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I Just Filed My Taxes

Plutonius said:
What's a refund :D ?

I can see while you are in college getting money back but, if you still get money back after college working full time in your career job, you are doing something wrong. Enjoy your refund now but try to arrange your taxes for no refund when you get out of college.
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Deductions aren't always predictable so it's hard to arrange that. And, I'd rather have a refund. I know, I know, it's an interest free loan to the government, but I like getting the big check every year. If I adjusted my W4 and got a few extra bucks on each paycheck, I'd spend it on useless crap and wouldn't save it.
 
Plutonius said:
What's a refund :D ?

I can see while you are in college getting money back but, if you still get money back after college working full time in your career job, you are doing something wrong. Enjoy your refund now but try to arrange your taxes for no refund when you get out of college.
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I'm a CPA, meaning that I should agree with you, but I tend to disagree. With a culture that's as bad with money habits as the US is, it's probably better just to let the few hundred bucks sit there and not get any sticker shock at the end of the year.

The percentage of Americans that don't even have an emergency fund (a lot of places recommend six monhs, we do close to a year) is significant. Adding a sudden expense wouldn't be good for that.
 
maflynn said:
I'm not a fan of H&R Block (the people not the software) as they seem to charge by the form, so they load up on unnecessary forms to maximize their fee.

As for tax accountants in general, I was surprised when I met my wife, she used one and he basically had her fill out a 1040 form (his "customized" survey) and then charged her hundreds of dollars to then transcribe that survey over to the 1040 - he was having her do her own taxes but use his form - crazy.

Did you try using virutalbox and windows so you can run H&R Blocks software? You'll have supply or buy your own windows license but the cost of the virtualization software is easy to swallow being free.
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That's the good part about CrossOver. Virtualbox, or any VM setup, or even Bootcamp requires you to have your own windows license and install Windows outright to use it. Crossover doesn't, and will allow you to run those Windows-based programs natively on your Mac. That way I won't have to worry about a Windows installation and upkeep for it (read: patches, antivirus, etc.).

I was lucky enough to catch it on sale over the holiday season, and gave it a try on an application they have listed as "known not to work". It worked flawlessly. They also list H&R Block's software as "working", so I'm willing to give that a try. If it doesn't, I simply install it on my PC and off I go. I'm just looking to get as much work off my PC as I can, so I won't need the bloody thing anymore.

BL.
 
bradl said:
Quite a few in the Sacramento area, as they only think and assume that you are filing 1040A or 1040EZ, taking the money, and being done with it. That's why I went back to doing taxes myself.

BL.
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Weird. I use the H&R Block which is next door to the supermarket in a temporary space. I bring in numerous W2s, numerous 1099s, have multiple states with income, multiple investment accounts with buys and sells, travel receipts, a home office, a child, and all sorts of things. The lady who does mine handles it flawlessly. It ain't cheap, but she got me one hell of a refund last year…more than I probably could have gotten myself, and I only had to think about taxes for about an hour, rather than the numerous days it used to take me.

gsugolfer said:
Crazy. Blows my mind that people would pay someone to do most returns (meaning your average married couple with a kid and a standard deduction).
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I've thought the same thing. I got turned onto the lady I use now by my friends down the street. They are a couple with no children, both have normal average-paying jobs, while one of them sometimes has some extra income from some freelancing. They have no investments, no write-offs, no deductions (outside of the basics like home mortgage interest and marriage). They still pay to have their taxes done. I could probably do theirs in an hour.
 
I used to do ours using TaxAct Online. Was really happy with it. But now things have gotten a lot more complicated with my wife's business (a partnership and soon to be an LLC), some agricultural income (most the H&R Block folks don't know anything about a Schedule F!), some depreciation, and the kicker is the state business property tax.

My tax guy specializes in businesses, which really helped us get ahead of the game when she was first starting out.
 
Got mines about a week ago. Heard I have to wait until Jan 31 to start filing. I wont be getting back much.
 
Did mine last week, and I was happy as my return is fairly large this year, nearly $6k. I can only figure it was due to fixed witholding on bonus compensation, of which I had a fair amount of this year last year.
 
I want to invest mine, but not sure how to go about it and what's the safest way.

But as for my refund, my wife and I are getting back 4,000 and splitting it in half, my play money is getting either a nexus 5 or a playstation 4 and a bose soundlink mini.
 
Jnesbitt82 said:
Does anyone have plans for their refund money yet?
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I'm still waiting for Turbo Tax to finalize my State forms - they said February 7th. It will give me a chance to double check my numbers.

My plans are debt reduction, pay off/down some debts
 
I'm still building a wish list. so far I'm looking at:
Thunderbolt Display refurb $799
Wacom Intuos Pro Medium $327
CS6 Student & Teacher edition $321
Crucial 16GB Memory kit MBP $134


What I want to buy but may wait until fall:
NAS for home office


I'm fortunate enough to be receiving a refund check from college about the same time as well. Thanks to my military service, the VA picks up the tab for classes. Any grants and scholarships will be given back to me as a refund.
 
