Taxes

cooby
Feb 19 2011 02:30 PM

Maybe I am just a dinosaur, but I like to do my own income taxes by hand and mail them in. My dad showed me how and to tell the truth, I think it is kind of fun.

Anyway, I am frustrated that it is increasingly difficult to get the tax forms. PA has insinuated for years that they don't want me to do them by hand so they send a teletax form. Teletax? File by telephone? Yeah, right.

So far I have been able to find my tax forms online, but they don't make it easy and I also had to print out a 99 page 1040 instruction booklet that used to come by mail. I am a tree hugger, so that doesn't bother me much, but the fact that you absolutely positively cannot do your IRS return without this booklet makes me wonder how other people manage. Am I really that unique?

How do the rest of you do your taxes?

Rockin' Doc
Feb 19 2011 02:54 PM
Re: Taxes

I pay a CPA to file my personal taxes and for my business. It's getting to be a little expensive, but it is far to complicated to do otherwise.

Benjamin Grimm
Feb 19 2011 03:32 PM
Re: Taxes

I've been using TurboTax since the mid-1990's. Before that I did it by hand.

Can't you get the forms at your post office?

MFS62
Feb 19 2011 04:19 PM
Re: Taxes

I'm with Cooby.
Long time ago, I used to work at Prentice-Hall, the publishing company. Played cards with the guy who edited their Tax Law updates for Lawyers and Accountants. He showed me how to do the different forms and I've done them myself ever since.
The only tough years were when I lived in NY City and had four forms to fill out- Federal, NY State, NY City, and an abomination called the "New Jersey Emergency Transportation" Tax. I think they named it after Route 4 on a Saturday afternoon.

Later

Frayed Knot
Feb 19 2011 05:10 PM
Re: Taxes

The tax code is growing increasingly complicated!?!?

Have our elected officials been informed of this?

Ceetar
Feb 19 2011 06:52 PM
Re: Taxes

turbo tax. the biggest effort is not losing the w2s and associated forms that go with it. Takes me less than an hour usually, and that's from start to "finished and direct deposited/paid from my bank account and no longer have to think about it."

Got a little snag this year as I now get to file jointly and all that. i doubt it'll be much different though.

cooby
Feb 19 2011 06:53 PM
Re: Taxes

Frayed Knot wrote:
The tax code is growing increasingly complicated!?!?

Exactly! Yet they don't want us to read it! Grrrr.

Yep, there are forms up at the post office, but not the coveted 1040 instruction booklet...

Fman99
Feb 19 2011 06:59 PM
Re: Taxes

TaxAct online. Federal and state combined and it costs just $14. I was done, soup to nuts, in about 45 minutes, and that includes a bunch of stuff beyond the standard income/withdrawal stuff, including a child care tax credit and a credit for our new windows.

All I do ahead of time is keep all the W2s and 1099's in a folder as they arrive. Once I have it all, I log in, complete the forms, submit them online and save PDFs of the completed forms. I used to do them all by hand, on paper, but those days are long gone.

cooby
Feb 19 2011 07:10 PM
Re: Taxes

Yeah, but it is so neat bringing it all together!

I have the college loan stuff and the education credits to figure out and the Pay to Work or Work to Pay or whatever it is (worth 800 bucks!) to figure out, lotsa fun :) The first year I did the 8863 it took me about a week, now I could do it in my sleep...That and the FAFSAs...

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr
Feb 19 2011 09:01 PM
Re: Taxes

You're one interesting duck, Missus.

I'm a TaxAct guy, too. Nice and easy, lemon squeezy.

John Cougar Lunchbucket
Feb 19 2011 09:06 PM
Re: Taxes

Wifey is in charge and ridiculously paranoid about audits, she's the most earnest taxpayer I've ever known. Back when I did a lotta freelance work, I went to go to the sketchiest guy in the universe and always got away with it.

Anyway, we use one of those on-line programs, pretty easy.

Willets Point
Feb 21 2011 10:33 AM
Re: Taxes

Libraries are not getting tax forms and are feeling the heat.

Ashie62
Feb 21 2011 04:29 PM
Re: Taxes

Still waiting for 1099's from brokerage.