Yippee! Taxes Finished and Filed

9 years ago

I had a hard disk crash so I'm really late getting my taxes done this year. Not to mention that the time between getting all the reporting forms and the filing deadline is getting shorter and shorter. I was still receiving revised forms in mid-March even though they are supposed to be out by February 15, I think.

I'm so relieved to have finished them and e-filed them just now. I love e-filing, too. No longer must I stand in a long line at the post office to send them off.

Do you prepare your own taxes? Did you get them in on time?

I think I'll take the rest of the afternoon off and read a new book. Keep your fingers crossed that my electronic filing is accepted.

Featured Answer

Lindsey_CA

9 years ago

Fun2BHere said, "It really does beat going to the post office and isn't that much more expensive."

Fortunately for us, there are two post offices within a very short driving distance, and both are near golf courses. Hubby takes the envelopes there and is usually the only customer in the place, even on April 15th. Then he stops at the golf course on the way home to hit some balls on the driving range. :-)

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Comments (35)

joyfulguy
9 years ago
Oh ... fun ... you take the fun out of my life (for today, at least) ... as, though our deadline isn't as early as yours ...

... the end of April is coming up, soon!

And ... mine aren't filed ... not even partially completed.

Why, oh why, did you have to take the fun out of my day??

Oh, well ... tomorrow's another day!

And, to add a small shine of lustre to this day ... I may be able to avoid paying any, or only a hundred or two, this year ... again.

ole joyfuelled ... with a bit of help from "tax avoidance" (of the "non-procrastinating" kind)
tibbrix
9 years ago
I used to do my own taxes, but one luxury I gave myself when I bought my house was a CPA to do my taxes for me. I love not doing them. As soon as I have all my tax forms and info. and bank statements, in they go. I want them done FAST so I don't have to think about it. So mine are done in February. I also have to pay quarterly estimated taxes, so come April 15, all I have to deal with is paying the quarterly tax for the new year, not ALSO anything I might owe on top of the quarterly. I like that too! Plus my property tax is due May 1..it just feels like an onslaught this time of year, so I get one knocked off early.
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Unless there is a complex tax issue that needs to be researched or missing information, the preparer will complete your return while you are there and you can take it with you when you go. ~ If you go to a CPA they may have you sit with them as they prepare and complete your return -or- they may just have you leave the tax information and call you to pick-up the return when it is completed. ~ Many CPA's hire tax preparers such as myself (often current or former H&R Block preparers) to complete the return. The CPA reviews the completed return and signs it as the preparer and presents it to the client. This is very common in our area especially with larger accounting firms. ~ Tax laws are complex and change each year. I've amended returns prepared by individuals, H&R Block, other tax prep firms, and CPA's. Anyone preparing your return can make a mistake. ~ If you prepare your own taxes on-line be sure to print a copy for your records. The on-line programs are great for simple returns (such as those with just W2's and interest). ~ If you want to purchase tax software Turbo Tax and Tax Cut are the most popular. Be sure to print a copy of your return for your records. The software is a great choice for a return that is not complex and if you are willing to take the time to research items that you are not sure of. ~ If you choose to go to H&R Block or a smaller tax firm call and request an appointment with an experienced preparer and let them know you would like a preparer that will spend time reviewing and explaining your return in detail. They will schedule you with a preparer that meets your needs if they know when you call for an appointment. ~ To find a good CPA or tax preparer ask friends and family for recommendations. Ask them why they like their preparer and see if it matches what your looking for. If you find a someone you like then call next year to schedule an appointment specifically with that person. 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Fun2BHere
Original Author
9 years ago
Sorry, Joyfulguy, for bringing up a dreaded subject. I'll send you positive thoughts that the amount you owe will be very low!

Tibbrix, one of my friends was telling me that I should have someone do them for me. I might actually consider that for 2015 as some of the investment reporting is getting way too complicated and isn't covered by any of the canned programs.
donna_loomis
9 years ago
I work in an office that includes lawyers and CPAs. Before I started working here 15 years ago, I always filed in January or February. Over the years, I started filing later and later and eventually filed for extensions. Don't know why. This year I filed in January and no sooner had filed than I got a corrected 1099 and had to file an amendment. I teased DH, saying that it paid to procrastinate in this case. He was not amused.

However, I will continue to file as early as I can from now on, because that's what the scammers do. A good number of our clients who waited to file are now sorry they did. Our attempts to e-file their returns were rejected because someone else had already filed using their social security numbers. I know that's going to be a headache to straighten out.
Fun2BHere thanked donna_loomis
Lindsey_CA
9 years ago
I do our taxes and, yes, they are done and filed. I print out hard copies of the forms, and they get signed and go in an envelope to be mailed at the post office. I always send our tax returns by certified mail, return receipt requested. The California Franchise Tax Board has a nasty habit of claiming that they never received your form, and that return receipt proves that they did.
Fun2BHere thanked Lindsey_CA
Michael
9 years ago
Mailed today. I always owe so they can wait. Of course we file federal, state and several city tax returns (RITA) mailed in a large envelope. Instead of paying quarterly taxes to the cities, we pay an estimated yearly and get a few dollars back each year. I don't want to be bothered by quarterly tax filings. In January, we file registration forms and pay fees to do business in 8 cities. They love our money!
Fun2BHere
Original Author
9 years ago
Donna_Loomis, I got revised forms as late as mid-March. I never file before early April because of that. How frightening to think of trying to prove that someone filed and took your refund. I usually owe money, so maybe the scammers will leave me alone.