Got my email today. The IRS has Accepted your return. You should receive your refund within 21 days. yay! Now I just hope its sooner than 21 days. :)
 
Jnesbitt82 said:
Got my email today. The IRS has Accepted your return. You should receive your refund within 21 days. yay! Now I just hope its sooner than 21 days. :)
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21 days that's a long time. Maybe I missed it, but did you file electronically? Last year I got my federal return in under 2 weeks. I'll be submitting my tax returns later this weekend. I have all my info now and I'm going to do a double check, to make sure I didn't miss anything and the numbers are correctly entered.
 
BadLTD said:
Got mines about a week ago. Heard I have to wait until Jan 31 to start filing. I wont be getting back much.
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You could file before January 31, but they wouldn't have been processed until the 31st. Too late now to matter.

Jnesbitt82 said:
Does anyone have plans for their refund money yet?
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maflynn said:
21 days that's a long time. Maybe I missed it, but did you file electronically? Last year I got my federal return in under 2 weeks. I'll be submitting my tax returns later this weekend. I have all my info now and I'm going to do a double check, to make sure I didn't miss anything and the numbers are correctly entered.
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In a typical year, filings would've been processed starting the 24th, but due to the shutdown, it was pushed back to the 31st. I'm guessing there was a pretty big backlog during that week (as employers must postmark W-2s by Jan 31, so most should've received by then) to sort through.

I filed on the 23rd. I got an email saying it was accepted early on the 28th. I didn't get an estimate in terms of a timeline for a refund, nor do I really care. I just want to get my (small, ~$350 or so) refund before another likely shutdown by the end of February. If that happens, ho boy, I would not want to be someone in need of a quick turn around of a larger refund. Mine is just going straight to my Roth IRA.
 
maflynn said:
I have mine 90% completed, I'm just waiting for my wife's W2's. I was able to get all the other 1099's online and so I was able to enter my deductions fairly quickly.
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I'm still waiting on one 1099 for a withdrawal from my deceased father-in-law's IRA. It's the last piece of paper that I need. I'll look into getting it online. I'm tired of waiting for it.

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Jnesbitt82 said:
Does anyone have plans for their refund money yet?
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Top of the line 27" iMac.
 
maflynn said:
21 days that's a long time. Maybe I missed it, but did you file electronically? Last year I got my federal return in under 2 weeks. I'll be submitting my tax returns later this weekend. I have all my info now and I'm going to do a double check, to make sure I didn't miss anything and the numbers are correctly entered.
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I filed electronically with direct deposit on January 15. I think the 21 day window is just a cya for the IRS. The latest thing I'm hearing is if you can view your tax transcript for 2013 than your refund was approved. My transcript still shows an asterisk which means they haven't finished processing it yet.
 
I usually file the second week of January. The health system I work for offers online access to all of our year-to-date data. As soon as the last paycheck of the previous year is posted, I use that information to file. It's a bit (not much) more difficult because it's not as simple as "insert the amount in box 7" like when you have your W2, but all the info is there. It's also beneficial that I file an EZ. I could claim if I wanted to, but it's not significant enough for me to care. The government needs it more than I do.

Unrelated (kind of), but for what it's worth, I find Turbo Tax to be exceptional. Usually I receive an approval email within hours... No joke!

Jnesbitt82 said:
Does anyone have plans for their refund money yet?
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iWatch, iPhone 6, and an iTV (once Apple can sort out (pay off) trademark issues). :D
 
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iBreatheApple said:
Unrelated (kind of), but for what it's worth, I find Turbo Tax to be exceptional. Usually I receive an approval email within hours... No joke!
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I use Turbo Tax and love their set up as well. I think the last time I used anything different was H&R in 2007-08 maybe. They probably do the exact same job, but Turbo Tax's online experience is laid out so nicely.

Plus, due to income level or other qualifiers, I don't pay for my state or federal tax returns through Turbo Tax. There were other service providers offered through my state's Department of Treasury website, but Turbo Tax was the most reputable name (H&R was also offered, but not when I was ready to file).

People should check with their state's websites to see if they qualify for totally free filing as well. The only time I paid for state filing was last year because I had to file for two states (IL and MI), so the second one wasn't free.
 
malman89 said:
I use Turbo Tax and love their set up as well. I think the last time I used anything different was H&R in 2007-08 maybe. They probably do the exact same job, but Turbo Tax's online experience is laid out so nicely.

Plus, due to income level or other qualifiers, I don't pay for my state or federal tax returns through Turbo Tax. There were other service providers offered through my state's Department of Treasury website, but Turbo Tax was the most reputable name (H&R was also offered, but not when I was ready to file).

People should check with their state's websites to see if they qualify for totally free filing as well. The only time I paid for state filing was last year because I had to file for two states (IL and MI), so the second one wasn't free.
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I am using the TurboTax app on my Mac & its asking for a fee charge at the end of filing. Did you have to pay to?
 
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