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Tax Return Season 2020 |OT| All your tax are belong to us
- Thread starter FliX
- Start date
Soooo I got a tax question. I know most of ya'll aren't tax professionals and I should ask an accountant (and we will) but I'm curious.
Several years ago my wife was lost her job when her organization went bankrupt. She was owed a couple thousand dollars in back wages when the agency went under. Flash forward to last year, everything was finally sorted out and she received her back pay. Only, under the terms of the bankruptcy hearing, the employees didn't get paid everything they were owed. It was something like she was owed $2,000 and ended up with $500. Whatever, at that point we were happy just to get anything.
Well, she received a W2 for the back wages, which makes sense. But the W2 lists the amount she was allowed under the proceedings ($2000) not the amount she actually received ($500). The withholdings are different, too. My question is, there isn't some obscure tax law that says employees owe taxes on money they are owed in back wages, and not the actual money they receive? It doesn't make sense to tax money she didn't actually receive as income, but with tax laws who knows.
Several years ago my wife was lost her job when her organization went bankrupt. She was owed a couple thousand dollars in back wages when the agency went under. Flash forward to last year, everything was finally sorted out and she received her back pay. Only, under the terms of the bankruptcy hearing, the employees didn't get paid everything they were owed. It was something like she was owed $2,000 and ended up with $500. Whatever, at that point we were happy just to get anything.
Well, she received a W2 for the back wages, which makes sense. But the W2 lists the amount she was allowed under the proceedings ($2000) not the amount she actually received ($500). The withholdings are different, too. My question is, there isn't some obscure tax law that says employees owe taxes on money they are owed in back wages, and not the actual money they receive? It doesn't make sense to tax money she didn't actually receive as income, but with tax laws who knows.
Awesome! Thanks for the heads up, I hate the nickle and diming these tax softwares do.
I'm not ready to file as I need to work out some shit with my ex, but decided to fill out the forms and get an estimate on what I will owe. To my surprise I'm getting money back from both Fed and State based on the estimates.
Onto my tax question for experts. My ex and I filed joint and got notified late last year they audited us and we owe. Stupid turbo tax didn't carry over one of the W-2's and neither of us noticed while filing, so now it caught up to us. Unfortunately this came through as a levy on both our pay checks, but it's being paid back which I estimate to be half way paid off.
I'm trying to find out with the IRS take the amount owed from the refunds going to us and how would they break it down? If I file first, will they take the total amount owed from my refund allowing her refund to not be impacted or vice-versa, or will they give me the option to pay an amount out of the refund? I want to make sure I'm not getting screwed paying the full remaining balance and don't have to fight her later to get my share back.
Onto my tax question for experts. My ex and I filed joint and got notified late last year they audited us and we owe. Stupid turbo tax didn't carry over one of the W-2's and neither of us noticed while filing, so now it caught up to us. Unfortunately this came through as a levy on both our pay checks, but it's being paid back which I estimate to be half way paid off.
I'm trying to find out with the IRS take the amount owed from the refunds going to us and how would they break it down? If I file first, will they take the total amount owed from my refund allowing her refund to not be impacted or vice-versa, or will they give me the option to pay an amount out of the refund? I want to make sure I'm not getting screwed paying the full remaining balance and don't have to fight her later to get my share back.
Went ahead and knocked mine out the second I got my W-2's in. Good thing turbo tax exists and let's me get it done within an hour since I don't have a complicated situation
apparently turbotax says the irs hasnt released the 8917 form even though they have and they wont let me file without
mildly frustrating
mildly frustrating
I did mine last week when I got my W2 in. Got $1100 back. Using some of it for an upcoming trip, the rest to paying off debt.
I'm having the same problem with a different form. TT says wait until the 29th. HR Block says they've had it for a week. I'll play their game until the 29th. After that, I'm calling and going to complain.
Work finally had W-2s available this morning. Filed with Turbo Tax 30 minutes ago and just received the accepted message. Yay.
