Taxes?

[jj22]

Anyone done their taxes yet? I am coming up $1200.00 shorter than what I did in the prior 6 years. I'm going to have to go to a tax specialist because something isn't right. Is it the new tax law? I know the middle class is hurt by it, but I didn't realize it was this bad? Anyone else do their taxes yet? Anyone else coming up massively short?

I am stunned. I might as well not even file.

[GMDino]

We haven't turned ours in yet to be done.  We don't itemize though so not sure how it will hurt us yet either.

[*michaelsean*]

Well I made a big mistake in not paying enough attention and thinking the new standard deduction was a windfall. But it looks like they got rid of the personal exemptions so it could actually be worse.

JJ my impression is you are a single guy. If that's true and you don't itemize or have dependents, then you should have done a little better.

[SunsetBengal]

After the tax law change, I saw a little bump in my take-home pay. I also set my w-2 so that I'm close to even, come filing time. I like it that way.

[fredtoast]

This will be my first year filing as self employed.  I am really dreading it.

I never had a big enough mortgage or enough other deductions to itemize.  So doing my taxes has always been pretty simple.  Now I have to do tons of paperwork and math.

Plus pay the employer share of my FICA.

[*michaelsean*]

(02-04-2019, 12:56 PM)fredtoast Wrote: This will be my first year filing as self employed.  I am really dreading it.

I never had a big enough mortgage or enough other deductions to itemize.  So doing my taxes has always been pretty simple.  Now I have to do tons of paperwork and math.

My wife was a real estate agent a long time ago.  Both sides of social security sucks.  You do get to deduct the one half though.

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

(02-04-2019, 12:27 PM)jj22 Wrote: Anyone done their taxes yet? I am coming up $1200.00 shorter than what I did in the prior 6 years. I'm going to have to go to a tax specialist because something isn't right. Is it the new tax law? I know the middle class is hurt by it, but I didn't realize it was this bad? Anyone else do their taxes yet? Anyone else coming up massively short?

I am stunned. I might as well not even file.

Did mine this weekend and my return is, in total, more than double what I got in the past.

[Belsnickel]

I haven't done mine, yet. I don't know when I will get to it, but hopefully soon. I also have to do my father-in-law's this year because he an incompetent man-child. So that will be interesting.

[fredtoast]

(02-04-2019, 01:00 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Did mine this weekend and my return is, in total, more than double what I got in the past.

From $5 to $10?

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

(02-04-2019, 01:35 PM)fredtoast Wrote: From $5 to $10?

Interesting assumption.  From around $800 to over $1,700.

[CJD]

(02-04-2019, 01:44 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Interesting assumption.  From around $800 to over $1,700.

If your returns are that high, you should probably file a new W-4 with your company. You're kinda giving the government an interest free loan every year (in addition to losing any investment value you may have had for that money otherwise).

[*michaelsean*]

(02-04-2019, 02:32 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: If your returns are that high, you should probably file a new W-4 with your company. You're kinda giving the government an interest free loan every year (in addition to losing any investment value you may have had for that money otherwise).

It's redneck savings.  Leave us alone with your big city Wall Street talk.  Some of us like that check.

[CJD]

(02-04-2019, 02:45 PM)michaelsean Wrote: It's redneck savings.  Leave us alone with your big city Wall Street talk.  Some of us like that check.

Haha fair enough. I'll admit that during the time that my wife was going to school and I got to claim the Lifetime Learning Credit for her time there, it felt really nice getting a 400 or 500 dollar return.

[Belsnickel]

Dad got his taxes done today. His report: "Guys on the job site talking about how their checks are bigger since Trump? Well they did away with the mileage deduction. I put 26,000 miles on my truck this year. At .50 a mile I lost a $13,000 deduction. That was THIS administration."

— Sarah Smarsh ? (@Sarah_Smarsh) February 4, 2019

[CJD]

Trump's tax bill simplified taxes but it also removed a lot of things that helped people who itemized.

From what I can tell the general consensus is:
If you took the standard deduction each year, you're happy.
If you itemized, you're pissed.

[Benton]

I'm taking mine tomorrow to the CPA. Rough calculating on a web site, it sounds like we're going from our regular $300-$500 return to owing $3-$6,000.

Yay tax breaks! 


Considering the thousands we paid in along the way, that's a huge kick in the crotch.

[*bfine32*]

I'll do mone on the last day. Hopefully it's around the $1000-2000 I usually pay each year

[BengalHawk62]

(02-04-2019, 08:02 PM)Benton Wrote: I'm taking mine tomorrow to the CPA. Rough calculating on a web site, it sounds like we're going from our regular $300-$500 return to owing $3-$6,000.

Yay tax breaks! 


Considering the thousands we paid in along the way, that's a huge kick in the crotch.

WTF? That’s my worst nightmare. How are you not shitting yourself right about now? We get ours done next Monday and I’m a nervous Nellie about it. This is our first year filing with a kid so I’m hoping we get SOMETHING back.

[Benton]

(02-04-2019, 10:02 PM)BengalHawk62 Wrote: WTF?  That’s my worst nightmare.  How are you not shitting yourself right about now?  We get ours done next Monday and I’m a nervous Nellie about it.  This is our first year filing with a kid so I’m hoping we get SOMETHING back.

It's frustrating, but there's not much to do. 

If you've got a kid and you're pretty comfortably middle class and don't have a ton of investments or anything, then you should get back something. We've got two, but the changes are likely to hit us pretty hard as we made decent money, but not decent enough to hide it. It's not like I made enough to buy a race horse or private jet so that I could write that off. Instead it went to buying my kid soccer cleats and trying to fix up stuff around the house.

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

(02-04-2019, 02:32 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: If your returns are that high, you should probably file a new W-4 with your company. You're kinda giving the government an interest free loan every year (in addition to losing any investment value you may have had for that money otherwise).

One of my best friends has a PhD in accounting (he's a college professor) and we looked at that.  If I claim any higher then I'll end up owing at the end of the year.  I'd rather get something than owe anything.  Plus it's like free money.  I get what you mean about the government sitting on it, interest free, but it's really not that big a deal to me.  My retirement is pretty solid, medical insurance for life and I'll be able to retire at a relatively young age with very close to what I make working so a big investment portfolio I can retire on isn't as important to me as a "normal" person.