Tax Return Season 2020 |OT| All your tax are belong to us

[ObbyDent]

Guys I'm having a panic attack trying to figure this out

So my entire tax paying adult life I've had a regular old job, I get the regular W-2 in the mail and file for free since I'm poor. Hardest I've ever done was filing with three jobs in a year.

Now in 2019 I was side-gigging, not realizing the fucking mess taxes are and how confusing everything is. Apparently I need to file my taxes four times a year?

I made $2350 in side gig money, $1200 of that is reported as a "1099" sent to me by the company I worked for. However, the remaining $1150 was just me doing a job and getting a check for it. How do I report that?

And will I need to pay for expensive tax programs, despite the side gig money not being very much and my total income being around $25k?

 

[Walter White Walker]

Guys I'm having a panic attack trying to figure this out

So my entire tax paying adult life I've had a regular old job, I get the regular W-2 in the mail and file for free since I'm poor. Hardest I've ever done was filing with three jobs in a year.

Now in 2019 I was side-gigging, not realizing the fucking mess taxes are and how confusing everything is. Apparently I need to file my taxes four times a year?

I made $2350 in side gig money, $1200 of that is reported as a "1099" sent to me by the company I worked for. However, the remaining $1150 was just me doing a job and getting a check for it. How do I report that?

And will I need to pay for expensive tax programs, despite the side gig money not being very much and my total income being around $25k?

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I have 1099s. I use the free version of H&R Blocks online software.
Here's some help regarding if you need to do quarterly filing (you owe more than $1000 in taxes).
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tip...arterly-taxes-for-the-1099-tax-form/L46qZt376
I'm pretty sure the tax programs will flag it if you're supposed to be filing quarterly taxes so at least you can get it squared away for 2020 if you are supposed to be doing so.
I'm no professional tax preparer, but my understanding is you would need to owe $1000 on the $2350 side gig money and obviously you don't so I don't think you need to worry about quarterly taxes. But, once you get everything into the tax program I think it'll let you know.

 

[Zoe]

About $2800 this year, $2000 of that is from the state.

Credit Karma's application is a confusing mess compared to HR Block, Credit Karma couldn't even pull data from a W2 pdf...I paid HR Block to reduce the frustration.

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Credit Karma does have ADP integration. Not being able to read any PDF doesn't bother me as you can't guarantee the quality of the input.

 

[MrMephistoX]

I resent the fact that millionaires and billionaires pay next to nothing and cost of living in cities with more interesting industries like tech media and marketing and gaming means a huge chunk of my income goes to housing but it's still taxed as if I lived in Nebraska earning the same amount.

Maybe it's a California thing?

 

[yumms]

Credit Karma does have ADP integration. Not being able to read any PDF doesn't bother me as you can't guarantee the quality of the input.

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That was the first thing I tried, didn't work, then it asked me to upload the pdf...that failed as well.

The mortgage interest screen is confusing as well.

Everything is so clear and easy to follow on HR Block.

 

[Inugami]

Got my state refund ($1000) in today, federal is still sitting at received... bleh.

 

[mhayes86]

Oof. I'm not as informed as I wish I were with any tax changes during 2019. Other than an increase to my 401k contribution and a few thousand added to my and my wife's combined gross income from raises, we owe a lot more compared to last year

Last year we owed about $150 according to Credit Karma. This year Credit Karma is listing that we owe $3200, so I redid it all in TurboTax to compare and that's showing that we owe $1800. How did we go from owing $150 last year to owing $1800-$3200 this year? Nothing fancy or complicated changed. W2s, interest, dividends, tuition, student loan interest, and mortgage interest are pretty much all that we need.

 

[Doc Kelso]

First year having to do complicated taxes and oof. Eyeballs were crossing for a bit there. Started off the year living in NYC. Moved to NJ after about 6 months, but all of my income was still coming from NYC. Not an unusual scenario, but good lord. I can only imagine what it's like to be a homeowner or have multiple properties, lol. Whole new level of respect for tax preparation services.

 

[Sunster]

still don't have my w-2. they said they'll send it by the 31st lol.

 

[ObbyDent]

I have 1099s. I use the free version of H&R Blocks online software.
Here's some help regarding if you need to do quarterly filing (you owe more than $1000 in taxes).
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tip...arterly-taxes-for-the-1099-tax-form/L46qZt376
I'm pretty sure the tax programs will flag it if you're supposed to be filing quarterly taxes so at least you can get it squared away for 2020 if you are supposed to be doing so.
I'm no professional tax preparer, but my understanding is you would need to owe $1000 on the $2350 side gig money and obviously you don't so I don't think you need to worry about quarterly taxes. But, once you get everything into the tax program I think it'll let you know.

