Filed Your Tax Returns Yet?

So much this. My return (and my kids which I prepare) are simple enough now that I can handle on my own. But I have learned how to do the rental schedules and self employment stuff (with help from @twig ! ) , which are magically expensive if I tried to use commercial software.

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But there are also those who feel the government should collect significantly more in taxes, with those taxes primarily from those with high incomes (including themselves). An individual contribution does virtually nothing toward improving that situation.

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I should definitely be taxed more than I am in an equitable society.

Sending in my life savings would be like me deciding to independently go to war. Cool.

I filed unusually early for me this year. I had my refund by the end of February.

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America is perfect. Not sure what we need these additional tax dollars for

$\textcolor{red}{\text{To build the wall needed to keep it perfect?}} $

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Nah, Mexico is paying for it. Right?

Yeah, Iā€™m fine with paying more in taxes at my income level, and Iā€™m not earning a 1%er income, Iā€™m maybe just barely in the top 10% for household income.

Thank you for typing in the prohibitively time-wasteful red font!

I would agree with your logic. But I could also argue that folks should have to pay capital gains tax whenever they sell their primary residence at a higher price than they paid for it?

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After $500,000 (filing jointly), there is capital gains tax, I believe, and I am currently believing Google search results.
Now, is that too high? (Checking house appreciationā€¦) yeah, Iā€™m OK with paying some capital gains.

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Short term CG is like most other ordinary income and subject to your marginal tax rate from 0% to 37% depending on your income.

Long Term CG gets favorable rates and is taxes between 0 - 20% depending on your income level.

There is an additional 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax that includes CG and some other items on ā€œhigh earnersā€ (joint - $250K adjusted for inflation?) that came in in 2013 - I though that was related to shoring up medicare funding but I could be wrong.

I got $200 quick cash on my Walmart card to cover my check to the IRS. :blush:

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If CG on primary residence sales ever becomes taxable in Canada, I would expect a high deductible. That is what the Federal Government just did here this week for new higher inclusion rate for CG.

Filing and paying :face_with_symbols_over_mouth: :money_with_wings: tonight.

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Thank you for doing your part.

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IRS just cashed my check. Guess that means they got my return.

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I would suggest that you need to adjust your numbers for 0 to 40.8% for STCG and 0 - 23.8% for LTCG.

IRS form 8960 ups the ante on your tax by 3.8%. Technically, this is called the Net Investment Income Tax, so itā€™s a different tax than the capital gains tax. However, it is additive to your total as it is an unavoidable, completely additive tax on marginal investment income (which includes interest, capital gains, ordinary dividends and qualified dividends) if your income is above an actuarially-attainable threshold that varies by filing status.

Thanks again, Obama :slightly_frowning_face:

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If you use a software, and the software makes a mistake, are you still responsible for the tax amount as if it had done it correctly? Suppose I use Turbo Tax, and TT incorrectly says I overpaid by $1,000, when in actuality I only overpaid $300. I presume if I file, and get a check for $1,000, then a couple of years later when Uncle Sam comes knocking theyā€™ll fix the problem, figure out I only overpaid by $300 and owe them $700. Is that right?

Hereā€™s another one: my tax preparer (yeah, I got one of those) is using a software which is referencing a W-2 form that does not match my W-2 provided by my employer. To wit: Letā€™s say in my W-2, my line 4, Social Security tax, I see $5,000 paid. In my line 6, Medicare tax, I see $1,000 paid. On the form used by the tax software, however, the W-2 says $5,000 on both lines 4 and 6. So when the software runs into Medicare tax, it thinks that thereā€™s an extra $4,000 paid, and tries to claim in other places that Iā€™ve already paid an additional 4,000 so I should get a refund.

This canā€™t be right, can it? I donā€™t know if the error is on the side of the form (maybe downloaded via API from the IRS) or on the software side (picked up box 4 instead of box 6), but I donā€™t want to file like this and then get called to the carpet in a couple of years.

Iā€™m right, arenā€™t I? I canā€™t just point at the preparer or the software and say, ā€œThey told me to do it like that! Collect from them, not me!!!ā€ Itā€™s my responsibility to get the tax filing correct, ainā€™t it?

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Correct.

That said, if your professional tax preparer screwed up (or used software that screwed up) then they ought to pay any interest & penalties that accrue. But youā€™re responsible for the underlying tax.

If your employer screwed up the W-2 and what the employer filed with the IRS matches what the W-2 they handed you says then thatā€™s really on your employer, not your tax preparer.

The IRS will certainly catch if the employer paid $50,000 of Medicare tax and files W-2s that sum up up $100,000 of Medicare tax. So at some point the employer will probably issue you a corrected W-2. Hopefully the IRS would not impose a penalty on YOU if your W-2 being wrong was the only problem. But if the W-2 being wrong caused you to claim more refund than youā€™re really entitled to then youā€™ll certainly have to give it back to the IRS.

So if you notice an error on your W-2 the best thing is to have the employer fix it before you file in the first place. And yes, I have caught W-2 errors before.

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