Erat

iTrader: (5)

Apparently i owe this year... Lots of ******* money.... I NEVER owe money.

I'm pretty pissed, i didn't file. Not sure what to do here.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

You're upset that the federal government gave you an interest-free loan, and would rather have loaned them free money instead?

I'm about halfway through my federal 1040, and it looks like I'm going to owe about $6-7k. This is a welcome change from last year when I wound up with a friggin' refund...

(Though I must admit that my AGI for 2013 is embarrassingly low. Like, five figures low... I didn't really realize how much time I'd spent outside of the workforce.)


What do you mean you "didn't file"?

Erat

iTrader: (5)

I didn't hit the "submit" button.

I can assure you that i make far less than you and the amount i owe is more than my mortgage payment for a month...

Something is wrong, i'm just going to pay a professional to make sure i break even like i always do.

mgeoffriau

iTrader: (7)

Nothing changed in your life that would change your tax liability?


I usually break even. But leaving my old job before I received my large year-end bonus meant an overall decrease in income, which resulted in a refund. Oh well.

Efini~FC3S

iTrader: (4)

I blame OBAMA

You didn't vote for him...did you?

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

I consider this to be a good thing.

Frankly, so long as the rate of interest which I accrue on the money while it's in my hands exceeds the rate at which I am penalized for underpayment, I'd very much prefer my entire tax burden to be payable in one lump sum every April.

I don't understand why people consider getting a tax refund to be a good thing. It's not free money, it's money that you needlessly loaned the government over the course of the year, for which you received no interest.

Erat

iTrader: (5)

I don't want a huge refund either. I want to break even. I don't see any reason any person shouldn't break even...

Appearantly working this second job is what's to blame.

mgeoffriau

iTrader: (7)

I don't understand why people feign confusion over things that are easily understood. For people with self-control issues who live paycheck to paycheck, it's like a magic bonus that you didn't even realize you were saving.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Yeah, I understand that.

I don't understand how a person can be conscious of this fact and yet still revel in it.

I mean, it's not a secret that taxes are due from time to time. And I'm totally fine with people who have the aforementioned issues being happy at the end of the year when they finish their 1040EZ and find that they owe no money.

But when I hear people talking about tax refunds like this, it's usually in the context of deciding how they're going to spend this "free" money which just fell out of the sky. By comparison, when I finish my return and find that I'm owed a huge refund, I am pissed off that I improperly estimated my quarterly payments / W2 witholdings, with the result that I have been deprived of income over the course of the whole year.

Efini~FC3S

iTrader: (4)

Big Tax Refund - Like a savings account the Government forced you to contribute to. Money you would have blown on new trousers at Wal-Mart if you would have been getting it in your regular paycheck every week.

Efini~FC3S

iTrader: (4)

Whoops, scratch out "new trousers", insert "Cartons of American Spirit Cigarettes"...

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

But that's just the thing- I see people all the time planing to blow the money on stupid **** anyway. Hell, there are lots of tax prepares who now bundle a Refund Anticipation Check into their services, which permits you to not merely waste the money faster, but to pay a 300% APR to the equivalent of a payday-loan shop for the privilege of doing so.



And no, mgeoffriau, I am not feigning confusion or being deliberately obtuse about this. I genuinely cannot understand the motivation for this kind of behavior...

chpmnsws6

iTrader: (12)

Words to live by.

I'm enjoying my last year being in the 53% club (unless I go back to school AGAIN).

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

I'm about 90% certain that income is "earned" when payment for services is received, regardless of when the services were actually performed and invoiced for.

This complicates my TY13 computations dramatically (and will, in fact, continue to do so into TY14.)

bahurd

iTrader: (8)

Depends on your accounting method. Cash basis or Accrual?

Most small businesses, or contractors, are cash basis which means when you actually receive payment. You can't mix/match.... and technically you can't invoice after you receive payment.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

I use a simple cash accounting method. So even though I did the work and submitted the invoices in August, the fact that my broke-*** client didn't actually pay me until the first week of January means that I have SE / C income for 2014, and while a resident of New Jersey and a W2 employee no less!

Savington

iTrader: (31)

I received a K1 from ProShares in early April last year.

bahurd

iTrader: (8)

Well, aren't you going to be taking your relo and associated costs on your 2013 taxes as a business? Do you have a tax id number? Business expenses pretty much come off the top as does health insurance expenses. SEP contribution comes off the top if you do one. And you get to defer the income to 2015. Never bitch about deferring potential taxes.....

In other words, you get to write off the expenses incurred last year to create the income earned this year.

vehicular

iTrader: (3)

Being a plebeian sub-poverty-line college student, I expected to get all of my piddly little part-time-engineering-intern withholding back, but I was plesently surprised that in addition to Baracka Flocka Flame returning my microscopic quantity of taxation, I'm getting a free $1000 check this year for being a full time student.

I was not aware that this credit existed until I got to the end of the H&R Block E-File nonsense and it said I was getting more than 10% of the money I made this year back. I did a little jig and began hunting for toys to purchase.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Haha. That's what you get for setting up weaseley pass-through business entities.




My moving costs totaled $3,416 all together (truck rental, fuel, hotels, meals, tolls, and helpers on both ends to load and unload.) This is reported on Form 3903, and 1040 Line 26. It is a personal deduction, not a business expense. It's also not a Schedule A deduction, which is what I was specifically whining about. My only Schedule A deductions for 2013 were state income tax paid.



No. I am a sole proprietorship.



My total business expenses for 2013 came to $9,317 (it was a *VERY* slow year.) This goes into Part II of Schedule C (Profit and Loss from Business) and simply decreases the net profit of the business which then flows into Schedule SE (Self-Employment Tax) and Form 1040 Line 12 (Business Income).


Health insurance for the Self-Employed (which cost me $1,656 in 2013) comes out on Form 1040 Line 29, as a deduction to AGI. It is not deductible from the business itself.


Nope. While I do max out employer-matched 401ks, I prefer to keep my other capital liquid.



The amount of the income (and thus, the tax I will pay on it next year) is so low that I would gladly pay additional money to allow me to pay the tax on it this year, so that next year I don't have to file Schedules C and SE with the IRS and also have to deal with business income in New Jersey.





This saddens me.