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Hm. So I don't need to pay for self-employment tax software?

 

[SpottieO]

This is going to be an interesting year. First year filing jointly and we bought our first house so fingers crossed that we get a decent return.

 

[Walter White Walker]

Hm. So I don't need to pay for self-employment tax software?

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No. Use the free HR Block software United Ways makes available. Last I checked everyone else wanted to charge for 1099s.
Looks like their doing maintenance today but the URL starts with unitedway.org/myfreetaxes. I've used it the past two years.

 

[Officer Big Mac]

Trumps tax cut bill made moving expenses deductible only for active military. Sad trombone.

 

[timshundo]

So I'm just waiting on a 1099 from Robinhood but they're not sending it out until Feb 19!?!? So I asked for it and they sent me an excel doc with my realized gains/losses. I have no idea what to do with this. Help.

 

[Darren Lamb]

Turns out I could file after all, H&R Block had an excess controbution form that had "Yes" in the same spot as "Next" and I hit it accidentally

After including my 1099-INT and HSA details, getting a little over 900 back in total. I like getting something like this back since it still feels like a win, but I don't think I'd want to be relying on it as a sort of non interest bearing savings

 

[AlteredBeast]

Didn't realize driving Uber and Lyft would cause me to get such a ridiculous tax return: $9100...

Now that I have slid into my actual career, I'll only drive weekends because I enjoy it, but Damn lol

 

[Walter White Walker]

So I'm just waiting on a 1099 from Robinhood but they're not sending it out until Feb 19!?!? So I asked for it and they sent me an excel doc with my realized gains/losses. I have no idea what to do with this. Help.

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I'd just wait. I get my brokerage account 1099 from Schwab mid-February every year. Something about them just takes more time.

 

[Netherscourge]

Did my taxes today. Dropped them in the mailbox.

I gotta admit - that $24.4K joint deduction is nice.

 

[Clear]

Got my federal refund down to $49 but state I owe $490. Last year had a fed refund of 2800 so going to redo the numbers to see what's up.

 

[arcticxdeath]

Hello everyone, question for the CPAs:

I didn't know I needed to change my address in my pay system at work, so some of my withheld state taxes went to the incorrect state. Do y'all know if I need to do anything about this? I was just planning to use Tax Act... Never paid anyone before to do my taxes.

 

[whatsinaname]

Oof. I'm not as informed as I wish I were with any tax changes during 2019. Other than an increase to my 401k contribution and a few thousand added to my and my wife's combined gross income from raises, we owe a lot more compared to last year

Last year we owed about $150 according to Credit Karma. This year Credit Karma is listing that we owe $3200, so I redid it all in TurboTax to compare and that's showing that we owe $1800. How did we go from owing $150 last year to owing $1800-$3200 this year? Nothing fancy or complicated changed. W2s, interest, dividends, tuition, student loan interest, and mortgage interest are pretty much all that we need.

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This is odd. I can understand if this happened from 2018 --> 2019 but 2019 --> 2020, nothing much should have changed much.

Can you check the withholding box on you last W2 compared to this W2? Is it possible your payroll changed things up a bit?

 

[Br3wnor]

Didn't realize driving Uber and Lyft would cause me to get such a ridiculous tax return: $9100...

Now that I have slid into my actual career, I'll only drive weekends because I enjoy it, but Damn lol

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How did it help with your return?

 

[Br3wnor]

So I'm just waiting on a 1099 from Robinhood but they're not sending it out until Feb 19!?!? So I asked for it and they sent me an excel doc with my realized gains/losses. I have no idea what to do with this. Help.

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Id imagine you have to wait for the actual 1099. My wife haS some investments and her bank doesn't give us the required tax form until fucking March usually so it could be worse.

 

[AlteredBeast]

How did it help with your return?

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You can write off 58.5 cents per mile. I drove 60k miles

 

[mhayes86]

This is odd. I can understand if this happened from 2018 --> 2019 but 2019 --> 2020, nothing much should have changed much.

Can you check the withholding box on you last W2 compared to this W2? Is it possible your payroll changed things up a bit?

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Good idea. It's a bit difficult to do a direct comparison since I had three W2's for 2018, and I started working at my current company in the last quarter of 2018. However, adding up the withholding (just box 2?) for the three of them and comparing it to my current one, it looks like about $1200 less was withheld for 2019. I guess that's the issue? I don't know what was up with Credit Karma, so I must have missed something.

I just double checked my W4 allowances and that hasn't changed (it's been the same since 2017). Perhaps my current employer isn't withholding as much as my other jobs did for 2018. I'll double check to see if I can contribute anything else to my 401k, and consider decreasing the allowance on my W4.

