2015 Tax Time

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Personally, I pay someone else to help me with my taxes during this time of the year, which isn't exactly cheap, but to me it's worth the time I would have to spend doing it on my own.

How does everyone else take care of their taxes?

 
My wife is a tax professional so she does our taxes. Pretty sweet deal. Not looking forward to tax time this year as we had to sell a rental and the wife worked more this year than she has in 10 years. The rental was great for a tax write off every year but we had a hard time with crappy renters.
 
I just file taxes myself.  I have a super simple life (9-5 job, no secondary income, standard deduction because my mortgage interest rate is so low).

 
Unless you are wealthy there really is no reason to pay someone to do your taxes.  Turbotax and those online type deals are the way to go. They make it super simple.

 
I use the taxact website.  Standard deduction so it's not complicated.

I would suggest doing your return as early as possible, people stealing tax returns has become big business the past few years.

 
We have a tax guy, he advises us throughout the year when questions arise that could affect our taxes, and then crunches the numbers each February.  In fact he's coming over next week to gather files and discuss strategy since we had a couple of unusual events last year, including a sister's death and an estate to disposition.  I'm glad Herb is there and happy to pay him.

Oh, and they can't steal your return if you use direct deposit, do they even still issue checks?

 
I do my own.  The Federales have a free file online option and Ohio has a free e-file website, so it costs me nothing. (I get back all the taxes I loaned the government anyways)

 
Its my first year filing taxes and I plan on using turbo tax.i feel like I've read enough to do them plus they should be simple since I'm taking the standard deduction and only other thing I need to account for is my student loan interest. Just wish I already had my w-2
 
I always just use TurboTax. It's awesome. My girl and I had a kid this year though. Guys..I had a kid. Guess what that means? #NewTaxBracket

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That's my world though. :)

 
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I'm a CPA, I do my own.

Most people can do their own.  If you're scared, use TurboTax or similar software.  Only people with very complicated taxes need a professional.  For the most part, CPAs have similar software to TurboTax that they use to do people's taxes- they just charge a hell of a markup.  We're a ripoff unless you have very complicated taxes. :)

 
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I usually do my own with an uneasy feeling of "was that right?". If I have SERIOUS doubts after filing, I can have H & R Block look over them after the fact. This year, I got married and was going to do them myself but the numbers didn't seem right... Again...  So, we took them in and they got the exact same numbers as I did! I was relieved and I will be doing them myself next year. I just get worried every year because it has been a year since I've done them and I always think that I'm going to screw them up.

Oh yeah, screw this health insurance thing too!! I didn't get insurance until the beginning of 2015 and I was "fined" $500 and that came out of my taxes... That sucked. The wife gave me a look like "Seriously?!" Whateves, I would have paid more to my insurer in two months than the fine was. I friggin hate this must have insurance BS.

 
I'm a single parent. I actually ended up making less this year than last year (SUCKS) but as for the money I loaned the government. YAY! Gimme my monies back. mamma needs new games.  :pray:

Oh, I do them myself. I have been doing them myself in the last few years with an online tax program. It gets easier each year. And this year my state efile is FREE!!!! 

 
Some of the DIY services offer a review by "professionals" for a small fee as well if you have a little more complicated issue and are concerned. Should still be cheaper than paying for it elsewhere.

 
I've always done them myself, but I worked a lot as an independent contractor this year and have some royalties coming in from a book so I've got some 1099's and stuff so I'm kind of confused.  I could probably write a lot of stuff off as expenses but I was dumb and didn't really keep receipts and stuff.  I think I'm gonna see what I can do myself this weekend then if I think I have it really screwed up take it somewhere.

 
So I filed Fed and State through TurboTax last Sunday... they sent me an email today entitled "Your biggest refund is waiting" - come do your taxes!

 
The tax preparer industry is a racket. We live in an age with powerful, user friendly tax programs like Turbo Tax that walk the user step by step through their tax return. There is no reason to pay a tax accountant  $200/hr and give large bundles of sensitive information when you can achieve the same results yourself in under a hour. One of the biggest myths told to the public is the fact that they can't do taxes themselves. What is so complicated? Most tax returns are as simple as entering the income off your W2 and 1099s, claiming your dependents(if applicable) and taking a standard deduction. If you have a home, you will probably itemize by entering home mortgage interest, real estate taxes and state/local taxes paid last year. Its virtually the same process every year.

