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Last night, I filed my taxes on my own

How did you file your taxes this year?

  • I filed them on my own using a tax-filing service (TurboTax, Credit Karma, etc)

    Votes: 279 76.2%

  • I paid an expert to file my taxes for me

    Votes: 54 14.8%

  • A family member or friend did my taxes for me

    Votes: 16 4.4%

  • Other

    Votes: 17 4.6%
  • Total voters
    366
Solid SOAP

Solid SOAP

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 27, 2017
8,252
Today marks an extraordinary event, ladies and gentlemen. I filed my taxes on my own.

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Now let's hope that I don't get audited!

How did you file your taxes this year? If you didn't do it on your own, what's stopping you? I used Credit Karma and it was honestly easy af. I'm just nervous about getting audited in case I made a mistake or something. My state tax refund seemed unusually high, but idk. I guess we will see!
 
Venatio

Venatio

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,742
I use TurboTax every year because it's easy. You can usually find it on sale around Christmas time every year.
 
criteriondog

criteriondog

I like the chili style
Member
Oct 26, 2017
11,149
HR Block every year. Super easy and they take out like the $30-50 from my refund that's necessary to process and file it.
Super easy and can finish in like 30 minutes at most.
 
Silence

Silence

Member
Oct 27, 2017
666
United States
I used Turbotax for years, but got sick of them scamming the American people. Switched to Tax Free USA this year, and it was so much easier (and cheaper) it's crazy.
 
m0therzer0

m0therzer0

Mobile Gaming Product Manager
Verified
Nov 19, 2017
1,495
San Francisco bay area
Solid SOAP said:
Today marks an extraordinary event, ladies and gentlemen. I filed my taxes on my own.

1179379.gif
usa-american-flag-gif-3.gif


Now let's hope that I don't get audited!

How did you file your taxes this year? If you didn't do it on your own, what's stopping you? I used Credit Karma and it was honestly easy af. I'm just nervous about getting audited in case I made a mistake or something. My state tax refund seemed unusually high, but idk. I guess we will see!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Do you have some special circumstances that prevented you from using the free and easy systems before? Like, I don't own property or claim weird special allowances, so my taxes are fucking easy.
 
Elfgore

Elfgore

Member
Mar 2, 2020
4,580
I think I started just last year doing it on my own completely. It's really not too bad minus a few annoying aspects that may pop up here and there like the fucking school district code. Dear local school district, maybe consider a "tax return" page during this time of year so I can easily find your district number.

I'm surprised it was so easy for me though. I moved to a different office in a city that taxes for it, so I had to do two separate tax forms for that. Surprisingly easy to fill out. Only major downside was I couldn't e-file them due to my license being expired and due to the virus, I can't even renew it. Sent them in like three weeks ago via mail, no sign of my return yet.
 
OP
OP
Solid SOAP

Solid SOAP

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 27, 2017
8,252
m0therzer0 said:
Do you have some special circumstances that prevented you from using the free and easy systems before? Like, I don't own property or claim weird special allowances, so my taxes are fucking easy.
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Nah, I just... didn't do it. I watched my friend's grandfather do mine a year ago and it seemed easy enough so I decided to just do it.
 
pokeystaples

pokeystaples

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,354
Bought a house so I hired someone this year, but always used to do it myself when I was in the free bracket.
 
Quad Lasers

Quad Lasers

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,542
I do it with Jackson Hewitt's free online tool. My taxes aren't complex enough to warrant getting someone else do it or having to pay out a fee for any of the online services.
 
OP
OP
Solid SOAP

Solid SOAP

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 27, 2017
8,252
m0therzer0 said:
Great step forward! How much did you save by doing it yourself?
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I used Credit Karma which was free!

My only concern right now is that my state tax return seemed unusually high... I usually get back about $500 but this time i'm getting back about $2,600. My Federal Return was similar to previous years, but that's more than a $2,000 jump. Should I be worried? I went through my state information and it all seemed accurate to me. I just don't want to be audited or something, haha
 
Pet

Pet

More helpful than the IRS
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
7,070
SoCal
Solid SOAP said:
Today marks an extraordinary event, ladies and gentlemen. I filed my taxes on my own.