Got all dem forms finally (except the 1099-SA for our HSA but I just estimated). Credit Karma is claiming a $2792 federal refund. They aren't doing state yet. Will wait to file until I get the final numbers on the 1099-SA but things are looking pretty in line with what I expected. We had way more interest income since we switched to a high interest savings account, plus my husband sold the last of his company stock, none of which had withholdings, so federal is about $1000 less than last year. I was surprised the 1099-B for the stock was already ready, shout out to Schwab for that.
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Ready to file with TaxSlayer as my wife and I both have our W2 and our mortgage stuff. Our state isn't open for efile for another week or so though so we're gonna wait a couple weeks to do it.
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I continue to wait for my various banks to finally provide documentation over my accounts... W2 were in early but I cannot file without all the other financial records...
Still waiting on W2s, neither me or my wife has gotten them yet. Every other institution has given me my forms from banks to investments. We switched to a new payroll software in December too so I expect it to be screwed up and have to wait on a correction form as well ~_~
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The thing is the IRS get's all the information anyway. It could be streamlined no end assuming one doesn't have any weird and exotic deductions to take...
The massive lobbying power of tens of thousands of tax prep accountants.
I'm planning to do mine over the weekend. I had to wait for a few forms for both my wife and myself to come in and just got them a few days ago. I had to owe about $300 last year and think that I may end up owing more this year. I don't know if mortgage or student loan interest is going to balance it out enough, so I may need to consider updating my W-4 for this year.
Congrats, that's a responsible move. I'm going to try to save ~70% of it, let's see if it happens though lol
Thanks. Trying to tackle my student loans much more seriously this year. I've found it can be really hard to save it in the past since its coming in as a lump sum lol. Good luck to you.
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Question for the experts here.
With our move to Michigan last year my wife enrolled in T.E.A.C.H. which is like a fast track student teacher program to be recognized as a school teacher here. It's not a college program or anything but it costs upwards of 5 grand to participate in. Without it she could not work as a teacher in Michigan.
Any way to deduct that from the taxes? Judging by turbo tax only actual school programs can be deducted as life long learning expenses.
She also did a yoga teacher training last year. Anyway to recognize that in our taxes?
With our move to Michigan last year my wife enrolled in T.E.A.C.H. which is like a fast track student teacher program to be recognized as a school teacher here. It's not a college program or anything but it costs upwards of 5 grand to participate in. Without it she could not work as a teacher in Michigan.
Any way to deduct that from the taxes? Judging by turbo tax only actual school programs can be deducted as life long learning expenses.
She also did a yoga teacher training last year. Anyway to recognize that in our taxes?
Did a test run through HRBlock's free service and the refund total was pretty decent for <30K income. Going through FreeTaxUSA next to make sure the numbers add up (so far, Fed return is the same so that's good). TurboTax can suck it with their stupid change for student loan interest payment.
My used car, after only one year of use, apparently threw a rod and destroyed the engine. I kinda need that refund for travel to and from work now. My bad luck this year has been immense and it's still January.
My used car, after only one year of use, apparently threw a rod and destroyed the engine. I kinda need that refund for travel to and from work now. My bad luck this year has been immense and it's still January.
Time to be that guy
If you get a large return ($2-4k) you are effectively giving your federal/state government an interest-free loan for the entire year until they pay that back to you. Best bet they are investing that money and making bank. Best thing to do is balance your tax withholding so you get that money instead, and have as close to a $0 return as possible.
Make that money work for you instead of the government!
If you get a large return ($2-4k) you are effectively giving your federal/state government an interest-free loan for the entire year until they pay that back to you. Best bet they are investing that money and making bank. Best thing to do is balance your tax withholding so you get that money instead, and have as close to a $0 return as possible.
Make that money work for you instead of the government!
I don't see why not, you have the freedom to decide how much you want the fed and state to take from your paychecks when you file or edit your w9.
Was this Feds or state? Did you use TurboTax some other app? Just curious because I filed mine last week using Credit Karma so curious how long your wait was.
Both me and my girls were due to be direct deposited on todays date, she got hers already (she has chase), i have bank of america and dont see anything yet, probably will show up by tomorrow.
