Tax season

[lessel]

I'm such a weirdo who loves doing taxes every year. I generally submit them on the first couple days the IRS accepts them. I've pretty much already got everything done in Turbo Tax and I went to look at the date to hit send. IRS isn't starting to accept them until Feb 12 this year. I missed this when it was announced, so just an FYI to others who may have missed it (and are similarly nerdy and care about such things): www.irs.gov/newsroom/2021-tax-filing-season-begins-feb-12-irs-outlines-steps-to-speed-refunds-during-pandemic 

[ssmjlm]

Dang, I'm still waiting on like all of the documents, lol!

I did get hit with the PayPal state 1099-K this year. COVID closet clean-out hitting me in the wallet.

[lessel]

Jan 25, 2021 13:37:01 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

Dang, I'm still waiting on like all of the documents, lol!

I'm neurotic. I swear. I go to the bank, etc. websites like every day until I see the tax statements. My work W-2 said it would post on 1/21 and I was still trying even before then.

[Deleted]

I always fill out my return as soon as I get all of my documents, but wait to actually file until tax day because we owe several thousand dollars every year and I want to hang on to that money for as long as possible LOL

[flygirl]

I like taxes too-I think I missed my professional calling. Most of websites where I need t collect my stuff are not putting them out there until 1/31 so it’s likely I won’t do mine until late February.

[Accountingcat]

I think I'm going to wait as long as possible this year. Especially given the (future) stimulus payments and I think my AGI might be higher.

[winemaker06]

All you people who like taxes, the IRS sponsors volunteer tax preparation, called VITA. This year is going to be weird, and some tax sites are not opening. But it has been a very interesting experience working with them in past years, so it's something to consider for future years!
www.irs.gov/individuals/irs-tax-volunteers

[macmars45]

H is chomping at the bit to do taxes this year. We'll be getting a bunch back due to the solar panel credit. H is so excited to immediately put it towards our tesla (expected to arrive in March).

[Wallflower]

lessel, my grandfather (a former Army Colonel) would do his taxes on January 1, then had to wait until all his papers came to actually submit them. To my mind, you're in very good company.

[mlkgls]

I wouldn’t go so far as to say I like doing my taxes, but I always get money back (I know, I know) and I like getting that back as soon as possible, especially after hearing nightmare stories of identity thieves filing in other people’s names. I need to input one more form and I’m done. 

I did notice the file date seemed later than usual this year. 

[chpmnk1015]

We always get ours done as quick as possible too
. Nervous this year with ue for dh for a bit in pandemic, i moved a small 401k to a roth, ... feel like we are going to owe a lot

[lessel]

Jan 25, 2021 21:02:35 GMT -5 mlkgls said:

I wouldn’t go so far as to say I like doing my taxes, but I always get money back (I know, I know) and I like getting that back as soon as possible, especially after hearing nightmare stories of identity thieves filing in other people’s names. I need to input one more form and I’m done. 

I did notice the file date seemed later than usual this year. 

I will say that we always get back a bit too (generally not a large amount). But if we stood to owe, I would probably not be such an enthusiastic tax preparer.

[cosmowife]

The K-1s for our real estate investments don’t even arrive until very close to (or after) the tax deadline so we always file for an extension every year

[aspentosh]

Jan 25, 2021 13:37:01 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

Dang, I'm still waiting on like all of the documents, lol!

I did get hit with the PayPal state 1099-K this year. COVID closet clean-out hitting me in the wallet.

Are you sure you have to file for PayPal? I got mine and looked into it and found this:

www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/irs6050w

What is Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 6050W?
Under the IRC Section 6050W, PayPal is required to report to the IRS the total payment volume received by US account holders whose payments exceed both of these levels in a calendar year:

US$20,000 in gross payment volume from sales of goods or services in a single year
200 separate payments for goods or services in the same year

****
I was nowhere near those numbers so I am not sure what to do.

ETA: Nevermind. Found this FAQ, which hits you, too: www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/article/faq729

[dcn]

I do ours early too. Usually the first week of feb if I have all our investment statements.

I’m a cpa but I haven’t done taxes for other people in about 10 years. I have a spreadsheet that calculates our tax return (basically a mock 1040) so I have an idea of what to expect. I’ve used it to change withholding before and it’s my favorite spreadsheet to update lol.

[orval]

I have to do my business taxes first which are due March 15. Once I am done with those we file our individual. We usually wait until close to April 15 to file as we often owe.

[ssmjlm]

aspentosh, yeah, it's Virginia, not federal. They lowered it to $600 after the last general assembly I guess. It's all a loss, so just hoping turbo tax can walk me through.

[numbers]

I miss being able to file so early!

As our finances have gotten more complicated over the years with investment accounts, many of our docs aren't available until late February.

Jan 26, 2021 8:17:58 GMT -5 dcn said:

I have a spreadsheet that calculates our tax return (basically a mock 1040) so I have an idea of what to expect. I’ve used it to change withholding before and it’s my favorite spreadsheet to update lol.

I also built a spreadsheet to replicate our tax liability! It's a fun game to make sure it matches TurboTax every year, and figure out what changed if it doesn't match. #nerd

[qwerty]

Jan 25, 2021 14:15:00 GMT -5 @sameoldstory said:

I always fill out my return as soon as I get all of my documents, but wait to actually file until tax day because we owe several thousand dollars every year and I want to hang on to that money for as long as possible LOL

This is us. Although this year we didn’t get the 2nd stimulus yet even though we are eligible. So hopefully that will help with how much we owe.

