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Hello thread, I have a bit of a silly question for yall. I have a few years, 3+ years ago, where I didn't file taxes because I only made $6-8k. Would it be at all beneficial to go back and file for those years? How doe that work? Many thanks.
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Sep 11, 2020 00:01
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literally this big posted:Hello thread, I have a bit of a silly question for yall. You can always file late returns (I've done so for people back to 2008 even), the IRS and states will process them. Main issue is if you are three years past the original filing deadline (for example, tax year 2016 returns were due by April 15th of 2017, so those just passed their deadline this year in April) you cannot receive a refund even if you were due one. Naturally if you owe for those years prior to that time period the tax is still due along with late penalties/interest because some rules just don't work in your favor. There are also certain things that if you don't elect to do them by filing a return by the original due date, you lose your chance to choose to do. In your case you were probably below the minimum income threshold where you needed to file, so I doubt you actually owe anything; if you're within the three year time frame (so tax years 2017, 2018, and 2019 now) you can get a refund with maybe some EIC but that's really the only reason to file unless the IRS or state(s) for whatever reason demand you file prior years. Usually that happens if you owe and want a payment plan, they demand you show you don't owe even more money by filling in any gaps, hence why I usually wind up doing back tax returns for people that far back even when there's no refund in it. You have no legal obligation to file a tax return for those years otherwise though, you were well below the required income for that. Also not sure how easy it is to get personal software to do back years, TurboTax I think you can buy individual years back to 2014 but they don't have e-file even though the IRS technically allows it for some back years so you have to print and mail the return in if you go that route (if you just want the forms to do yourself, the IRS does have prior year forms and instructions available on their website for several years back, check for "prior year forms" on the main 1040 form page or similar). Try not to get too far behind on filing though as a rule, it never ends well for all the frantic people I have coming to see me so they can buy a house/deal with the IRS/etc. and need to pay a LOT of money for that many years of work even if they don't owe through the nose for late fees on the taxes themselves.
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Sep 11, 2020 04:36
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Thanks. So it might be worth it to file for 2017. Another question: I had some paper Series EE savings bonds with my name on them. On my 2018 taxes I decided to switch from the cash method to the accrual method and paid taxes on the interest so far. Then in 2019 I redeemed the bonds, paid the tax on the small amount of interest since last year, and had no more bonds to my name. Now, in 2020, I've bought a Series I savings bond through Treasury Direct. Will I still be expected to pay yearly tax on the bond via the accrual method? Or will I go back to the default cash method when accounting for this bond?
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Sep 11, 2020 21:11
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literally this big posted:Thanks. So it might be worth it to file for 2017. In my opinion, you have elected this treatment and you must use it till the end of time; unless you file a 3115 to request a change back.
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Sep 14, 2020 22:14
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Lord of Garbagemen posted:In my opinion, you have elected this treatment and you must use it till the end of time; unless you file a 3115 to request a change back. Yeah, Pub 550 he linked had "Once you choose to report the interest each year, you must continue to do so for all Series EE, Series E, and Series I bonds you own and for any you get later, unless you request permission to change, as explained next" so looks like the elections lasts unless revoked.
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Sep 16, 2020 18:05
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Does the limit on Traditional IRA tax deductions when having an employer 401k apply only if you actually use the 401k, or if such a 401k exists at all? I maxed out my Traditional IRA contribution for 2020 earlier this year, before my employer had a 401k. They just rolled out the 401k, it doesn't have any employer matching, its index funds have ridiculous MERs, and I don't believe I will stay at the company much longer (or that it will stay afloat much longer  ). Given that information, I'm in no rush to start contributing to the 401k...
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Sep 18, 2020 21:16
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Jan posted:Does the limit on Traditional IRA tax deductions when having an employer 401k apply only if you actually use the 401k, or if such a 401k exists at all? I maxed out my Traditional IRA contribution for 2020 earlier this year, before my employer had a 401k. They just rolled out the 401k, it doesn't have any employer matching, its index funds have ridiculous MERs, and I don't believe I will stay at the company much longer (or that it will stay afloat much longer IRS says here it's if "any contributions or forfeitures were allocated to your [401k] account for the plan year ending with or within the tax year", so I presume it should only matter if you actually contribute to the plan. No employer matching should mean they don't dump anything in themselves, and I don't know that most companies can compel you to participate in their plans anyway (and why bother if they won't match?). In any event, worst case it just affects how much you can write off as a deduction in the year of contribution, not how much you can contribute per se.