Sure you're technically correct but realistically how much interest can you earn on a gradual 2k over the course of a year? A few bucks? Low enough to not be noticed unless tracked carefully. Logically you are correct but psychologically getting a bigger return is nice. Same reason people use the snowball debt payment method, not the technical logical best way of doing but the psychological best.
That's not always possible. If you have dependents and qualify for the earned income tax credit you can be in a situation where you don't pay any federal taxes and still get a big chunk of change back.
Any finance wonks out there that could give me somewhat of an answer on this, I'd appreciate it. But during 2019 fiscal year I bought a home. The lender sold the lone to a big named bank shortly after, and all but 1 payment were paid to the big bank who now carries my mortgage.
My question is, from my initial lender, are there things that can be used on my tax return to get a bigger return? The big named bank already sent me my page showing the interest paid. I also applied my property tax, etc... but during the closing processes I thought there was a lot of things I can put down to help with my return.
I did contact the ignitial lender and they said tax forms will go out towards end of January. I do have my income tax form that the title company prepared for me at closing, but looking it over I'm not sure what I can put on my form, namely, these so called "points".
My question is, from my initial lender, are there things that can be used on my tax return to get a bigger return? The big named bank already sent me my page showing the interest paid. I also applied my property tax, etc... but during the closing processes I thought there was a lot of things I can put down to help with my return.
I did contact the ignitial lender and they said tax forms will go out towards end of January. I do have my income tax form that the title company prepared for me at closing, but looking it over I'm not sure what I can put on my form, namely, these so called "points".
Looks like it might be difficult.
If it counts as a license for new state, not deductible.
If it counts as a certification to maintain job, still may not be deductible.
It was federal that I received today. I only used TurboTax as a baseline for how much to expect back but I filed with FreeTaxUSA. I filed on the 21st, it was accepted on the 22nd, and by the 25th the "Where's My Refund" IRS page and IRS2Go app said that the refund was approved and expected by today. Overall, not a long wait at all.
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Perfect thank you! It's been about 3 days for me now (I think I did mine either last week Friday or Saturday) so hopefully it's soon! I got me some credit card bills to pay!
I have a question that I THINK I know the answer to, but I was hoping someone else might weigh in. We file using HRBlock.
My wife and I are married but we file separate returns (for student loan IBR reasons). I've looked at the numbers, and our TOTAL deductions (mortgage, Student Loan, charitable donations, etc) are less than $24,000. We have are our W-2's, HSA, and 401k contributions. But I think that those factor in towards the standard deductions, right? Since we can't take student loan interest as a deduction if we file separate, there's NO way we exceed the $12,000 separate filing standard deduction.
Is there any reason to use anything other than the free filing option? I've used the Deluxe version for the past few years, but I feel like I'm throwing money away due to our unique filing situation.
My wife and I are married but we file separate returns (for student loan IBR reasons). I've looked at the numbers, and our TOTAL deductions (mortgage, Student Loan, charitable donations, etc) are less than $24,000. We have are our W-2's, HSA, and 401k contributions. But I think that those factor in towards the standard deductions, right? Since we can't take student loan interest as a deduction if we file separate, there's NO way we exceed the $12,000 separate filing standard deduction.
Is there any reason to use anything other than the free filing option? I've used the Deluxe version for the past few years, but I feel like I'm throwing money away due to our unique filing situation.
This used to be my favorite thread.
Now it is only my favorite thread but not really because reasons.
Please take advantage of VITA if you need help with your taxes and you qualify.
Also I know I used to answer tax questions but I am legally not allowed to anymore. ;__;
(But I work 40 hours or less every week now, so suck it all y'all public accountants. ♥♥♥)
Now it is only my favorite thread but not really because reasons.
Please take advantage of VITA if you need help with your taxes and you qualify.
Also I know I used to answer tax questions but I am legally not allowed to anymore. ;__;
(But I work 40 hours or less every week now, so suck it all y'all public accountants. ♥♥♥)
I think the only major thing you gained was a mortgage deduction.
There's like lots of little stuff right? Mortgage, tax, home improvements, maybe some credits I don't know about, etc etc