[dutchgirl678]

I usually do them as soon as possible too.

[carmenere]

Jan 25, 2021 14:15:00 GMT -5 @sameoldstory said:

I always fill out my return as soon as I get all of my documents, but wait to actually file until tax day because we owe several thousand dollars every year and I want to hang on to that money for as long as possible LOL

Can you adjust your withholdings? Friendly reminder to everyone that this is a good time to run the IRS withholding estimator 

I forgot to adjust our withholding after H got an unexpected bonus last spring, so I expect we'll owe money. But now that H isn't traveling for work we only pay taxes to one state, so that's good.

[wildrice]

Jan 25, 2021 14:53:58 GMT -5 Accountingcat said:

I think I'm going to wait as long as possible this year. Especially given the (future) stimulus payments and I think my AGI might be higher.

I was thinking the same. Our AGI is definitely higher than it was in 2019. I think we'd still be eligible with our 2020 AGI, but the numbers might be really close so I wouldn't want to lose out because we were 1k over the threshold or something.

I usually do mine pretty much immediately, but we've always gotten at least a small refund. I honestly don't know what to expect this year. I hope we have withheld enough to at least break even, but my H earned a lot more last year than ever before so I'm not 100% sure we are withholding appropriately. It will be good to know so we can adjust for the future if needed! We have hardly received anything in the mail yet though.

[mccallister84]

I’m impressed by anyone who gets a W-2 early. Every place H or I has ever worked has held them until 1/31. I don’t really understand because they’ve all been huge companies with large payroll divisions so I’m assuming it’s just a matter of hitting a button in the accounting system to generate them but we have never gotten them early.

[Wallflower]

Jan 27, 2021 11:10:30 GMT -5 mccallister84 said:

I’m impressed by anyone who gets a W-2 early. Every place H or I has ever worked has held them until 1/31. I don’t really understand because they’ve all been huge companies with large payroll divisions so I’m assuming it’s just a matter of hitting a button in the accounting system to generate them but we have never gotten them early.

Well, there are software updates every year and they're dependent on the IRS releasing the information, which they sometimes do late. (I actually work for a Payroll software company, so we go through this every year.)  And there's usually some clean-up to do to the data. But generally, yes, an organization should be get forms out before 1/31. I've never understood putting it off if you didn't have to!

However, as I noted earlier in the thread, my grandfather was an Army Colonel. I've lived my entire life knowing that I had a different opinion of "on time" than other people. LOL LOL LOL LOL

[isabel]

Jan 27, 2021 9:02:45 GMT -5 carmenere said:

Jan 25, 2021 14:15:00 GMT -5 @sameoldstory said:

I always fill out my return as soon as I get all of my documents, but wait to actually file until tax day because we owe several thousand dollars every year and I want to hang on to that money for as long as possible LOL

Can you adjust your withholdings? Friendly reminder to everyone that this is a good time to run the IRS withholding estimator 

I forgot to adjust our withholding after H got an unexpected bonus last spring, so I expect we'll owe money. But now that H isn't traveling for work we only pay taxes to one state, so that's good.

Thanks for the nudge on this. We don't owe for 2020, but we were close. DH just got a significant raise today too, so we need to make sure we've adjusted accordingly.

I just did the calculator and it is way more straight forward this year than I remember it being. Super easy to figure out how much we should be withholding and exactly what those numbers should be.

[dochas]

Jan 27, 2021 11:10:30 GMT -5 mccallister84 said:

I’m impressed by anyone who gets a W-2 early. Every place H or I has ever worked has held them until 1/31. I don’t really understand because they’ve all been huge companies with large payroll divisions so I’m assuming it’s just a matter of hitting a button in the accounting system to generate them but we have never gotten them early.

This is the earliest we have ever gotten tax documents. I'm pretty excited. I always hate waiting on W-2s!

[icedcoffee]

I'm curious to see where we will stand this year. Might start entering things later today. I'm a (non-tax doing) CPA, but it's still always a surprise. I do increase my withholdings every year though. We have both W-2s so I can get a good idea today. Any other tax documents usually have a negligible effect.

[awkwardpenguin]

Our taxes are a mess - Schedule C, Schedule H, and various investment accounts. Schedule H isn't even in HR Block until 2/6 so I have to wait.

I do have to prepare the W-2 for our household employee today. I haven't sprung for a payroll service yet because it's much easier to handle the actual payments myself, but I'm always annoyed with myself come tax time. We're only a few hundred over the reportable amount ($2200 for 2020) and it's not THAT hard, but I am always so worried I'll make a mistake.

[icedcoffee]

Looks like we'll be getting a refund this year! WOOH. Still waiting on 1 1099 for my kid's UTMA account and the 1099 for my regular savings account.

Also--I always forget how employee stock options always mean I need to enter 6 million numbers at tax time. I don't even know if it's worth it. LOL

[awkwardpenguin]

liteningme, state and local taxes are limited to a $10k deduction. So it’s adding $10k of your state and local taxes to your mortgage interest to get your itemized deductions. The real question is why they don’t show the cap applying last year.