Taxes...sigh

[fairfarmhand]

Anyone else married to someone who has to do this as soon as humanly possible?

Yeah...Feb. 1, and we're working on taxes. 

It's like its a compulsion.

At least I can count on it. In the past, he would come to me one evening and say, "Hey, I need you to sort and tabulate all the receipts right now, because I want to do the taxes." He's learned that I need a week's notice, and I've learned that I better be thinking about it in the last week of January.

[Alte Veste Academy]

LOL I finished our taxes a week ago. Frustrated I have to wait so long for it to be accepted. I like my money back ASAP.

[Scarlett]

2 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

Anyone else married to someone who has to do this as soon as humanly possible?

Yeah...Feb. 1, and we're working on taxes. 

It's like its a compulsion.

At least I can count on it. In the past, he would come to me one evening and say, "Hey, I need you to sort and tabulate all the receipts right now, because I want to do the taxes." He's learned that I need a week's notice, and I've learned that I better be thinking about it in the last week of January.

Well, I admit I wanted  to do our taxes this evening but my brain shut  down..

[Shoeless]

DH filed taxes last week. I'm glad he's on top of it, but I do sometimes wish he'd slow down a bit.

 

[Drama Llama]

I spent all weekend on ours.  One of my kids is applying to a school, and we needed them for the financial aid application. 

We'll get a fair amount back, more than we had withheld, but it was not fun to see it all laid out in black and white. 

[cjzimmer1]

I've estimated my taxes twice already and I wish I could do them for real but alas I've got way too many forms outstanding yet to even come close to doing them for real.  

I'd even settle for doing either DS's but they both are missing several forms too.

I like the act of doing taxes even if I don't like paying taxes.  Playing around with numbers is fun for me.

[Arcadia]

We went from not owing Federal tax to owing after keying in bank interests. Now still waiting for Morgan Stanley’s 1099-B form.

20 minutes ago, MissLemon said:

DH filed taxes last week. I'm glad he's on top of it, but I do sometimes wish he'd slow down a bit.

 

I thought we can’t file federal tax until Feb 12?

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/2021-tax-filing-season-begins-feb-12-irs-outlines-steps-to-speed-refunds-during-pandemic

[Shoeless]

3 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

We went from not owing Federal tax to owing after keying in bank interests. Now still waiting for Morgan Stanley’s 1099-B form.

I thought we can’t file federal tax until Feb 12?

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/2021-tax-filing-season-begins-feb-12-irs-outlines-steps-to-speed-refunds-during-pandemic

You can submit your tax info now if you use an e-file company.  They will forward the info to the IRS starting on Feb 12. 

[Lanny]

4 hours ago, Arcadia said:

We went from not owing Federal tax to owing after keying in bank interests. Now still waiting for Morgan Stanley’s 1099-B form.

I thought we can’t file federal tax until Feb 12?

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/2021-tax-filing-season-begins-feb-12-irs-outlines-steps-to-speed-refunds-during-pandemic

This. The I.R.S. delayed the filing date to give them more time to work on the forms and try to avoid errors.  

Also, it is not good to be the first one on your block to file taxes. It is better to wait awhile and read and possiibly find a better way to do something when you file.  Ask me how I know (preparation of my 2019 Federal tax return and the return for my DD). Although I read as much as was available on the Internet early, in the return for DD I needed to go back and file  "Amended" return for 2019.  For my return, the return was past the Filing Date and the type of correction I wanted to make was not allowed after the Filing Date so that one is waiting for me to file 2020 Federal return.

[Ditto]

I filed ours last week.  Granted they haven't been accepted yet since the filing start date was pushed to 2-12, but at least I know they are done and filed.  It is frustrating to have to wait for them to be accepted and for our refunds.  I have plans for that money and want it!

[mlktwins]

I have 4 to do for us (federal and 3 state), my dad's federal and state (which won't be as bad this year because we don't have the sell of his house to deal with like last year), and am now having to take on my in-laws federal and state.  8 sets of taxes.  I hate this time of year -- LOL!!!!  We never get DH's work stuff until mid to late March either.

And...I filed our 2019 taxes in July (with the extension) and am still waiting on a significant federal refund.  At least it is now saying in process when I check the refund status.  

