It's that time of year again. Not springtime. Not Daylight Savings Time. TAX TIME! I finished ours last week. Started it one day, finished the next. The process was slightly more complicated this year, with Hick's business license and the requisite sales tax. Funny how nobody else at the storage unit emporium has a business license or pays sales tax. But that's not Hick's business...
Anyhoo... I had to jump up to the next level of TurboTax, just for the business portion. I don't know if that's the cause, or the fact that I didn't save last year's return on my HIPPIE, but instead on a flash drive. Whatever the reason, TurboTax did not import my information from last year's return. So I had to enter more details manually. That was a slower-downer.
Anyhoo... I can't believe how easy it is to do my taxes with TurboTax. I used to take the paper route, and had to order forms and publications that I needed. It wasn't all THAT hard, but tedious, flipping back and forth, referring to many pages. It's so simple just to answer questions, enter info, and click to the next item.
The Pony is doing his own taxes this year! Of course I lent him my TurboTax CD. No way could we download it with our internet speed out here in Backroads. All it took was a $22 investment in a plug-in CD drive last year, since my New Delly uses Windows 7 Professional, which is no longer compatible with TurboTax, and HIPPIE does not have a CD drive. AND I can use TurboTax 5 times, on different devices. Too bad Genius decided to have his taxes done by a professional this year, and can't join in the wealth.
Anyhoo... The Pony started his federal return last night. How complicated can it be? He owns no property, has no itemization, one job, and a bit of interest and dividends. Easy peasy. Just for peace of mind, I'm going over it with him later tonight, since he's a newbie, before he officially hits the FILE button.
Now all we have to do is wait on our sweet, sweet refunds to electronically roll in.
Did my own for years. Fed/NY State/ NY City/ and New Jersey. The most difficult to do was always New Jersey. I knew I would never owe anything because my NY exceeded the New Jersey, but it took me hours to finally get to "If A is larger than B enter zero" It never dawned on me to just never file my New Jersey...what would they do? Come after me and demand I give them nothing? These days I pay a few dollars for someone to do them for me...One of my few luxuries.
ReplyDeleteLast year, The Pony had to file for 2020. He never worked, but his scholarship counted as WAGES! It made his income $12,000-something. $489 of which was taxable. So he had to pay $49. Didn't have to file Missouri, though. But some people who don't work at all get a "refund" in the thousands. I know that, because of many students over the years explaining how they have their "Christmas" at tax refund time.
DeleteMy oldest son worked one summer and checked the box for no withholding as he would not earn enough to owe taxes. When tax time came around he was upset that he would not get a refund. They really should have a course in basic economics in school.
DeleteAdulting is difficult without the proper training!
DeleteSuch a good mom, checking things out for your Pony. I have never done taxes. HeWho does them and uses Turbo Tax. He will do them for the last time this year. We will require an accountant for this year. We invested our proceeds with the financial advisor at the bank we chose, and she was concerned about the taxes, since she told us we sold our business at a loss. Turns out our business was appraised at a little over a million (just like HeWho's wife screamed at him), so we will not have to pay taxes ever again .... but we will, NO DOUBT, be audited by the IRS. We met our new doer of taxes for the consultation. We have one year to gather the paper trail from our bank records to prove every improvement. We have access to all of our banking records for the entire 18 years. Incidentally, our accountant's name is Jimmy Carter!! Not THE Jimmy Carter, he doesn't need to work.
ReplyDeleteA year is a long time. You should be able to provide Jimmy Carter with the documents he needs!
DeleteI remember doing my taxes online when I was working. The first year was hard because I was just learning, but each year it got easier. Then I retired and not having any property or dividends from any other source I no longer pay tax or have to fill in any forms.
ReplyDeleteHick thinks everybody should pay a flat 10%, which would eliminate all forms! No deductions allowed, no adjustments needed.
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