 

[Zoe]

Good idea. It's a bit difficult to do a direct comparison since I had three W2's for 2018, and I started working at my current company in the last quarter of 2018. However, adding up the withholding (just box 2?) for the three of them and comparing it to my current one, it looks like about $1200 less was withheld for 2019. I guess that's the issue? I don't know what was up with Credit Karma, so I must have missed something.

I just double checked my W4 allowances and that hasn't changed (it's been the same since 2017). Perhaps my current employer isn't withholding as much as my other jobs did for 2018. I'll double check to see if I can contribute anything else to my 401k, and consider decreasing the allowance on my W4.

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Did your income boost push you into a new bracket? We're losing out on some credits now because of that.

With Credit Karma try switching between standard and itemized. You can also look at the final PDF form at any time to see what numbers they're using and where.

 

[Ramsiege]

Did my taxes last week, getting back about $4400 between federal and state. Paying off some credit card debt.

 

[mhayes86]

Did your income boost push you into a new bracket? We're losing out on some credits now because of that.

With Credit Karma try switching between standard and itemized. You can also look at the final PDF form at any time to see what numbers they're using and where.

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Doesn't look like it. According to the tax brackets that I found for 2019, married filing jointly, my wife and I have been in the same bracket for the last three years.

I switched between standard and itemized for both, and itemized increases my tax owed. I'll do a cross comparison of the PDF when I get a chance. It almost seemed like the mortgage interest wasn't taken into account with Credit Karma, but their home ownership section wasn't as easy to navigate as I remember from last year.

 

[daveo42]

This year is going to be more a nightmare than in the past. I won't have to itemize and really the end result won't be too much different, but the amount of forms I'll need to fill out is going to be monumental and amount to nothing but layers of extra work:

• Three separate W-2s from three different employers
• HSA contributions for all three
• Healthcare coverage for all three (tho these don't matter anymore, but I still have them)
• 401k statements for two
• Traditinoal IRA statement
• Student loan statements for two separate banks (thanks to one of the loans being moved for whatever ungodly reason)
• Payouts as part of our wellness program needing to be accounted for
• Overpayment documentation from the State of Ohio from last year's taxes (I haven't even figured out what to really do with that)
• Maybe additional paperwork due to the shift in income bracket last year

Plus, I have to file all of this for two separate states and two separate cities, even though I only lived in Ohio for all of three weeks last year. That means double the work for state and local taxes that amount to fucking squat.

God I fucking hate tax season.

 

[Zoe]

Doesn't look like it. According to the tax brackets that I found for 2019, married filing jointly, my wife and I have been in the same bracket for the last three years.

I switched between standard and itemized for both, and itemized increases my tax owed. I'll do a cross comparison of the PDF when I get a chance. It almost seemed like the mortgage interest wasn't taken into account with Credit Karma, but their home ownership section wasn't as easy to navigate as I remember from last year.

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Keep in mind you can only take the mortgage interest deduction if you itemize, and the standard deduction is so high now that many people won't benefit from it.

 

[Linkura]

Filed federal and state. Credit Karma finally filing MA. Got an additional ~$300 from MA so getting a bit over $3000 total.

 

[Officer Big Mac]

It looks like I'll get about $1000. It's the smallest I've got so I think my deductions are on point. It means I'm not overpaying all year.

You people with huge refunds might need to look at some changes.

 

[ObbyDent]

I owe about $87 dollars this year, probably due to me making self-employee money this year. Is that bad?

 

[tangeu]

I finally have all my forms and documents except for the 1099 from my investments (just basic total market mutual funds), I neither bought nor sold anything this year. Is there any reason I need to wait another month on this form that's probably all 0s? I just want to get this done.

 

[whatsinaname]

I finally have all my forms and documents except for the 1099 from my investments (just basic total market mutual funds), I neither bought nor sold anything this year. Is there any reason I need to wait another month on this form that's probably all 0s? I just want to get this done.

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Do any of your funds pay out dividends (doesn't matter if you are re-investing them or not)? You'll have to pay taxes on that, so better to wait.

 

[tangeu]

Do any of your funds pay out dividends (doesn't matter if you are re-investing them or not)? You'll have to pay taxes on that, so better to wait.

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Oh right...I forgot about dividends ~_~ guess I'm waiting, looking at last year I had all of $12 in dividends which did exactly nothing to my taxes but I'm not chancing it. Just frustrated I have to wait so long for something so inconsequential.

 

[whatsinaname]

Oh right...I forgot about dividends ~_~ guess I'm waiting, looking at last year I had all of $12 in dividends which did exactly nothing to my taxes but I'm not chancing it. Just frustrated I have to wait so long for something so inconsequential.