Lindsey_CA, I used to always send my returns by certified mail, but last year I was forced to e-file with California because of some unusual circumstances. Unfortunately, if you ever e-file with California once, then you have to continue to do so unless you ask for and are granted some sort of exemption from e-filing. So, this year I e-filed both CA and Federal. I've already received notice that both were accepted. It really does beat going to the post office and isn't that much more expensive.
donna_loomis
9 years ago
One of our clients received about $9500 from Fed and state combined before we had even filed her taxes. A scammer had Filed a return, but because the client owed a small amount from a prior year, it was already linked to her bank account and she got the money instead. Of course she has to give it back, but the IRS told her that the little bit of money on the books is what saved her.
Elmer J Fudd
9 years ago
Interesting, Donna. I hadn't heard that IRS scams have gotten so common .

No one I know has had a problem, to my knowledge.
morz8 - Washington Coast
9 years ago
Snidely, it's identity theft that's becoming more common - those of us included in the 11 million conceivably affected by the Premera Blue Cross cyberattack/data breach were advised to file early if possible - Seattle news was reporting a handful finding returns already filed in their names several weeks ago. No one I know personally.

I filed March 10, enjoy the feeling of done and behind me. It's better for me if I don't leave it until last minute, and more fair for my accountant too. I'd rather not be a part of that last minute rush to finish on time :)
bob_cville
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
A co-worker today said that she uses a local HR Block office to have her taxes done, and a person there said that for about a dozen of the returns they filed they found that scammers had already filed one. I can't guess how many that particular office might file in a given year, but even a dozen seems like way too many.

Really what sort of incompetent idiots set up a system where the entirety of the security is requiring a name and an associated 9 digit number? answer, all of them.

We filed ours about 2 weeks ago. Ouch. It hurt a lot. My wife also volunteered to be trustee for some family trust her father set up, and we finished the returns for that two days ago. We printed them, discovered that one item had been left off, fixed it, and printed them again -- only to have the printer announce that it was out of ink and couldn't print any more. I had to get a new ink cartridge the next day, print the forms, and mailed them out today.

A couple years back we received an unpleasant surprise at tax time. We finished them around 7:00 P.M. on April 15 and drove into town to drop them off at the main Post Office where they stay open until midnight to accommodate late filers, only to find out that the Post Office doesn't do that any more. They close on April 15 at the same time they do on any other day.
Fun2BHere thanked bob_cville
glenda_al
9 years ago
Wrote my check and in the mail :o(
Chi
9 years ago
My husband is upstairs working on them....sigh. He's the world's biggest procrastinator! :)
Elmer J Fudd
9 years ago
The IRS has a difficult job to do, with little support and inadequate funding from Congress to do the job. If you want them to respond faster to problems and offer better taxpayer services, don't vote for the moron politicians who like to make headlines by making them out to be a goon squad. The IRS is always playing catchup, with inadequate personnel and computer resources.

I myself never file before September, and usually it's October.
Lindsey_CA
9 years ago
Snidely, many years I don't do our taxes until September, but for some unknown reason this year I was inspired to do them in April. I have no idea why...
tibbrix
9 years ago
I'm with Morz: as stated above, I get them done very early, February, so I don't have to think about them, but I also do that out of consideration for my CPA and his firm. They get so inundated by last-minute Lizzies, which I don't think is very fair or nice. And, as Morz implies, they're probably focusing better on mine if they're not under intense pressure to get a million Returns done in a week.
prairie_rose
9 years ago
I got all my books into the accountant in February, taxes filed in March. Refund cheque is in the bank. I'm with you tibbrix, the earlier I get mine to the accountant, the better job I think she does. And the faster I get my refund, cause Revenue Canada isn't trying to process millions of returns all at once.
rob333 (zone 7b)
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I start working on my taxes the end of November. I put in what I think the numbers will be, and then, as they come in, I change them. My stuff changes so little from year to year, and I try to break even (so I keep a close watch), it's easy to just hit the send button come the beginning of February. By the time it's time, I've looked over my taxes four or five times and it's good to go. I have to say, I prefer the breaking even way. Pay a $100, get back a $100, it's still better than letting the government have my money all year long. I get better return on my investment than letting them have it.
PKponder TX Z7B
9 years ago
I procrastinated and finished the return on the 14th. I got up yesterday intending to plug in the printer and could not find the power cord! After much stress and frustration, we bought a new printer and soon the return and payment was in the mail. Whew!
Fun2BHere thanked PKponder TX Z7B
gardenspice
9 years ago
I think I filed in early March. I owed this year, which is OK since it meant my investments did better than I had estimated. I file and pay electronically - no muss, no fuss. I agree that it seems as if getting all the necessary documents takes longer than it ever used to take.

