund if they are planning their withholdings correctly. In an ideal world, you minimise your tax burden and have your withholdings match your tax liability exactly. Otherwise, you are forgoing interest earned on money that could have been invested. In fact, it's better to withhold too little than too much since if too little is withheld, you are at least earning interest on that money before you have to pay it to the government.

ZV
 
Originally posted by: GRIFFIN1
I e-filed my federal and state taxes a couple of hours ago. After looking at how much the government takes from me, I feel sick to my stomach.
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Think that makes you sick?

An estimated $300-$500 billion is wasted every year on tax compliance.

An estimated $13 trillion sits in off-shore accounts to avoid U.S. taxes.
 
Originally posted by: alkemyst
Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
Originally posted by: PhoenixOrion
What's there to gloat? you don't have money coming back 😛
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That's what he's gloating about. He didn't give Uncle Sam an interest free loan. 😉
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He did, short of the last $78.
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It's not a loan if you don't get repaid. Taxes are a payment for services rendered.

ZV
 
Do people really buy into that interest free loan to the gov't? A refund is a refund. If you pay taxes and they give you money back how is that a bad thing? I for one would like my pay to be a few bucks less a month and get a nice check at the end of the year to do what I want with. As opposed to spreading that out over the year and not really noticing it.
 
Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
Originally posted by: alkemyst
Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
Originally posted by: PhoenixOrion
What's there to gloat? you don't have money coming back 😛
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That's what he's gloating about. He didn't give Uncle Sam an interest free loan. 😉
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He did, short of the last $78.
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It's not a loan if you don't get repaid. Taxes are a payment for services rendered.

ZV
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You are talking semantics regardless. Also for most people the interest 'loss' doesn't make it worthwhile. It's a loan to most as they usually get back money at tax time.

However; paying in April in full is better financially if possible than paying it off during the course of the year.

 
Originally posted by: DrPizza
I don't know how you win by getting no return. Are you allowed to tell your employer "don't withhold anything from me?" The people who win this game are the people who have the minimum withholding and still get a large return. 🙂

Also, the "tax free loan" - big deal. Let's suppose you get a $2000 return. The average amount that you loaned the gov't over the course of the year is about $1000. At 4% interest rate on a savings account, that's $40. Not a big deal.
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And at the 25% return my investment accounts made last year it's $250. It's certainly true that it won't break me one way or the other, but in principle I would rather have the ability to invest the money.

ZV
 
Originally posted by: new2AMD
Do people really buy into that interest free loan to the gov't? A refund is a refund. If you pay taxes and they give you money back how is that a bad thing? I for one would like my pay to be a few bucks less a month and get a nice check at the end of the year to do what I want with. As opposed to spreading that out over the year and not really noticing it.
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It depends on the circumstances. I have a loan I want to pay off as soon as possible. It makes sense for me to only withhold what I actually owe in taxes, that way I can put the rest of the money to work as soon as possible.
 
Originally posted by: PhoenixOrion
Originally posted by: Jeff7
I can't even do mine, and I'd like to get my "refund" back - I haven't gotten my W2's yet.


Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
Originally posted by: PhoenixOrion
What's there to gloat? you don't have money coming back 😛
Click to expand...

That's what he's gloating about. He didn't give Uncle Sam an interest free loan. 😉
Click to expand...
Yes he did. But it wasn't enough, so he has to pay even more now.
Click to expand...

Bingo!

Every time a tax payer still has to pay more taxes on top of what was withheld from them throughout the year, regardless of what was their withholding allowance, more than likely could have done better with their tax preparation (deductions, tack on that capital/investment loss especially with the 2007 stock market, write up depreciation of a property, loss on a profit-motive hobby, open up an IRA before April 2008, etc.) to lower taxable income so that they always recoup some of their money back come year-end settlement. Think about it for a second.
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Explain this "hobby loss" thing to em for a second. Can I deduct the money I spent on video games and baseball cards? 🙂


 
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