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Yeah, it is a pain for sure. I want to get it over with too but waiting on a couple of 1099s and a couple of K-1s. (All of which might move the needle like $50 or so). -_-

 

[FliX]

My better half, who is a teacher, had a bunch of expenses for school (almost $1k paid out of her own pocket to do her job in just 4 months, well done America).
I've added those to the tax as I can. Do I need to attach the receipts, or is it a matter of just keeping them filed away in case someone want's to look at them?

 

[Zoe]

My better half, who is a teacher, had a bunch of expenses for school (almost $1k paid out of her own pocket to do her job in just 4 months, well done America).
I've added those to the tax as I can. Do I need to attach the receipts, or is it a matter of just keeping them filed away in case someone want's to look at them?

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Yep, the latter.

 

[FliX]

Yep, the latter.

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That's what I thought. Cheers.
This made me curious how long I should keep them

1. Keep records for 3 years if situations (4), (5), and (6) below do not apply to you.
2. Keep records for 3 years from the date you filed your original return or 2 years from the date you paid the tax, whichever is later, if you file a claim for credit or refund after you file your return.
3. Keep records for 7 years if you file a claim for a loss from worthless securities or bad debt deduction.
4. Keep records for 6 years if you do not report income that you should report, and it is more than 25% of the gross income shown on your return.
5. Keep records indefinitely if you do not file a return.
6. Keep records indefinitely if you file a fraudulent return.
7. Keep employment tax records for at least 4 years after the date that the tax becomes due or is paid, whichever is later.

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lol @ number 6, that seems like they can construe any mistake you make as fraudulent and ask for the receipts decades later...

 

[PersonAndStuff]

I owe about $87 dollars this year, probably due to me making self-employee money this year. Is that bad?

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It's fine as long as you pay the $87.

If you're going to continue to make self employment money, might want to reduce your normal employment exemptions so you withhold more. Or start making quarterly prepayments.

 

[MrBanballow]

I went and had mine done a couple of days ago. Anybody that asks what I'm spending it on gets my best Dutch impersonation, "I've got a plan... I just need some money."

Getting a bit over $2k back, so I'm going to Tahiti New Orleans.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

I have a quick question regarding a 1099 form.

So my wife does various freelance work on the side for extra income. I filed our taxes late last week and they were accepted today. Today, my wife told me she forgot one of the 1099 forms.

How big of a pain in the ass will it be to amend my return?

 

[SpecX]

Finished up my taxes last week and kept getting a Schedule CA error that no matter what I did wouldn't resolve itself. Unfortunately I already paid Turbotax and couldn't clear the forms to start again.

Was ready to call them today to figure out what was going on and everything was fixed. Both State and Fed was accepted and now just awaiting my refund. Ended up getting a lil over $100 from fed and state is paying me $4500. Wasn't expecting this since I always break out near even, but guess I'll take it and pay down some debt.

 

[CatAssTrophy]

I was excited to be able to just file as soon as I got my PDF from my employer, but then realized last year I cashed out some of my Acorns account, so now I have to sit and wait a few more weeks to see *IF* they post a form in my account. Sigh.

 

[Linkura]

I have a quick question regarding a 1099 form.

So my wife does various freelance work on the side for extra income. I filed our taxes late last week and they were accepted today. Today, my wife told me she forgot one of the 1099 forms.

How big of a pain in the ass will it be to amend my return?

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It's really not. Just follow the instructions.

 

[whatsinaname]

Finished up my taxes last week and kept getting a Schedule CA error that no matter what I did wouldn't resolve itself. Unfortunately I already paid Turbotax and couldn't clear the forms to start again.

Was ready to call them today to figure out what was going on and everything was fixed. Both State and Fed was accepted and now just awaiting my refund. Ended up getting a lil over $100 from fed and state is paying me $4500. Wasn't expecting this since I always break out near even, but guess I'll take it and pay down some debt.

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Holy shit, State is giving you back that much!? Did you qualify for some state specific credit/refund? Like some EV thing?

 

[MechDX]

Did my taxes on Turbo Tax this morning and submitted. IRS already accepted and say I should have my refund within 3 weeks.

Getting 8200 back. (3 kids)

 

[Deleted member 54292]

I am so confused. My income keeps rising but my tax refund has been flat for the past several years. In fact, it has gone down. Any ideas why that is? Fed has been $900-$1000. Oregon state refund has been $300 two years in a row. I am still claiming 0. I am insured year round with only one job and one source of income. Maybe these numbers are okay? I just always second guess them because I do it myself on TT.

 

[Shirosaki]

Does anyone know how long it typically takes for TurboTax to add the EV forms? I think it's 8396. Every time I've gone to that section it says it's not ready yet. Still have to try when I get home from work though.