 
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I used to do my own with Turbo Tax for probably the past 10 years.  It is free to file the Federal taxes, but I have to pay to file the State taxes.  It costs the same amount to have this local tax guy do them for us, and he is much more organized than I am anyway. 

Being just married within the past year and a half, and now having a house for a full year, no kids yet, should I still have my deductions at Single with 0 dependants?  Or should my wife and I change this up?

 
DragonClaw said:
The tax preparer industry is a racket. We live in an age with powerful, user friendly tax programs like Turbo Tax that walk the user step by step through their tax return. There is no reason to pay a tax accountant $200/hr and give large bundles of sensitive information when you can achieve the same results yourself in under a hour. One of the biggest myths told to the public is the fact that they can't do taxes themselves. What is so complicated? Most tax returns are as simple as entering the income off your W2 and 1099s, claiming your dependents(if applicable) and taking a standard deduction. If you have a home, you will probably itemize by entering home mortgage interest, real estate taxes and state/local taxes paid last year. Its virtually the same process every year.
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This, hell, probably 90% of taxpayers don't even need to use TurboTax. The IRS has pretty clear instructions for the 1040.

 
So may people do not understand taxes or the preparation.  Like everyone is saying most people only feel out a 1040EZ or 1040.  I try and explain to people that if you pay someone $300 to do your taxes normally and next year do them yourself for say $40 you can be off by $260 and still break even (yes there is some time and effort).  But for most people like DragonClaw said you are basically entering the numbers from your W-2 and/or a few 1099s and boom done.  Wish more people understood this especially when I hear excuses like missing deductions that they would never get such as work related expenses etc that have an AGI limit and you would never have used.

 
I do my taxes myself. Was considering paying someone to do it for me but since I do my own finances for myself and my business, I decided to do it myself.

Sucks since I end up getting more tax information that I didn't expect after I filed my taxes. Can't amend it since it hasn't processed. Might see if I can add it to my taxes for next year since it'll only give me $20 or so.

 
Do I have to file for income tax if I only made $3,727.21 from Amazon Mechanical Turk last year? I live in Illinois.

 
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Darby27 said:
What is Amazon Mechanical Turk?

The online limit is $20,000 AND 200 transactions.
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Amazon Mechanical Turk is a marketplace for work that requires human intelligence. The Mechanical Turk service gives businesses access to a diverse, on-demand, scalable workforce and gives Workers a selection of thousands of tasks to complete whenever it's convenient.

Amazon Mechanical Turk is based on the idea that there are still many things that human beings can do much more effectively than computers, such as identifying objects in a photo or video, performing data de-duplication, transcribing audio recordings, or researching data details. Traditionally, tasks like this have been accomplished by hiring a large temporary workforce (which is time consuming, expensive, and difficult to scale) or have gone undone.

 
"Do I have to file for income tax if I only made $3,727.21 from Amazon Mechanical Turk last year? I live in Illinois."

See who has to file Table 1-1 to 1-3  it depends on a few things (not sure about your state tax) but based on your age most likely not.  Also check and see if you had taxes withheld, if  you did have taxes withheld you should file to recover your taxes.  

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf

 
This was the first year that I haven't done my own taxes since I started earning enough to have to file.  The wife and I purchased a house and I got a promotion last year that moved us into a new tax bracket.  When I did them myself, the numbers didnt seem right so we went to a professional.  Good thing I did, cause her result was better than mine.  I do taxes for a few family members (mostly very straightforward...one income, no home ownership, standard deductions, etc.) and stick to either H&R Block or Tax Act.  Both are super easy to use.

 
I do them myself. myfreetaxes.com, despite having a shady sounding site, works perfectly. It's basically the H&R block basic program subsidized by Wal Mart. It's completely free if you make less than $60k.

 
IRS recommends myfreetaxes.com. My state does have a VITA program every year for as long as I can remember. If you're pretty rich or have some really complicated stuff going on, get a CPA.

Besides taxes are much easier to handle than a welfare application. Oh the hoops they make you jump through for a measly $200 a month. Thank goodness I'm just plain miserable without that.