ETA:  At least this year, because of lockdown, I have a spreadsheet where I'm logging in all the tax forms we need as I get them (for us and my dad).  Once I get all my dad's, he needs 3 more, I'll get his done and out of the way.  My in-laws shouldn't be too hard, but they have a lot of stock kind of stuff.  I'm not sure what to expect, but he is very relieved to not have to deal with this task anymore -- LOL.  I need to start charging 🤷‍♀️😁.

Edited February 2, 2021 by mlktwins

[teachermom2834]

I do them ASAP. It is just the way I am wired! I get annoyed waiting for all the documents to come in.

I am always anxious to see what/if we get anything back and nervous we will have to pay. So I like to get the numbers crunched. With the big kids launching and changes in the tax laws etc I worry we will be caught owing and that makes me anxious to get it done. 
 

However, if dh did the taxes he would be in no hurry ever and scrambling before the deadline. I realized this year that he is 46 years old and has never filed taxes himself. His mom did it and then we got married an I did it. He really wouldn’t even know where to start at this point.

Edited February 2, 2021 by teachermom2834

[alisoncooks]

Better early than having a person who's standing in line at the post office on 4/15. That's super stressful. 

[mommyoffive]

If I had my way I would do them on Jan 1st.    I like to get them done ASAP.

[Sneezyone]

I get ours filed before the first day of processing every year. I've got all my docs ready to go (just need to break out our rental's maintenance expenses) and plan to file this weekend. Tax season is an extension of Christmas (the most wonderful time of the year) for me. This year's refund will pay for DH to have a 2BR apartment while he works out of state so we can visit as a family.

[Wheres Toto]

I finalized the books for my business a few weeks ago and sent them over to the accountant to review.   We're waiting on a couple statements and we'll send it over for our personal taxes.    We should get a pretty good refund since the business didn't make any money last year. 

[Ditto]

1 hour ago, teachermom2834 said:

I am always anxious to see what/if we get anything back and nervous we will have to pay. So I like to get the numbers crunched. With the big kids launching and changes in the tax laws etc I worry we will be caught owing and that makes me anxious to get it done. 
 

This is how I am as well.   By mid January I am on pins and needles worrying about whether we will owe or get a refund.  I get positively grumpy if I don't have all the documents needed to file by 1-27 or so.   We are losing the child tax credit in our 2021 taxes and I have been trying to figure out how much to adjust the extra we have taken out for taxes so that we won't owe next year.  So I can imagine that this time next year I will be even more anxious than usual before I can file and see where things shake out. 

[JustEm]

I am the one in this family that has to do taxes as early as possible. This is the first year ever that I haven't had them done before the end of January

[gardenmom5]

Yes - dh has a degree in accounting, and starts on them in January  (actually, he has his own business - he's got stuff going year round).  so does 2ds - he works for a CPA firm. . .(and after April 15th this year I will get on his case about working on getting his CPA 😠.  Maybe then he could afford his own place.)   and dh has passed the "it must be done yesterday" gene to 1dd, (she's also very like him.)  At least last year she got 2ds to help her with deductions (he saved her more than a bit.)  So- she's already going on the ___ hasn't sent me ___ yet . . . . 

[1234]

I told dh not to even ask me about it this year. I’m sending our stuff to the tax guy we have used off and on over the years as this year we owe quite a bit (hoping he can help find something I couldn’t). So, I have no problem putting the whole thing off for a while. 😞

[Jean in Newcastle]

I don't know if our situation is different than other people's but there is no way that I could do taxes yet.  I am still getting tax related documents in the mail.  (And not all are available online)

[TravelingChris]

13 hours ago, Scarlett said:

Well, I admit I wanted  to do our taxes this evening but my brain shut  down..

They aren't even accepting returns until Feb 12th

[vonfirmath]

18 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

I don't know if our situation is different than other people's but there is no way that I could do taxes yet.  I am still getting tax related documents in the mail.  (And not all are available online)

Agreed. we have not gotten close to all the documentations we needed yet

[regentrude]

DH starts as early as possible, but often the last documents aren't received until February. But this year, they don't accept tax returns yet anyway because of the changes.
 

