2012 TAXES

Are Done!!!!!

And I get a refund!!!! Thanks to the new health care laws I get an extra 2,500.00 back that I was not expecting.

The sad part is I will probably put it all in to my retirement account instead of having fun. Oh Well it will hopefully mean a retirement that is more fun.

How does everyone do there tax's?

I have been using Turbotax for years and before that I did it by hand. Since I am familiar with the tax forms and what not I am comfortable doing it. I usually use the "guide me" feature and then go back through the forms manually. In the past I usually have had to correct things or adjust things as the program will not let you do certain things and / or does not have some of the forms I needed. This year however the "guide me" feature was spot on.

Only once have I used a tax preparer do it (at the insistence of my now X wife). I had already done them so I brought my completed forms in but did not show them to the preparer. My return got me a bigger refund than the paid preparer. When I pointed it out they were very nice and actually filed my tax's for free. I think they were trying to get me as a return customer but all it did was prove to me that with a little reading and taking your time you can do your own tax's as well or better then the people at the tax places. It also helps that I have always liked numbers. Letters / spelling / English not so much. If we had to write an essay to go along with our taxes I would get audited every year

Anyway just wanted to share as it is always great to get this off my to do list each year.

I've been using TurboTax for the past few years and did the by hand before. I wasn't very happy with it last year and went back to manual this year. To be honest, manual is faster. Even with itemized deductions and the HSA form, they were done in under an hour, including double checking.

Thanks to me triple reading the HSA instructions, I'll get my biggest refund ever this year.

Hrm, this is our first year with an HSA. Last year and before we have had an FSA. Can you Cliff Notes the important stuff for me, please? It won't matter for TY 2012 but it will for 2013. Thanks!

Still haven't gotten my refund from last year because some wothless piece of E36 M3 filed a return with my SS, and the worthless ass IRS can't be bothered to do ANYTHING about the rampant fraud.

<---pissed.

poopshovel wrote: Still haven't gotten my refund from last year because some worthless piece of E36 M3 filed a return with my SS, and the worthless ass IRS can't be bothered to do ANYTHING about the rampant fraud. <---pissed.

I would take this to a congress man or at least a state rep. That is what they are for. Make an appointment and get them involved.

Ohya a donation to their re-election campaign once you get your refund would not hurt either.

Edit: Actually I have had very good luck dealing with the IRS. If you go to them with an honest request and are nice you will usually get what you want. They are so used to dealing with pissed off raving lunatics that when they find a nice sincere honest person they seem to help. (at least this has been my experience)

I wonder if they will pay you interest for the time that they keep your refund.. . . . And then you will have to file that as income in the year that you get it LOL it never ends.

Ian F wrote: I've been using TurboTax for the past few years and did the by hand before. I wasn't very happy with it last year and went back to manual this year. To be honest, manual is faster. Even with itemized deductions and the HSA form, they were done in under an hour, including double checking. Thanks to me triple reading the HSA instructions, I'll get my biggest refund ever this year.

Ya I would tend to agree with you as in the past I would always have to go in to the forms and edit things. This year was much better.

1 hour manually? You must be much more orginized tham me. I seem to always be missing that one number or somthing that I have to go look for.

5 minutes ago I finished using TurboTax online, Deluxe edition. Totally worth the cost and so easy even a complete tax chicken like myself can follow the questions. I've used them for years (except last year*) and love it.

*- last year I had moved mid-year from KY to OH. Bought new house, still owned old house to rent-to-own, moving expenses, etc. I decided to let a "tax professional" handle it because I didn't think TurboTax could handle the change in states. Using TT today I see I was wrong, and after using that dumb E36 M3I couldn't have been more wrong.

Around mid-summer last year I got a note from OH saying they re-did my return and instead of a modest refund I owed ~$500. Called my tax guy, he said it was a mistake and he'd handle it. As of TODAY it is still not fixed, KY ended up re-doing that one as well thanks to OH. The end is supposed to be I repaid KY a good chunk and OH would send me a modest refund (KY refund was quite larger than normal so I wasn't 100% surprised with them). KY has been repaid, OH still has not figured it out...

I will probably stick with TT for life.

SECU ( NC content) does taxes for free, as long as they aren't extremely complicated ... used to do my own ... but reading the instructions have gotten to the point where they cause my head to explode ... ( the joys of getting old)

I made so little money and only have to file W-2 and 1099 forms, so I just use one of the free-file sites.

I used to do my own. Now that I file as a farm I am more than happy to pay a professional.

I have used free tax USA for the last few years and have loved it. Takes me about a half hour and only cost me $10 since I have state taxes.

've I used the H&R Block version for the past few years and 'm happy with it. What with IRA rollovers, Capital Gains, Capital Losses, both short term & long team, dividends, interest, Capital loss carryovers from prior years, and Mutual Funds I wouldn't do it any other way. The last time I tried to do it myself it took me 10 hrs+ and I ended up making a mistake that cost me cash!

