Tax time again...
03-13-2016, 05:47 PM
#1
Boost Pope
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Tax time again...
Non-US citizens, I presume, find this annual mind-bash amusing. And I'm getting a much later start than usual, as things have been rather busy.
Just finished Schedule D. And it would appear that I have finally used up the last of my short-term and long-term carryovers from the Fiscal Unpleasantness of 2007. Hard to believe that it's been nearly ten years...
Having to pay Capital Gains tax again next year is going to suck. I'd really gotten used to being able to avoid it.
Don't get me wrong- I'll be much more pissed off if I DON'T have to pay Capital Gains tax for FY16...
Just finished Schedule D. And it would appear that I have finally used up the last of my short-term and long-term carryovers from the Fiscal Unpleasantness of 2007. Hard to believe that it's been nearly ten years...
Having to pay Capital Gains tax again next year is going to suck. I'd really gotten used to being able to avoid it.
Don't get me wrong- I'll be much more pissed off if I DON'T have to pay Capital Gains tax for FY16...
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03-14-2016, 10:17 AM
#9
Boost Pope
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Free as in speech, not free as in beer.
I used various tax-prep software for several years.
In 2010, I was having trouble getting it to correctly compute some random deduction on my business taxes. I knew what it was supposed to do, but couldn't make it do it. I finally said "**** it," gave up, and just did my whole tax return by hand using the downloadable IRS forms.
And I actually found it easier.
It's more work, to be certain. But I always hated how the tax-prep software tries to obscure the underlying forms from you until output time. It doesn't really let you see what's happening under the cover, so to speak. And they all do it.
Since then, I haven't used any tax-prep software at all. I do it with the raw forms, and can usually hammer it out in a single evening with a couple of beers. This year was particularly easy, since I only had one job and was straight W-2 the whole way.
Finished 1040 last night, and I owe a little over $12. Closest shave I've gotten yet. Fortunately, I lived in one state for all of 2015 (been a while since that happened), so only one state return to do.
In 2010, I was having trouble getting it to correctly compute some random deduction on my business taxes. I knew what it was supposed to do, but couldn't make it do it. I finally said "**** it," gave up, and just did my whole tax return by hand using the downloadable IRS forms.
And I actually found it easier.
It's more work, to be certain. But I always hated how the tax-prep software tries to obscure the underlying forms from you until output time. It doesn't really let you see what's happening under the cover, so to speak. And they all do it.
Since then, I haven't used any tax-prep software at all. I do it with the raw forms, and can usually hammer it out in a single evening with a couple of beers. This year was particularly easy, since I only had one job and was straight W-2 the whole way.
Finished 1040 last night, and I owe a little over $12. Closest shave I've gotten yet. Fortunately, I lived in one state for all of 2015 (been a while since that happened), so only one state return to do.
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03-14-2016, 11:48 AM
#10
Boost Czar
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We tried to get it close, but took too many deductions and are getting back a ton.
the tax code is stupid and it's like guess and check to try to actually do it correctly without owing/receiving.
the tax code is stupid and it's like guess and check to try to actually do it correctly without owing/receiving.
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03-22-2016, 05:34 PM
#12
mkturbo.com
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Charleston SC
Posts: 15,176
Total Cats: 1,680
Getting 8.2k back this year. This is the first time I have ever gotten more then 1.5k between federal and state. Having a small business that is not profitable yet is amazing. So thanks to everyone buying my setups. Keep doing it so I can keep more money in my pockets.
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03-22-2016, 06:45 PM
#16
mkturbo.com
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Location: Charleston SC
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Yep my accountant and I talked about that. There is a 9 point list that they use. I easily pass 7 of the things and the other 2 I can get around with a little work on my end. I also do plan on turning a profit in the next year or two. Getting close to having all the big purchases I "need" purchased.
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03-23-2016, 12:01 AM
#20
Boost Pope
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For the first year in a very long time, my state income tax return is "simple" enough that I'm eligible to file my forms electronically with the state, rather than putting stamp on them.
So I created an online account with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.
To verify my account creation, and as a supposed security measure, they mailed a physical letter back to me via USPS, confirming this fact.
What the **** is up with organizations, both municipal and commercial, using physical mail as a confirmation to online activities? Banks do it, insurance companies do it, hell, even Verizon mails me a physical letter every month informing me that I owe them nothing because my FiOS bill has been automatically paid electronically.
Not only do I not bother to even check the mail more than once a week or so, but a lot of people reside in rural areas in which the mailbox is just a freestanding thing on a post out by the side of the road, with no lock or physical security of any kind. Sending a letter in the mail is quite possibly the slowest, least reliable means of communication this side of smoke signals. Not to mention the fact that archiving postal communications requires me to drag around a big, heavy filing cabinet every time I move as opposed to, you know, having instantaneous, searchable access to every document I've ever sent or received, from any location on earth, in perpetuity, without having to kill trees and lug heavy **** around.
I reached out to you via electronic means because security and timeliness are important to me. So why the hell are you responding to me via a mechanism which is not only more costly and less convenient, but was already obsolete at the time of the US Civil War?
So I created an online account with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.
To verify my account creation, and as a supposed security measure, they mailed a physical letter back to me via USPS, confirming this fact.
What the **** is up with organizations, both municipal and commercial, using physical mail as a confirmation to online activities? Banks do it, insurance companies do it, hell, even Verizon mails me a physical letter every month informing me that I owe them nothing because my FiOS bill has been automatically paid electronically.
Not only do I not bother to even check the mail more than once a week or so, but a lot of people reside in rural areas in which the mailbox is just a freestanding thing on a post out by the side of the road, with no lock or physical security of any kind. Sending a letter in the mail is quite possibly the slowest, least reliable means of communication this side of smoke signals. Not to mention the fact that archiving postal communications requires me to drag around a big, heavy filing cabinet every time I move as opposed to, you know, having instantaneous, searchable access to every document I've ever sent or received, from any location on earth, in perpetuity, without having to kill trees and lug heavy **** around.
I reached out to you via electronic means because security and timeliness are important to me. So why the hell are you responding to me via a mechanism which is not only more costly and less convenient, but was already obsolete at the time of the US Civil War?
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