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Sep 19, 2020 00:01
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I mailed in a couple of amendments around a month ago. Checking the status of my amendment gives me an error when I put in my details (SSN, DOB, ZIP) saying the information doesn't match the IRS' records even though everything matches what I put in my last return. Out of curiosity I tried to log in to my IRS account and it asked me to revalidate my info, and when it asked for my mailing address it again claimed the information wasn't a match. I'm not very concerned but this is a pain in the rear end. Am I stuck having to call the IRS and trying to get this sorted out?
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Sep 19, 2020 21:06
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Courtesy of the comic strips thread:
Discendo Vox fucked around with this message at 06:49 on Sep 21, 2020 |
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Sep 21, 2020 06:47
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Ur Getting Fatter posted:I mailed in a couple of amendments around a month ago. Generally if the amended return system is not returning any information it probably means the amended returns haven't started processing yet. Unfortunately that's not unusual right now as the processing centers are still catching up with the backlog from the shutdown and even under the best of circumstances it's at least 3 weeks from the date you sent it in for it to even show up as being received. As far as the account issue, the system usually looks at the address exactly as it was on the last processed tax return so if there were any changes, even minor ones such as changing the abbreviation of street from st to str that could throw things off. And every once in a while I've seen cases where I verified the taxpayer was inputting the exact correct information which had working previously and the system still wouldn't accept it now for reasons unknown to God or man. So in that case I'd suggest double-checking your most recent return first. You can call the IRS if that doesn't get you anywhere. The standard 1-800-829-1040 line is open M-F 7AM-7PM, and usually calling early morning or late evening is the best way to get through. It normally takes up to 16 weeks to process an amended return so I'd suggest allowing that timeframe before calling - most live assistors won't even go into the account until the normal processing timeframe has passed, thought they might help you with the account access issue at least as far as possibly seeing what account info you're putting in that is not matching on our side.
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Sep 21, 2020 19:44
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If you have a fairly boring situation married fightly join w/ a single income W2, with RSUs, own a home but nothing else, is there ever much need to hire an accountant? Due to timing on RSU vesting, unless there is a large material change in the price of our stocks in 2021, I'm looking at making something around 700k at current stock prices, but it's all W2 income from salary and RSU vests. I don't expect to make this much in 2022+ since it's primarily just a timing related thing (conceptually a large portion of that money is part of my "year 1" income, but it will land right at the start of 2021, and then it immediately switches to quarterly vests). I've always just done my taxes with Turbotax, but this is significantly higher income than I've had in the past, so I don't know if there's anything that would make it prudent to hire some sort of professional to do my taxes for that one year.
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Sep 21, 2020 19:57
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Does the IRS have any information on how big the backlog is for mailed in returns? I sent my return in by mail back in March, the IRS did cash my check, but my IRS online account still says no 2019 return has been received.
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Sep 22, 2020 17:30
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Peyote Panda posted:Generally if the amended return system is not returning any information it probably means the amended returns haven't started processing yet. Unfortunately that's not unusual right now as the processing centers are still catching up with the backlog from the shutdown and even under the best of circumstances it's at least 3 weeks from the date you sent it in for it to even show up as being received. Thanks a million, this was pretty much my feeling but it's nice to get some validation from someone with more experience. I don't have any rush to access my IRS accounts so I'll look back into it at the end of the year and hopefully it'll have sorted itself out by then and if not I'll call the IRS then.
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Sep 22, 2020 17:40
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freezepops posted:Does the IRS have any information on how big the backlog is for mailed in returns? I sent my return in by mail back in March, the IRS did cash my check, but my IRS online account still says no 2019 return has been received. There's definitely still a backlog, but if you sent it in in March and still don't have confirmation, I'd call about it. The hotline might not be able to give you a firm timeline, but they'll probably be able to clarify if there's an issue with your return in particular, or just a systemic delay.
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Sep 23, 2020 06:06
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Antivehicular posted:There's definitely still a backlog, but if you sent it in in March and still don't have confirmation, I'd call about it. The hotline might not be able to give you a firm timeline, but they'll probably be able to clarify if there's an issue with your return in particular, or just a systemic delay. I will say for anybody doing ITIN applications they are SO backed up at the moment it's not even funny, so don't expect any sort of quick processing of them or any associated returns (even after ITIN is issued seems like significant delay to the actual refund payment a lot of times). Also even e-file returns are seeing significant delays, though at least there you don't have the question of whether the return got there and generally "Where's My Refund" will at least list them as processing instead of "can't find any record".