Ian F wrote: I've been using TurboTax for the past few years and did the by hand before. I wasn't very happy with it last year and went back to manual this year. To be honest, manual is faster. Even with itemized deductions and the HSA form, they were done in under an hour, including double checking. Thanks to me triple reading the HSA instructions, I'll get my biggest refund ever this year.

You should use Taxact.com.

It took me 20 minutes and I received my refund 3.5 weeks ago.

turbotax home and business. it takes a while because of all my business expenses and such but it beats paying h&r blockhead.

my refund went straight to debt elimination. paid off my truck, home depot card, amazon card, and threw the rest at the last credit card.

The wife does ours. We'll wait until the last minute to send it in because there is always a check that has to go with it. I haven't gotten a refund in 8 years.

i've always TurboTax'd it in the past. We usually owe a couple hundred dollars. As two working adults with no kids and no investments, there's not much I can deduct. This year we'll be paying an accountant because my wife started a small business selling crocheted stuff last year. Using the accountant also gets her advice and help handling the books for the business, what little there are. And now I don't have to do it!

I use TaxSlayer. I used them for free when I was active duty. The last 3 years I stuck with them even though I have to pay a bit. I did my taxes a few days ago and owe more than I care to say on top of all the money they've already taken out of my checks. This is the 3rd year in a row where I've had to write a sizeable check. I get warning letters from the IRS about them threatening a penalty because I owe too much. I guess I'll do what I did last year and muck about with my withholding again - it sure didn't work this year.

poopshovel wrote: Still haven't gotten my refund from last year because some wothless piece of E36 M3 filed a return with my SS, and the worthless ass IRS can't be bothered to do ANYTHING about the rampant fraud. <---pissed.

That happened to me too.

However we owed & the IRS could be bothered to collect it.

T.J. wrote: I guess I'll do what I did last year and muck about with my withholding again - it sure didn't work this year.

I always take zero deductions on my W4 and 1 on my wife's (I make a small amount more than she does). That seems to net us a modest refund every year, which is right where I want to be.

Pretty much broke even.

Finished mine today too! I used to use TaxCut which later became H&R Block software. In the last couple of years though, I've paid an accountant because I went into business for myself and the complexity of the taxes went through the roof. So far he has saved me way more than the amount of his fees so I'm happy!

poopshovel wrote: Still haven't gotten my refund from last year because some wothless piece of E36 M3 filed a return with my SS, and the worthless ass IRS can't be bothered to do ANYTHING about the rampant fraud. <---pissed.

Try this route. They are MUCH more helpful than the regular IRS folks... and while a part of the IRS, they are 'separate' and seem to work pretty well...

http://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/

For 2011 the IRS claimed I filed one of my S corps late.. Well kinda.. My preparer didn't have all the stuff ready in time so we had to file an extension.. We filed it and then had the taxes done a day or two after the normal non extended deadline.. I guess they must have got the taxes before the extension was handled..... or whatever.. We did our end correctly and some buffoon lost the extension..... Fined me 1k. This all shows up AFTER the refund, and took some doing to straighten it out.. The IRS agents were VERY RUDE.. One of them claimed she couldn't even talk to me until I gave her may banking info... This after they are sending first letters of notice with all the scary 'we are going to take your house" BS... And keeping me on the hold for an hour and a half or more each time before answering... Their claim was that i didn't have proof I sent it...

I was pretty pissed..

They asked me to send a letter and some of the documents to show the extension along with a letter from my preparer... So I sent them that stuff... I forget about it.. well until another nastygram shows up.... so I call... sit on hold for two hours only to find out sometimes it takes them a couple months to open the frign mail.....

Seriously.. if they were a private collection company... You could sue their asses off and win for the stuff they pull..

The moral of the story is don't send anything to the IRS without some method of making them confirm they have received it..

In the end the Advocates office got it all straightened out.. Ended with the IRS supposedly just giving me a 'free pass on this one" or some such BS.. I almost thought about continuing the fight on a matter of principal... but yeah....

For some reason I prefer Taxcut over Turbotax software. I find it easier to use. Last year we used turbotax and I found it to be a pain in the ass, we had to start over a couple times. Maybe Im just stupid.

Still takes me about an hour to put together the forms for my wife and I. Although I didnt import any data from previous years.

Getting a good chunk of cash back that will go towards wiping out a few bills.

Been using TurboTax for several years now. One year my wife thought I was cheating us out of some refunds so she paid a tax-office to do our taxes. Had TurboTax for our daughters taxes on my computer anyway and ran our stuff through. Came out exactly the same as the tax preparer so we've been sticking with TurboTax. Just did mine, not as bad as previous years. Only owe $70 on federal and get a small state refund. State refund is about twice what I owe federal so I end up money ahead this year. Need to up my retirement input to equalize. Need to up it period, not getting younger and full retirement is about 10 years away. Don't think next year will be a big issue either with the upcoming furlough for us gubmint workers.

We have to use Price Waterhouse Cooper to do our taxes here and I haven't seen a refund in 3 years

(I've never not had a refund)

Our company gives us bonuses when they make money. This year I got half a months pay (which was nice) I consider that my "tax refund".