[Bootsie]

We don't have all of our documents yet, so we haven't started

[TravelingChris]

16 hours ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

I don't know if our situation is different than other people's but there is no way that I could do taxes yet.  I am still getting tax related documents in the mail.  (And not all are available online)

Yes, we haven't gotten all of ours.  

We have been using an accountant since our taxes became more complicated but I need to do most of the prep work for him to do his work and that is a lot of prep work- doing medical expenses including mileage (which is a very large portion of those expenses), making all charity donations are accounted for and listed accurately, getting info about all our bank account earnings, mutual funds, and this year, even more since we did some individual stock buys and trades.   We are happy if we get it to him by mid March.  It also depends on my health too.

[SKL]

The friend whose taxes I used to do.  She would start asking for a date on my calendar before Christmas.  😛  I would talk her into waiting until February, because the IRS is still changing forms and 1099s are still being mailed etc.  (I miss those days - our long emails and annual get-togethers.  My friend died several years ago.)

Myself, I used to file as early as possible, back in the dark ages when I had a chance of getting a refund.  Ha!  Now, my return depends on info that won't be ready until summer at the earliest.

My family is full of procrastinators.  Most likely, I'll file an extension for my folks and my sister, and we'll be doing taxes in October.

[BlsdMama]

On 2/1/2021 at 10:41 PM, fairfarmhand said:

Anyone else married to someone who has to do this as soon as humanly possible?

Yeah...Feb. 1, and we're working on taxes. 

It's like its a compulsion.

At least I can count on it. In the past, he would come to me one evening and say, "Hey, I need you to sort and tabulate all the receipts right now, because I want to do the taxes." He's learned that I need a week's notice, and I've learned that I better be thinking about it in the last week of January.

Waiting on ONE more form.  No, it's not online.  LOL.

[frogger]

On 2/2/2021 at 3:50 AM, mlktwins said:

I have 4 to do for us (federal and 3 state), my dad's federal and state (which won't be as bad this year because we don't have the sell of his house to deal with like last year), and am now having to take on my in-laws federal and state.  8 sets of taxes.  I hate this time of year -- LOL!!!!  We never get DH's work stuff until mid to late March either.

And...I filed our 2019 taxes in July (with the extension) and am still waiting on a significant federal refund.  At least it is now saying in process when I check the refund status.  

ETA:  At least this year, because of lockdown, I have a spreadsheet where I'm logging in all the tax forms we need as I get them (for us and my dad).  Once I get all my dad's, he needs 3 more, I'll get his done and out of the way.  My in-laws shouldn't be too hard, but they have a lot of stock kind of stuff.  I'm not sure what to expect, but he is very relieved to not have to deal with this task anymore -- LOL.  I need to start charging 🤷‍♀️😁.

Ugh..you are reminding me that the days of doing multiple people's taxes will never end and parent's taxes will be more complicated than kids. Maybe we will have a break though. 

At least the 15 year old only has the basic w-2 + dividend. Daughter was self employed last year. 🙄 Youngest kid's should be simple too, I hope. At least Fafsa's are done! 

[mlktwins]

On 2/3/2021 at 1:44 PM, frogger said:

Ugh..you are reminding me that the days of doing multiple people's taxes will never end and parent's taxes will be more complicated than kids. Maybe we will have a break though. 

At least the 15 year old only has the basic w-2 + dividend. Daughter was self employed last year. 🙄 Youngest kid's should be simple too, I hope. At least Fafsa's are done! 

Just getting back to this thread :-).

@frogger Yes, it is tons of fun -- LOL.

The boys' taxes will seem easy after dealing with my elderly people's taxes.

 

[mlktwins]

How is everyone doing with their taxes?

I'm just starting my dad's, but it won't take long this year.  I do his by hand and hope to have them done by tomorrow.  Last year I had the capital gain on his house of 55+ years to deal with.  That was not fun, but won't have to deal with that on his ever again.

Is anyone using Turbo Tax?  Does it seem to be working ok this year with the changes that were made in 2020 (i.e. stimulus checks, Cares Act, etc.)?  I want to use it for my in-laws returns and it will be the first time I'm doing theirs and the first time it will not be done by hand.  Should be interesting as my FIL is 94 and I'm not sure what things are going to look like when I dig into last years return to see what he did 😬.

