It's Tax Time!

"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
04/18/2016 at 10:19 • Filed to: None

I put it off until almost the last moment. I expected it to be more of the same - unemployed for part of the year with no withholding from the unemployment funds and therefore I’d owe. I’m already in minor trouble with the IRS for an issue a couple of years ago (thank you, Citibank - @#$%), and figured I’d have to scrounge up plenty of money to get them off my back, funds I don’t have.

Of course, when I did the calculations I found that I’m actually due a decent refund. WTF? This will cover the money owed to the IRS as well as personal property taxes on the car, and there might even be a little left over. This was not expected, and couldn’t have come at a better time.

Filing is a bit of a pain, however. I did everything in the TurboTax app, like I do every year, but found that I would have to pay to file the state return - no bueno. I filed the Federal return via TT and then went looking for a free option to file the state taxes, stumbling across an online version of TT aimed at us poors. I re-entered all of the data and attempted to file the state taxes electronically, but I couldn’t do it unless I did the same for the Federal taxes, but those were already filed in the app. Oh well - I’ll have to mail it in and wait for my $19.

Hopefully the city will be OK with the money they get out of me. I’m still fighting an issue from 2012 in which they were wrong, so I don’t have high hopes on this one.

DISCUSSION (9)

Azrek > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
04/18/2016 at 10:24

Ugh, I waited till the last minute as well as usually I have to pay. However, this year I am getting a large return. Weird....

This pays for my trip to Megacon in May! Woot...

Jack Does Cars > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
04/18/2016 at 10:28

I did mine through H&R Block online and it worked great, and my return was plentiful. This is first time I’ve ever had to do taxes (I’m 16), and I honestly didn’t hate it.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
04/18/2016 at 10:33

Tax procrastinator here too. As usual, I’m paying. I really need to update my W-4, but I like the extra dough in my pocket every month.

ESSSIX GmbH - Accountant/Wagon Thumper > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
04/18/2016 at 10:33

Its all math guys, not black magic etc. So if you get a refund, either you deserved it, or you put in wrong information or right info but in the wrong place.

Love explaining that to clients lol. I swear some of them think Im a witch-doctor or something..

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > ESSSIX GmbH - Accountant/Wagon Thumper
04/18/2016 at 10:44

Yeah, but the rules seem to change, and I don’t follow them like an accountant. I’m also in a different state than the last time I was unemployed, and haven’t been out of work as long as I was back at the height of the financial meltdown 8 years ago.

I’m trusting the software to ask the right questions and feel confident that it’s giving me the correct answer, but whenever it comes to the IRS (and any other tax collection agency) I can’t help but fear the worst, especially when I have nothing left to give. I’m still paying down credit card debt from the previous round of PPT, and was expecting to have to do that again. It’s quite a relief knowing I don’t have to go through that mess again.

fourvalleys > Jack Does Cars
04/18/2016 at 10:59

Taxes are really quite simple if you don’t itemize deductions. Even if you have a bunch of 1099s and/or W-2s, it’s pretty straightforward as long as you’re organized.

Once you get into deductions and all of that fun business is where it starts to get a bit confusing. I had some paperwork to go through this year and it still only took me about 30 minutes to file federal and state taxes. Triple-checking everything took a little longer than that, but it still wasn’t bad at all.

Dru > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
04/18/2016 at 11:23

I will forever be baffled at the concept of having to pay to file your taxes.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Dru
04/18/2016 at 11:25

Especially the idea of paying $24.99 to get a $19 refund...

smobgirl > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
04/18/2016 at 12:05

Just for future reference, there’s a website (might be irs.gov/freefile ) that tells you what websites are free, and H&R block has the same requirements for free state taxes as federal. Might be worth switching next year!