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Tax return time..


r6allstar

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Everyone better just be happy they're either paid up or getting a refund. Shit's getting serious with the IRS.

Acquiring Shotguns

Solicitation Number: TIRWR-10-Q-00023

Agency: Department of the Treasury

Office: Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Location: Field Operations Branch Western (OS:A:P:B:W)

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all i know is that for the first time ever...i have to pay that bastard in washington. im a student and barely made over 10k last year.

If you owe (have to write a check for) more than $999, you may also get to pay a penalty for underpayment.

- If you already paid more this year than last year's total bill, you're OK.

- If you already paid at least 90% of this year's bill, you're OK.

- If the above don't apply, BOHICA.

- The 'OK' examples above don't apply if you have a "high income" as defined by the IRS ($75K/$150K single/married).

<Please consult your tax professional>

Bastards.

Edited by jblosser
clarify "owe"
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CPA for me... but yeah, I guess a lot of people assosciate that as someone at HR Block that just asks you the questions.

You keep saying that, but I challenge you to double-check your refund with one of the 'tax programs' to verify the refund you're getting with your super-special CPA *insert snobby white collar voice*, versus what you'd get if you were just doing it yourself.

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You keep saying that, but I challenge you to double-check your refund with one of the 'tax programs' to verify the refund you're getting with your super-special CPA *insert snobby white collar voice*, versus what you'd get if you were just doing it yourself.
+1. Those tax programs have all the laws installed. Removes human error. Plus' date=' if you spend the time (like... lots of time) you can find more money than any comparably priced CPA will ever find.[/quote']

Very true.

Those programs have ALL the laws..all you need to invest is a little of your time. They even re-check your return before you file to see if there are any flags that may cause an audit. They will even plug in LAST year's values and information so you don't have to dig that crap up.

Unless you have an extremely complicated return, I can't see the point in paying someone to do it. And even if your return is complicated, you should at least give it a go on your own once (you don't have to file..just get all the info in) to see what the difference is between doing it yourself and getting your starfish served for dinner.

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If you take up that challenge and post results/conclusions that indicate you [Matt] were right - I'll considering using a tax pro next year.

I'll do that for sure. I did the returns myself 2 times already and got nearly identical results between HRBlock and TurboTax... so if my CPA comes back with the same thing I'll know it was a waste of money.

Plus I'll also be able to reverse engineer what he did to see how it'd work in TT.

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So here's a big thing... it applies to lots of stuff. If you're not a specialist, you have no business doing it yourself.

Folks that have no marketing or business experience, have no business to do their own marketing and business plan. Same token, I'm not a tax expert, I'm willing to pay someone to answer my questions, I'm not looking for someone to fill out TurboTax for me.

Got this from MSN Money

There are four basic categories of tax preparers: storefront agents such as those at H&R Block, certified public accountants, enrolled agents and lawyers. It's not the title that's important. It's the way the preparer approaches your return.

If you go to a tax preparer who just takes your numbers and inputs them into your return, I believe you've wasted your money and time. The key is finding an individual who specializes in taxation and keeps up with tax trends and changes in tax law. What you should pay for is advice and direction. More specifically, here's what to expect:

A good tax preparer starts by asking a lot of questions. The only way you'll get your money's worth is if the preparer understands what you do and how you do it -- and then scours for every legitimate deduction.

The key is, I'm not paying a person to fill out the forms with the numbers I hand them, I'm looking for advice on several items, but of the most important, using my home office and how it effects everything else. If you check out TurboTax and look under the home office deductions (or self employed) you'll notice it's VERY vague and can be difficult to manage, especially the pieces about depreciation of assets.

One of the first things my guy brought up was depreciation and how taking it now could hurt a tax free sale later... TurboTax isn't providing that information to you, or it's burried in their Help and Common Questions by someone that posted a reply.

The key here, I'm not keen on spending a "lot of time" trying to figure out the best situation when the guy I use has been doing this for over 30 years. Additionally, I'm paying for him to tell me what I need to do in 2010 to ensure that I get the most money back next return... how much in donations, how much I SHOULD spend on my home office (should I buy a new desk for $1,000 because it will get me $1,500 back at the end of the year), that kind of stuff.

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Another issue that is often over looked is traveling for work in regards to state and city taxes. I have been told that you can count up the days you did not work in the city/state your business is in, and request a refund from that city/state you are currently paying. This of course would require detailed records. As I understand, instead of paying your city for 365 days worth of taxes, if you traveled for 30 days of that year, you can get a refund of the difference from what your city taxes would be, compared to what 30 days of taxes would be in the visiting city.

Dang what a long sentance there.

I have not tried this, nor do I even know where/ how to do this on a tax form.

Last year was my first year traveling for my company. They are based in Euclid, with a city tax rate of 2.85%. So, if I went through the effort to keep track of how many days I was not working in Euclid compared to a city I was working in with a lower rate, say like 1.5%, I could request a refund from Euclid. But then, do I have to send a check to that visiting city i was actually working in on those days? These are the questions for a real tax preparer.

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too busy. i pay a part time secretary to enter whatever data into quickbooks and my CPA to do the rest. the last time i tried to do everything myself, i forgot to do the BWC and CAT taxes and i got fizzucked for more than i paid to my CPA. screw that. and do you know how much of a pain it is to do payroll (and the tax filings and the child support filings) yourself?

i'd rather be getting a machine going than typing the entirety of my check registry into quickbooks and forgetting to file my quarterly return to fucking RITA

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do you know that i didn't even get to have a steak there? i tried to get them to put a steak in the grilled cheese i ordered, but they wouldn't fucking let me. the not so attractive waitress wouldn't budge. but then the hawt waitress came by and asked me what i wanted and by then i was too grumpy to get what i wanted and just ordered a coke and crown instead.

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