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Sep 23, 2020 23:18
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lol, just learned that my accountant accidentally overpaid my state taxes last year by $15k. What the loving point is an accountant if they gently caress up that much. This is my second accountant - my first turned out to have simply not filed returns for two years for a friend of mine, so I fired that one.
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Sep 30, 2020 16:49
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gvibes posted:lol, just learned that my accountant accidentally overpaid my state taxes last year by $15k.
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Sep 30, 2020 17:40
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Josh Lyman posted:Where are you finding these people so we can avoid them?
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Sep 30, 2020 18:05
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gvibes posted:Recommendations of friends/co-workers who used them. Stop hiring bad accountants
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Oct 1, 2020 06:03
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A basic rule of thumb is to avoid accountancies that promise to do unheard of complex things with your taxes, or who promise to minimize your taxes. And never ever accept an accountant who wants a slice of your refund. It's illegal without jumping through some specific hoops.
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Oct 1, 2020 09:00
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Discendo Vox posted:A basic rule of thumb is to avoid accountancies that promise to do unheard of complex things with your taxes, or who promise to minimize your taxes. One clarification on the slice of refund thing, "paying for the return out of the refund" is a thing I know H&R Block and a bunch of other people do, but they have the aforementioned hoops (basically a temporary bank account set up in your name, refund goes there, cost gets taken out, drop the rest in your normal direct deposit account) complete with a LOT of legal paperwork for it and banking laws to account for. They should drat well tell you the exact figures though (and no percentage crap either, straight "this is what we're charging for and why"), and in any event they charge extra for that service so if you can just pay for it right then you're better off. Also from people I've had to clean up after, avoid people casual about deadlines like that first accountant mentioned (under normal circumstances anyway, seems like every drat preparer and tax agency is having issues this year  ).
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Oct 3, 2020 02:22
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That's an absolutely correct clarification, thanks MadDogMike
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Oct 3, 2020 05:23
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MadDogMike posted:One clarification on the slice of refund thing, "paying for the return out of the refund" is a thing I know H&R Block and a bunch of other people do, but they have the aforementioned hoops (basically a temporary bank account set up in your name, refund goes there, cost gets taken out, drop the rest in your normal direct deposit account) complete with a LOT of legal paperwork for it and banking laws to account for. They should drat well tell you the exact figures though (and no percentage crap either, straight "this is what we're charging for and why"), and in any event they charge extra for that service so if you can just pay for it right then you're better off. Also from people I've had to clean up after, avoid people casual about deadlines like that first accountant mentioned (under normal circumstances anyway, seems like every drat preparer and tax agency is having issues this year Well, part of that is because refunds CAN ONLY GO IN A BANK ACCOUNT WITH YOUR NAME ON IT, seriously, don't try and have it deposited in your boyfriend's bank account or your dad's bank account.
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Oct 4, 2020 19:18
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sullat posted:Well, part of that is because refunds CAN ONLY GO IN A BANK ACCOUNT WITH YOUR NAME ON IT, seriously, don't try and have it deposited in your boyfriend's bank account or your dad's bank account. I've had tons of clients have their kids refunds go into their accounts or had their refunds go into their small business accounts with no issues.
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Oct 4, 2020 20:33
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Epi Lepi posted:I've had tons of clients have their kids refunds go into their accounts or had their refunds go into their small business accounts with no issues. 1040 Instructions posted:Account must be in your name. Don’t request a deposit of your refund to an account that isn't in your name, such as your tax return preparer’s account. Although you may owe your tax return preparer a fee for preparing your return, don’t have any part of your refund deposited into the preparer's account to pay the fee. I mean, if it's a shared account or if their name is attached to the business account, I guess it might be OK, but if your name isn't on the account at all, it's getting rejected and bouncing around a couple of opaque computer systems for a couple of months.
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Oct 4, 2020 22:19
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Discendo Vox posted:A basic rule of thumb is to avoid accountancies that promise to do unheard of complex things with your taxes, or who promise to minimize your taxes.