 
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Every year I pay for TurboTax and every year I feel like there must be a better way. The thing that gets to me is the $20 they charge me right at the end when the ask if I want to e-file my state taxes.

 
Every year I pay for TurboTax and every year I feel like there must be a better way. The thing that gets to me is the $20 they charge me right at the end when the ask if I want to e-file my state taxes.

ShirtSizeXXXLXT said:
Being just married within the past year and a half, and now having a house for a full year, no kids yet, should I still have my deductions at Single with 0 dependants? Or should my wife and I change this up?
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Here's a link to the IRS withholding calculator. You should run these numbers early in the year and change your withholdings accordingly. Can potentially save you from a big surprise at tax time next year.

http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator

 
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I have family that does them for me, but I really want to learn how to do it myself. For 2016 taxes I should (hopefully) just have a 9-5 job and a 1098-E from the school loans I'm paying off. Any tips on something simple like that?

Oh, and does anybody know anything about charitable donations and how they can have some tax benefits? Seems like there are so many things about taxes I don't really know about.

 
Devil May Cry said:
I have family that does them for me, but I really want to learn how to do it myself. For 2016 taxes I should (hopefully) just have a 9-5 job and a 1098-E from the school loans I'm paying off. Any tips on something simple like that?

Oh, and does anybody know anything about charitable donations and how they can have some tax benefits? Seems like there are so many things about taxes I don't really know about.
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I've never messed with charitable donations and taxes, but it looks to me like they are tax deductible. In other words, they serve to reduce the income on which you are taxed and might, as a result, reduce your tax bill.

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Eight-Tips-for-Deducting-Charitable-Contributions

 
TooMuchCoolness said:
Do I have to file for income tax if I only made $3,727.21 from Amazon Mechanical Turk last year? I live in Illinois.
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Never heard of this site...but if they give you a w-2 here is some info on taxes in IL:

Most likely you will owe IL state tax, but not federal depending on how the income is reported and if they withheld taxes.

You will have to go through the federal form to get your adjusted gross income first (but you probably won't owe anything on the federal level). I think we get $2,125 deduction for single/no other dependents in IL (If someone else can claim you, you do not get a deduction (IIRC). Once you have your adjusted gross income from the federal return, you plug it into the state form. If the number -2125 is positive, you owe 3% of that number (IIRC).

 
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Devil May Cry said:
Oh, and does anybody know anything about charitable donations and how they can have some tax benefits? Seems like there are so many things about taxes I don't really know about.
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Save your receipts. You will file an itemized deduction and that will need to be greater than the standard deduction.

 
Devil May Cry said:
I have family that does them for me, but I really want to learn how to do it myself. For 2016 taxes I should (hopefully) just have a 9-5 job and a 1098-E from the school loans I'm paying off. Any tips on something simple like that?

Oh, and does anybody know anything about charitable donations and how they can have some tax benefits? Seems like there are so many things about taxes I don't really know about.
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Any tax software would do to be honest. I was in a similar position where all I had was the w-2 from my job, a couple of 1098-int and a 1098-e for my student loans. I just used TurboTax to file them as it was free for state and federal. I also used the standard deduction since I knew there was no way my itemized would be near $6000.i did use taxact and H&R Block to confirm all of my numbers were similar.
 
Lieutenant Dan said:
I've never messed with charitable donations and taxes, but it looks to me like they are tax deductible. In other words, they serve to reduce the income on which you are taxed and might, as a result, reduce your tax bill.

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Eight-Tips-for-Deducting-Charitable-Contributions
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Phew, this is a lot to take in. I'll read this over when I have some spare time, but thanks for the links! Mainly looking for how much needs to be donated and how they get to that number. Donations vs income?

bkjohns1 said:
Save your receipts. You will file an itemized deduction and that will need to be greater than the standard deduction.
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I'll start doing that, thanks for the tip. Need to look into this further to determine what the standard deduction translates to.

tonyv4 said:
Any tax software would do to be honest. I was in a similar position where all I had was the w-2 from my job, a couple of 1098-int and a 1098-e for my student loans. I just used TurboTax to file them as it was free for state and federal. I also used the standard deduction since I knew there was no way my itemized would be near $6000.i did use taxact and H&R Block to confirm all of my numbers were similar.
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I'm not opposed to using those services, but I'd rather learn how to be able to do this on my own. Maybe use them just to make sure I'm doing it right. Seems like everyone's go-to is TurboTax, so I'll keep that in mind.