I will do our returns last as I'm still waiting on DH's K-1.

 

[catz]

We do them ASAP, but it also takes us a while to collect all our documentation.  We pay to have someone do them which is great.  But our situation is complex enough that it takes a bit to get all the paperwork ready to send off.  Once they have it, they are usually done within a week.  Hopefully sometime this month.  

[JustEm]

we filed both federal and 2 state returns the third week of feb. Already got our refund from one state, still have to pay the other state, and hoping to get federal refund by the 15th.

[mlktwins]

On 2/2/2021 at 7:50 AM, mlktwins said:

And...I filed our 2019 taxes in July (with the extension) and am still waiting on a significant federal refund.  At least it is now saying in process when I check the refund status.  

Quoting myself -- LOL.

I finally got my 2019 refund in late February - with interest.  My dad has still not received his.  I did file his in October with an extension though.  I heard this week that there are millions of 2019 returns that have not been processed.

[fairfarmhand]

1 hour ago, mlktwins said:

How is everyone doing with their taxes?

I'm just starting my dad's, but it won't take long this year.  I do his by hand and hope to have them done by tomorrow.  Last year I had the capital gain on his house of 55+ years to deal with.  That was not fun, but won't have to deal with that on his ever again.

Is anyone using Turbo Tax?  Does it seem to be working ok this year with the changes that were made in 2020 (i.e. stimulus checks, Cares Act, etc.)?  I want to use it for my in-laws returns and it will be the first time I'm doing theirs and the first time it will not be done by hand.  Should be interesting as my FIL is 94 and I'm not sure what things are going to look like when I dig into last years return to see what he did 😬.

I will do our returns last as I'm still waiting on DH's K-1.

 

I made a thread about that too.

 

 

[historically accurate]

I love to do my taxes as soon as humanly possible for a couple of reasons - um, money back, yes please! and my mom claims she has lifetime tax preparation services since she helped put me through college. 

That being said, I just yesterday got out taxes done. There was an issue with DD's 1098, but it's figured out and filed. 

DH has never done a tax return in his life; his father was an accountant, and he married an accountant. 

[mlktwins]

11 minutes ago, historically accurate said:

I love to do my taxes as soon as humanly possible for a couple of reasons - um, money back, yes please! and my mom claims she has lifetime tax preparation services since she helped put me through college. 

That being said, I just yesterday got out taxes done. There was an issue with DD's 1098, but it's figured out and filed. 

DH has never done a tax return in his life; his father was an accountant, and he married an accountant. 

Yeah, my dad says it's a good thing he put me through school -- LOL.  I have an accounting degree also.  

Dh is an attorney and, while he can do taxes if needed, it seems to be my unspoken responsibility since I was (keyword was) an accountant -- LOL.  There is also a lot less cussing when I do it 😁!

[cjzimmer1]

I filed 3 sets of federal and 3 sets of state in February 12(DH and I on one and my 2 adult sons for the other 2).  11 days later, the refunds came for all 3 states and 2 of the federal.  The son whose were the easiest to do because he had one form only is the one who was held up.  I can't imagine why his were delayed because there was absolutely nothing to do on his but input numbers from his w-2, but his federal refund finally came today and he is already in the process of spending it.

[RootAnn]

My dad used to do my taxes when I was younger. I took over for him a few years before his Alzheimer's got bad. He usually filed for an extension and did my aunt's, too. I was happy to do it for him. He & my aunt are dead now, so I just do my mom's & our family's (two kids have returns this year).

I started but then had to wait for stuff to arrive. I might get to them again in mid-March. No hurry here.

[Farrar]

One year, I had a couple of small side jobs. My W-2's came in from them in early February and I'm like, oh, here, dh, so you can do the taxes now. He had ALREADY DONE THEM and signed my name. I was like, omg, dh. He had to file a thingy for it. I mean, I know why he did it. He's nuts about doing everything immediately. It's why he's the one who handles the money - because he's super on top of it in ways I would never be. We sit down and go over the finances and I totally would have been like, you're done, okay, ink my name to it so I'm generally fine with all this. But he definitely learned a lesson that year.