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Oct 5, 2020 03:45
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sullat posted:I mean, if it's a shared account or if their name is attached to the business account, I guess it might be OK, but if your name isn't on the account at all, it's getting rejected and bouncing around a couple of opaque computer systems for a couple of months. Shared accounts work or married people would probably have issues I expect, business accounts are either just accounts under the owner's (i.e. taxpayer's) name set aside for the business or they can probably go by the EIN for the business that's reported in the tax return. Good news is in theory if they can't manage direct deposit they do default to just mailing you a check at the address on the return, though God help you if you moved without a change of address form. gvibes posted:I didn't do any of this. I take only mortgage interest and charitable donation deductions (and not, like, conservation easements). Nobody promised me poo poo! And my accountants delivered on their promises. Think we're mostly bringing these up because "my accountant screwed up, how do I find a good one?" is a perennial question around here and these are some warning signs we're familiar with. God knows I notice certain themes to the mistakes I wind up cleaning up during this time of year when my main job becomes "deal with the IRS/state tax letter", though this year the theme seems to be "nobody got that thing you sent them" sadly. Admittedly at this point I more hope if I can get through to the IRS the poor bastard on the other end isn't getting infected dealing with this crap, so I'm a trifle more understanding of issues (though the clients sure aren't). Wish I could give a foolproof answer for figuring out if your preparer is good at their job, but in my experience even the brilliant 20+ year vets have some errors that slip through, especially since they have hundreds of clients so even a sub 1% error rate can leave quite a bit of work. Apart from avoiding the ones that have obvious bad behaviors there's no perfect trick to finding the good one; hell, I certainly think I'm good at my job but could be fooling myself too if we're being honest. Though I do wind up with quite a few clients because they trust the guy that fixed the problem more than the last guy, so I suppose that's some evidence for me having skill  .
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Oct 7, 2020 08:54
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 New tax person worked great. He did 2019 and reviewed 2018. Seems my old guy managed to accidentally do 2018 correctly-enough probably due to having to enter two W-2C's (lol, work was very apologetic and was on top of telling people they were wrong within 24hrs of the originals coming out.) in 2018 He forgot to deduct my transaction costs from my gains so I am owed like  . 2019 I managed to estimate it close enough to get a $115 refund from the feds and $2500 from the state.Here is my foolproof method: The two tax people I have had luck with my moderately complicated taxes were chill dudes in linen shirts and shorts. The guy who screwed them up was a stuffy polo shirt / slacks guy who was hard to hold a conversation with. I never should have taken the advice from my dad, instead the people I know with similarly complicated taxes.
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Oct 7, 2020 15:08
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H110Hawk posted:Here is my foolproof method: The two tax people I have had luck with my moderately complicated taxes were chill dudes in linen shirts and shorts. The guy who screwed them up was a stuffy polo shirt / slacks guy who was hard to hold a conversation with. I never should have taken the advice from my dad, instead the people I know with similarly complicated taxes. Hmm, not sure where that puts me wearing a shirt and tie every day . Though the tie I can deal with thanks to Catholic high school, it's the good shoes that bother me (SO much back pain after a 12+ hour day during the season).
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Oct 9, 2020 02:37
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MadDogMike posted:Hmm, not sure where that puts me wearing a shirt and tie every day Shifty and not to be trusted.  Also don't kill your feet, buy nice shoes!
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Oct 9, 2020 18:14
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H110Hawk posted:Shifty and not to be trusted. Hmm, fair. quote:Also don't kill your feet, buy nice shoes! My feet are a pain to buy decent sneakers for, dress shoes where the arch support I need doesn't break down super fast over my heavy use are kind of a lost cause really. Though some are better than others at least, and I've gotten decent at finding them. I also suppose part of the problem is I tend to pace when I'm thinking too.
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Oct 10, 2020 02:43
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MadDogMike posted:Hmm, fair. As someone with ridiculous feet I feel this pain. As someone with permanent back problems from years of compounding issues including footwear please get yourself some good shoes. Zappos can be a godsend here.
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Oct 10, 2020 02:57
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Getting a custom insole slip in thing was the best thing I ever did for my feet.