1179379.gif
usa-american-flag-gif-3.gif


Now let's hope that I don't get audited!

How did you file your taxes this year? If you didn't do it on your own, what's stopping you? I used Credit Karma and it was honestly easy af. I'm just nervous about getting audited in case I made a mistake or something. My state tax refund seemed unusually high, but idk. I guess we will see!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Why are you afraid of getting audited?

Did you have unusually high deductions? Do you have unreported income? Do you have your own business and aren't sure of how to properly report revenue and expenses? Did you not have documentation for expenses but claimed them anyway?

(You should be fine. Congratulations!!!!)
 
OP
OP
Solid SOAP

Solid SOAP

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 27, 2017
8,252
Pet said:
Why are you afraid of getting audited?

Did you have unusually high deductions? Do you have unreported income? Do you have your own business and aren't sure of how to properly report revenue and expenses? Did you not have documentation for expenses but claimed them anyway?

(You should be fine. Congratulations!!!!)
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I'm a teacher so none of that really applies to me.

My state refund seemed unusually high ($2,600 refund; last year's was $500). I took some deductions for teacher materials that I have receipts for, but other than that I can't think of anything.
 
Sectorseven

Sectorseven

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,560
All of you doing it for free with software/online, do you also get state taxes done for free as well?
 
Murfield

Murfield

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,425
Its weird that this is a thing in the US. In most countries they either just tell you how much you owe, or deduct it directly from your paycheck.
 
super-famicom

super-famicom

Avenger
Oct 26, 2017
25,212
Congrats! I have been filing taxes on my own for about a decade now. I do it all with pencil and paper, I don't even bother with things like Turbo Tax. It's time consuming, but it allows me to understand so much about the tax system. I hate having to do all the Schedule stuff for my 1040, but that's the only part I really hate.
 

B.K.

Member
Oct 31, 2017
17,038
I always do my taxes myself online. I'm single and I have no investments or savings that I have to account for. It's pretty simple for me to file online.
 
Bing147

Bing147

Member
Jun 13, 2018
3,696
Ya, I've filed on my own every year. My first two or three years of adulthood I did it on paper but I've been using TurboTax for over a decade now. Its just easy. I don't get it free anymore because the deductions I have to deal with for owning a house aren't included but I still gladly pay the small fee every year to do it there as opposed to hiring someone.
 
Shodan14

Shodan14

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
9,410
My government collates all the data from national databases requiring me to just check and confirm it online for free taking 5-10min.
 
Pet

Pet

More helpful than the IRS
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
7,070
SoCal
Solid SOAP said:
I'm a teacher so none of that really applies to me.

My state refund seemed unusually high ($2,600 refund; last year's was $500). I took some deductions for teacher materials that I have receipts for, but other than that I can't think of anything.
Click to expand...
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For your state refund being higher, you have to look at the tax rate/liability from last year compared to the amount of state tax withheld last year. Then, look at the state tax withheld this year compared to the tax rate/liability this year.

From there you'll have an idea of why your refund this year is higher. If you can't figure it out, something might have gone wrong and you'll need to file an amended return to correct it.
 
MikeProtagonist

MikeProtagonist

Member
Oct 26, 2017
7,337
In Sweden, I login to the government site, click through their prepared pages which include my income from salary and most financial transactions, and then sign with my phone. Usually takes me all of five minutes.

It becomes a bit more complex if you've done any stock trading or sold property, but that's not an issue (yet).
 
Mankoto

Mankoto

Unshakable Resolve
Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,389
I use Turbotax since it's free.

If I wanted, I can take advantage of my town's HRA program and become a licensed professional for the year.
 
GYODX

GYODX

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,245
I'm in the minority that actually likes doing their taxes.

I just like knowing every single detail about my financials.
 
Evo Shandor

Evo Shandor

Member
Oct 29, 2017
479
I run a year-round tax clinic for people with disabilities and / or fixed income in a partnership with the CRA. With the new deadline coming up, I am very popular. The demand is insane.
 
Wraith

Wraith

Member
Jun 28, 2018
8,892
I had been in the habit of taking my forms to H&R Block and having them do everything. But early this year I bought their software, figuring I could just as well be the one clicking through the app. Finished them this weekend.

