Just finished my taxes...

[oshinbreez]

Maise,

It is such a pain. I did bookkeeping and taxes for years. I absolutely HATED this time of year.

I just talked to David, and he didn''t get his done, or file an extension. So, he''ll have a penalty unless he can fill out a form tonight and get it mailed. He just told me he never downloaded his w-2, so he has no idea what to even estimate.

After we get married, I''ll have to joy of doing it all.

 

[Maisie]

Thankyou for that explanation.

Its probably not so different to how we do it I suppose. We pay National Insurance which goes to pay for our National Health Service and towards the State Pension ( a dismally low amount paid to everybody after the age of 65 here). The difference is that we don't get any credit for paying mortgage interest etc.

Our taxes are tiered too, I pay basic rate as I am on a relatively low income. (I think I pay something like 16%)

I think that you can appeal your taxes once a year around this time but its unlikely you will get any kind of refund.

Because we have VAT (value added tax) we don't have to pay the extra taxes at the end of the year like you do.

We actually get Working Families Tax Credits which basically means you can claim part of your tax back the year after you paid it. It comes weekly into your bank account.

We also have Child Tax Credits where you can also claim more tax back for having children. Its meant to supplement a low income so we can afford to go out to work. Again it is paid weekly into the bank.

Lastly we get Child Benefit. This has been going for years. Child benefit is payable for each child you have - its not a lot but it still comes in handy. Every child in UK gets this regardless of income (everybody is entitled to the same amount)

We receive approximately £1079 - $2163 per month in benefits. This obviously comes in really handy as I only earn £800 - $1604 per month in wages. Now you know why its taken me so long to save for my ring lol!!

It seems to me that we get more help financially than you do over there. Do you think this is the case?

I find this really interesting!

 

[Skippy123]

Okay Maisie. We do not have healthcare like you; a lot of people want it. I am curious what would happen if we did?!?!?! I love my insurance so I don't know what it would be like if that went away. I guess it would help the less fortunate; that is another topic in itself. Ours is very similar with the tax credits. Read this book. It is probably interesting to you. I am a huge fan of it. ha, not! It is helpful though.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf

I have posted it several times; it gives good examples as you are reading. Happy Reading

 

[firebirdgold]

Nothing quite strikes fear into an American''s heart like the IRS. Given a choice between an ''interview'' with the FBI or the IRS, we''d pick the FBI any day. Honestly, do you have receipts for the last five years?

There are a ton of deductions you can make that will help reduce your tax bill and get you a refund, like interest on your home''s mortgage. And if you have any investments there are several different things you have to report on that, so it can get very complicated with several forms. And the IRS gets sent the information from banks, employers, etc... so they know if you''ve made a mistake.

I''m feeling a little worried about that myself. I have money market accounts that make hundreds of transactions every year. If I had to report every single one I''d probably drown myself! So I tend to consolidate it to Account #xxx0xxx short term gains, Account #xxx0xxx short term losses... etc. Since I have the cost basis and breakdown for all of that. However the IRS isn''t sent that stuff, but the sale information without the cost basis. As a result I usually end up reporting about $1k more in capital gains than is on the form the IRS gets because apparently a few don''t really count. (I wish they''d have that on my report!)
So do you think I''m setting myself up for being audited? It''s not too late for me to file for an extension!

 

[Maisie]

Gosh it all sounds very complicated. I''m really glad we don''t have to do all that here. It would be a nightmare! I am so hopeless at keeping receipts!!

 

[Kismet]

Date: 4/17/2007 2:34:39 PM
Author: IndieJones

I''m feeling a little worried about that myself. I have money market accounts that make hundreds of transactions every year. If I had to report every single one I''d probably drown myself! So I tend to consolidate it to Account #xxx0xxx short term gains, Account #xxx0xxx short term losses... etc. Since I have the cost basis and breakdown for all of that. However the IRS isn''t sent that stuff, but the sale information without the cost basis. As a result I usually end up reporting about $1k more in capital gains than is on the form the IRS gets because apparently a few don''t really count. (I wish they''d have that on my report!)

So do you think I''m setting myself up for being audited? It''s not too late for me to file for an extension!

So you report more income than you have? Uh, no it''s unlikely that you''ll be audited because if they calculated it all out correctly then the IRS would be losing money and they tend to shy away from audits that would do that.

 

[divergrrl]

I had my refunds in mid-february....

But times that i''ve owed, I do them early and then wait till the last minute to pay.

This year I''m hoping to break even...I''m with miranda, I hate getting the big chunks back too..I''d rather have it in my savings accts...

diver

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 4/17/2007 7:29:57 PM
Author: divergrrl
I had my refunds in mid-february....

But times that i''ve owed, I do them early and then wait till the last minute to pay.

This year I''m hoping to break even...I''m with miranda, I hate getting the big chunks back too..I''d rather have it in my savings accts...

diver

Ditto w/ Miranda and Diver.

 

[kcoursolle]

My taxes were done about 4 weeks ago, bwaaahahahahahha! I knew I''d have a lot of work right now, so I was extra good and did them early this year.

 

[Ann]

Oh, I just cringe around this time of year. We own several businesses and our returns are very complicated. We always have to pay - a lot. We just got a surprise 2 weeks ago that we owed even more, we have already paid out the whazoo. Can you say nice car and very nice diamond upgrade.
It just makes me sick.

 

[FireGoddess]

You really get creamed when you''re self employed - that was a huge blow last year. I feel your pain Ann!!!

 

[Skippy123]

I thought this was cute and appropriate for today

 

[scarleta]

thought this was cute and appropriate for today

So appropriate at this time of the year.Maybe I should ask to be removed also...Thanks its so funny..

 

[VRBeauty]

Each year I dump tax-related stuff in a file as it comes in. It may be the only aspect of my home life that's somewhat organized!

My taxes returns are pretty easy to complete, but this year I knew I'd be sending a check rather than expecting a refund, so why do it early? On Sunday night I printed off everything tax-related that was stored on my computer and sorted all the tax stuff into "income" and "deductions" piles. On Monday night I sat down to do the deed and discovered that I don't have a W-2 form! I had received a corrected W-2 but it only had information in the fields that needed to be corrected. The fields that didn't change, such as state and federal witholding were blank! I could estimate alll the important stuff from my pay stubs, but even if that miraculously came out the same as the W-2 form, I still would have had to have a form to attach to my return.

So....

I SENT UNCLE SAM SOME MONEY AND FILED FOR AN EXTENSION TODAY!


Not quite as satisfying as filing the completed return!


BTW my returns are simple enough (or I've been trained well enough over the years) that I've decided to forego the tax prep software. Besides, it bugs me that I have to pay for the software, and then pay again to file electronically, to make the IRS's job easier. California offers on-line tax prep software and filing free of charge, which is what I'll be using to file my state return once I get the W-2 form...

 

[gailrmv]

blah, we owed more than we thought we would... complicated taxes this year. At least we will get a small refund from the state. Also, I have no idea what my CPA is charging me. This is the first year we have hired someone. He gave me an estimate and said he would send a bill and I''m still waiting... I figure he is an accountant, surely he can generate and mail an invoice, right?!

 

[firebirdgold]

I ended up not being able to locate the information I needed. A whopping ~$10 dividend and I couldn''t track down the paperwork.... so I filed for an extension and dropped everything into a mail box at 4:24pm.

I''m not usually this bad!

 

[Shay37]

Date: 4/16/2007 10:37:00 AM
Author: jcrow
wow, i received my refunds by end of february. i''m an early filer.

Us too. That way if we have to pay, we have a couple of months to come up with the cash.

shay