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Oct 10, 2020 17:26
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have what is hopefully a simple question that I cannot get a simple answer to and hopefully someone here can help (and that this is the right forum). I have a poor prognosis medical condition and am on SSDI now and would like to make early withdrawals from my Roth IRA for expenses. From my own research, I should be able to make qualified withdrawals and avoid it being taxable along with the 10 percent early withdrawal penalty for my disability as long as my earliest contributions were 5 years ago. My associated 1099R would then have box 7 indicating disability withdrawal. I've looked it up online, talked to two financial advisors and my banking institute and the only thing they can tell me is that this is true, but not HOW to do it. Do I just make the withdrawal, and all that gets figured out and handled when I file my taxes? Or do I need to do make sure qualified determination is made when I withdraw?
PageMaster fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Oct 12, 2020 |
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Oct 12, 2020 17:50
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PageMaster posted:have what is hopefully a simple question that I cannot get a simple answer to and hopefully someone here can help (and that this is the right forum). I have a poor prognosis medical condition and am on SSDI now and would like to make early withdrawals from my Roth IRA for expenses. From my own research, I should be able to make qualified withdrawals and avoid it being taxable along with the 10 percent early withdrawal penalty for my disability as long as my earliest contributions were 5 years ago. My associated 1099R would then have box 7 indicating disability withdrawal. I've looked it up online, talked to two financial advisors and my banking institute and the only thing they can tell me is that this is true, but not HOW to do it. Do I just make the withdrawal, and all that gets figured out and handled when I file my taxes? Or do I need to do make sure qualified determination is made when I withdraw? I believe it's supposed to be reported by the bank/investment agency as part of the Roth distribution, you get a 1099-R with either code Q or code T in box 7 and no taxable amount in box 2. If they use T, you may need to put in some kind of note in the return saying you started the Roth at/past the 5 year window you mentioned, but there's no specific tax form I'm aware of to report it, and I think most tax software will just ask you " was this Roth started at least five years ago?" and leave it out of taxable income appropriately.
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Oct 12, 2020 23:44
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MadDogMike posted:I believe it's supposed to be reported by the bank/investment agency as part of the Roth distribution, you get a 1099-R with either code Q or code T in box 7 and no taxable amount in box 2. If they use T, you may need to put in some kind of note in the return saying you started the Roth at/past the 5 year window you mentioned, but there's no specific tax form I'm aware of to report it, and I think most tax software will just ask you " was this Roth started at least five years ago?" and leave it out of taxable income appropriately. Thanks. I guess my question is: is it up to the bank/investment org to mark the distributions as qualified based on disabilities, or is that out of their hands and up to the IRS to decide on my returns?
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Oct 13, 2020 01:55
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PageMaster posted:Thanks. I guess my question is: is it up to the bank/investment org to mark the distributions as qualified based on disabilities, or is that out of their hands and up to the IRS to decide on my returns? When you make the distribution the bank is supposed to check what your reasoning is and produce the correct 1099-R.
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Oct 13, 2020 03:09
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Epi Lepi posted:When you make the distribution the bank is supposed to check what your reasoning is and produce the correct 1099-R. Yeah, honestly it's on them to do it, and admittedly if they screw up you get the IRS letter which sucks, but at least it should be easy to deal with if something happens (the fact you're on SSDI makes the disability pretty clear, so if you're paranoid just have some evidence you started the thing more than five years ago around and you're fine).
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Oct 13, 2020 08:15
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MadDogMike posted:Yeah, honestly it's on them to do it, and admittedly if they screw up you get the IRS letter which sucks, but at least it should be easy to deal with if something happens (the fact you're on SSDI makes the disability pretty clear, so if you're paranoid just have some evidence you started the thing more than five years ago around and you're fine). Thanks all. Unfortunately, nether organization has a way to withdraw and mark a reason at the same time so it looks like I'll just need a CPA to take care of all this after the fact when we file.
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Oct 13, 2020 23:25
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 14:57 |
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MadDogMike posted:I will say for anybody doing ITIN applications they are SO backed up at the moment it's not even funny, so don't expect any sort of quick processing of them or any associated returns (even after ITIN is issued seems like significant delay to the actual refund payment a lot of times). Also even e-file returns are seeing significant delays, though at least there you don't have the question of whether the return got there and generally "Where's My Refund" will at least list them as processing instead of "can't find any record". Yeah, ITIN for my kid took 135 days, then it took 6 weeks for Where's My Refund to light up and state they received my filing and now it's been three weeks waiting them to process monays while sometimes Where's My Refund says it cant find a record and sometimes goes back to stating that it was received 
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Oct 17, 2020 23:47
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