 
Myfreetaxes is legit and great. As someone else said, unless you're rich or have a lot of things going on (stock, child support, marriage shit, etc) easiest way to do it through a program. CPAs can be wizards for getting you stuff back but again it's mainly only if you make a lot of money and have the money to burn on them. I've never messed with donations as I've been told you aren't getting back anything from them unless you're making some serious contributions and I don't think my Goodwill contributions or animal shelter donations are even at 200 dollars calculated so no point.

 
Navex said:
I've never messed with donations as I've been told you aren't getting back anything from them unless you're making some serious contributions and I don't think my Goodwill contributions or animal shelter donations are even at 200 dollars calculated so no point.
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If you're already itemizing your deductions, you may as well add them in. Every dollar helps. If you aren't eligible for itemizing, then yeah, they aren't doing anything for you.

 
Woohoo! I got fucked on my taxes this year.

Not really fucked, but my wife's office changed accountants or something and they instructed her on how to fill out her W4 (I think that's the form, the one that decides how much to take out) and I owe about 2k.

Luckily we were able to save all year, but that just sucks.

Rat bastards is what they are.

 
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DMC:

I'm not opposed to using those services, but I'd rather learn how to be able to do this on my own. Maybe use them just to make sure I'm doing it right. Seems like everyone's go-to is TurboTax, so I'll keep that in mind.

I would suggest going to the IRS website and looking up a form 1040 and printing that out along with the instructions and that would be the best was to start

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf - note this is 104 pages long so printing might not be an option so keep it open and search for relevant terms

Most people file either a 1040 or 1040EZ.

Also the standard deduction is $6,200 and that is noted on the form 1040.  I started doing my own taxes at 19 along with my brothers and this is a skill you should know as it will help you 1)save money by not paying someone to fill out a simple form and 2)make better money decision due to your understanding of taxes.  Good luck and post any questions.

 
Taxact is where it's at. $12 and easy interview process. Had something new this year (HSA contributions) and was simple.
Found out I can't get student loan interest deducted anymore though. Bastards.
 
Dead of Knight said:
If you're already itemizing your deductions, you may as well add them in. Every dollar helps. If you aren't eligible for itemizing, then yeah, they aren't doing anything for you.
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Just now saw this. To you or anyone - when you say not eligible do you mean there's not something I'm doing right to be able to itemize or do you mean the stuff I donated isn't eligible to be itemized? The things I donate yearly are just clothes and maybe some unused electronics/or other misc. stuff that's very good condition but we're talking at best 30 bucks value total so I doubt it would make a difference on my return even if I did this process. I would guess you'd have to be donating hundreds before you'd see anything back.

 
Navex said:
Just now saw this. To you or anyone - when you say not eligible do you mean there's not something I'm doing right to be able to itemize or do you mean the stuff I donated isn't eligible to be itemized? The things I donate yearly are just clothes and maybe some unused electronics/or other misc. stuff that's very good condition but we're talking at best 30 bucks value total so I doubt it would make a difference on my return even if I did this process. I would guess you'd have to be donating hundreds before you'd see anything back.
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I think he meant if you're already taking the itemized deduction as opposed to the standard deduction. But i could be wrong :D
 
tonyv4 said:
I think he meant if you're already taking the itemized deduction as opposed to the standard deduction. But i could be wrong :D
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Yup, you are wrong. It's a she =]

But yea, unless you are already itemizing more than your standard deduction ($6200+), charity won't make a difference on taxes.

 
Bumping an old thread but question for you guys. My wife and I got married this past May and she's looking into getting a part-time job (she works full-time as well) for nights/weekends. I make about $10K more than her right now but the second job would obviously bring it closer. When tax time comes around will we be screwed if we file jointly and end up in a higher tax bracket?
 
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I know TaxAct lets you click a button at the end to see if you would save anything by filing separate.

Tax brackets are tiered, in case you didn't know......meaning, if you are like $5 over into the 28% tax bracket, you only get taxed at 28% on that $5, not the rest.

 
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