Another board I read had many members comment that they had discovered that their taxes has been fraudulently filed. It seems unsettlingly common.
Fun2BHere thanked gardenspice
chisue
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I've thrown out the newspaper, but a recent article in the Chicago Tribune said the IRS has had to cut something like 3000 jobs and now doesn't have enough employees to go after fraud. They have apparently tightened up some scrutiny, questioning non-matching addresses and debit accounts scammers are using.

We've never wanted our own money back in the form of tax refunds, so I was unaware that people who do this also have to pay income taxes on those refunds. Add in scammers filing AS YOU...why do this?

Our CPA gets our information by mid-March, but we don't get the returns much before April 15. I think he only hires extra help for as short a period as he can. We seldom owe on the current taxes, but start with the 1040-ES payments on Federal and State taxes right off the bat. Our CPA E-files some of our returns, but we must mail in two of them. (Many years ago we let a charity auction off a week at our vacation condo. Now we are stuck filing a charity form until the end of time!)
Fun2BHere thanked chisue
vicsgirl
9 years ago
My younger daughter filed online early in the tax season (February) and got her refund in about a month. My other daughter fied on paper recently and is expecting about $800 back. I filed for an extension the year for myself and hubby. I recently filed for State Medicaid fror him and I'm so tired of all the paperwork. Check with me again in September or October.
Michael
9 years ago
Many CPA firms take on extra clients to boost their profits and abuse their employees. Most professional, 1st class CPA firms I know of retain most of their clients and schedule them for tax preparation. No surprises. A CPA firm that tolerates procrastinators deserves the punishment.
Elmer J Fudd
9 years ago
"Many CPA firms take on extra clients to boost their profits and abuse their employees"....... etc, etc. No need to continue the quote, the comment is there to see.

Haha, especially your last sentence. Your comments suggest you know little about this topic.
Michael
9 years ago
Wife is retired accountant. Forty years. I know a little about accounting firms. A stable, professional accounting firm has a solid book of clients and does not have to stretch its workforce by taking on unexpected procrastinators. Let H&R Block do that.
Elmer J Fudd
9 years ago
Just as doctors can't choose to serve only patients who are well, in possession of their senses, and smell like cologne, all CPAs deal with clients who have a variety of otherwise avoidable issues and baggage, good and bad.

People put off what they put off, staff at CPA firms know there's a busy season. You're an outsider who's guessing, nothing more. I'm a retired partner (part owner) of a CPA firm.
Fran
9 years ago
I do my taxes on Turbo tax. I had them finished in early March but waited till about the 4th of April to efile and scheduled the direct payments from my bank acct. for April 15th. Aside from the fact that I should have paid estimated taxes last year and didn't, the process went pretty smoothly. From now on I'm having a larger percentage withdrawn from my IRA distributions so I don't have to worry about it.
Fun2BHere thanked Fran
joyfulguy
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Another reason to work things so that there are no refunds, especially large ones ...
... originally, to avoid making interest-free loans to the government(s), via the IRS, needy though they are, being darn near broke.

More recently, it appears ... to avoid scammers being able to make off with a substantial bundle ... of *your* money!

There seems to be somewhat of an epidemic of the "Integitry-being-obscured-by-Dollar-signs"disease (and it's O.K. to substitute any other currency of your choice).

What's this of being required to report refunds as income ... it was your income in the first place, that was reported last year, and too much of it forwarded to the IRS, back then, no? So it's actually your income that was previously reported and included in tax calculations earlier, right?
Surely you shouldn't be required to pay tax again on the same dollar of income!

ole joyfuelled ... who hopes to be able to pay no, or only a smidgeon, of income tax
rob333 (zone 7b)
9 years ago
Me too joyful, me too!
susie53_gw
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Yep, got ours mailed in.. We about break even on what we owe and what we get back. What did we get in today's mail?? Yep, the good old property taxes on both properties. Due May 15th. Another almost $2000.00 out the door. I am grateful we have the money to pay all of them!! Good ole government!!
Fun2BHere thanked susie53_gw
joyfulguy
9 years ago
Greetings again, Fun ...

... I don't know whether it may add an extra helping of Fun to your day, but maybe a good feeling, knowing that you've helped a friend get, as a matter of necessity, up off of his butt and get to that needed work ...

... when I tell you that I got a good start on preparing them last night.

Did lose a good chunk of that beauty sleep ... and am rather loggy today ... but didn't hit anyone on the way to church, or after ...

... so far.

Wish me luck for keeping out of trouble for the rest of the day, O.K?

o j
Fun2BHere thanked joyfulguy
Fun2BHere
Original Author
9 years ago
Old Joyful, I'm happy you got a start on one of life's most onerous tasks. It's probably pretty late your time by now, so I hope that your loss of sleep didn't cause you any additional problems today. :-)
joyfulguy
9 years ago
I survived ... pretty well carefree ... and didn't feel too deprived due to the sleep deprivation.

Made plans with son who wants to accompany me to hear the biopsy results, tomorrow.

ole joyful
Fun2BHere
Original Author
9 years ago
Ole Joyful, I hope the biopsy results are favorable for you.

Yippee! Taxes Finished and Filed

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