Software was $20 on sale when I bought it (reg. $45) for fed/state prep, including fed e-file. Another $20 for state e-file fee. All together, a lot less than I was paying to get it done in person, and my returns aren't that complicated anyway. The whole thing was pretty painless. I was able to download a PDF of my previous year's return from their site, since I used them last year.

Only thing that didn't seem to just work was doing smartphone photos of my 2019 forms. Went through the process on one form, it did its thing, but some values were not right or missing. Could have been the not-great lighting made it harder to OCR, not sure. So I just typed the values from my forms instead. (I could have tried actually scanning them , too.)
 
Schwarzbier

Schwarzbier

Member
Nov 14, 2017
1,965
New Jersey
PanickyFool said:
Using a CPA.

Have been audited, no fun.
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I've never been audited but both my wife and I use a CPA. We both run our own small businesses and while our taxes aren't difficult it pays for us to use a professional who knows tax law inside and out. If we were W2 workers we'd file ourselves I'm sure but a I'm all 1099 and she's a Psychiatrist with her own private practice so it's not as easy as just reporting income.
 
Crazymoogle

Crazymoogle

Game Developer
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
2,884
Asia
Canadian taxes scared the hell out of me, so I always just went to H&R Block. Some of the personal accountants I dealt with were incredibly paranoid about filing details, having the paperwork organized, not answering emails without an appointment, and so on.

Meanwhile:

Singapore taxes: hit OK on website to submit, send money next month online
Singapore taxes, year two: no filing required, automatic monthly billing

...
 
WedgeX

WedgeX

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,200
Had to go with a professional this year for the first time. Seems well-worth it for this go around.
 

Deleted member 37151

Account closed at user request
Banned
Jan 1, 2018
2,038
Like, what does filing taxes involve?

I assume you have to pay income tax, does this not get deducted from your salary? Do you have to tell your salary and then get a lump sum to pay? Do you have to also declare savings? Can you spread this out over the year or do you have to save up to pay your taxes? I assume you have to declare shares but that must apply to a very small amount of people.
 
Noodle

Noodle

Banned
Aug 22, 2018
3,427
Several times when I became an employed adult I had minor anxiety over thinking I must have missed the request to file taxes because the "do your taxes before the deadline" story in American TV shows was so ubiquitous.

It's crazy that they've shifted the burden onto the individual.
 
Vapelord

Vapelord

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,830
Montreal
LakeEarth said:
Yeah, it's gotten super easy to use in Canada since now it auto-fills a ton of information when you sign into your Canadian Revenue Agency account.
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Pretty much this, I just double check what they have compared to my T4/Releve1 and have to manually enter my RRSP details and submit. Single no dependants is 5 mins to do on your own.
 
Wraith

Wraith

Member
Jun 28, 2018
8,892
Mylatestnovel said:
Like, what does filing taxes involve?

I assume you have to pay income tax, does this not get deducted from your salary? Do you have to tell your salary and then get a lump sum to pay? Do you have to also declare savings? Can you spread this out over the year or do you have to save up to pay your taxes? I assume you have to declare shares but that must apply to a very small amount of people.
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For most people, income taxes for state and federal are automatically deducted from paychecks throughout the year. Filing your taxes is to determine if you overpaid or underpaid during the year, if there are any other deductions you can take or income earned that wasn't part of your paycheck (anything that might increase or decrease what you owe for the year).

If you overpaid, you get a refund for the difference. If you underpaid, you pay the difference owed.
 
collige

collige

Member
Oct 31, 2017
12,772
Mylatestnovel said:
Like, what does filing taxes involve?

I assume you have to pay income tax, does this not get deducted from your salary? Do you have to tell your salary and then get a lump sum to pay? Do you have to also declare savings? Can you spread this out over the year or do you have to save up to pay your taxes? I assume you have to declare shares but that must apply to a very small amount of people.
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It does get deducted from your salary, but you then have to manually file every year anyway to make sure they took the right amount out and deal with all the deductions and fine print. Most people end up getting some money back anyway and then the corporations that uphold this shitty system get to take a chunk out that for the privilege of helping you out.
 
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