Have you started taxes yet?

[longboard55]

This happened to me too. Stinks.

Its not really a child credit, because they took away exemptions, churches and people with big mortgages/taxes are big losers here

 

[siren0119]

sorry did come out right, meant to say the restaurant is in a lot of trouble

Aha yes - I can pretty much guarantee that whoever is at the top of the pecking order for the company is going to be in a world of hurt for the way the business was conducted at the end. I'm just thankful hubby got out and works for a company that does business properly now.

 

[siren0119]

Its not really a child credit, because they took away exemptions, churches and people with big mortgages/taxes are big losers here

Yup - the benefits all went to the people who have large net worth but not a lot tied up in loans/mortgages/small business expenses.

 

[lifesavacation]

I need to stop reading this thread. You guys are freaking me out over how much I’m going to have to pay this year.

 

[lovemygoofy]

I have gone through and started over twice now and we still owe this year. My paycheck did not increase last year and I didn't change the exemptions. My husband's did not change and he didn't change his exemptions either. This was our first year of reduced income of just my salary and his retirement check. We owe federal $600. I already changed my W4 to take additional income out every pay period to try to get to 0 for next year.

 

[AlohaNow]

Tomorrow, I start doing taxes as a volunteer in the VITA program - first year I've signed up to do that.

I did VITA for three years! Absolutely loved it. We worked on the second floor lanai of a cafe at the edge of Waikiki, maybe that's why I loved it so much. No, it was the sincere thanks that we received for helping folks out. It was far more satisfying than my paid work has ever been. I hope you enjoy the experience!

I am just waiting on one last investment document to finalize my numbers. As the SALT limit doesn't come into play for us, we will be just fine. But we have many friends in places like Bergen County, NJ and Fairfield County, CT who are really hurting over the changes. Our property taxes, etc. here in Colorado are next to nothing.

 

[North of Mouse]

E filed just over a week ago, and our refund is already deposited in our bank account. Usually make sure we have enough deducted that we wouldn't owe, or receive much refund, but with the tax changes, it hit us just right that we received a sizable refund. Not sure how, as our income is basically fixed (retired) but not complaining.

E filing and direct deposit is definitely the way to go.

 

[mrodgers]

I calculated it. Made $1000 more for 2018 and paid $988 less in taxes. But I was wondering where this $24,000 standard deduction was ($12,000 single.) On the 2018 form I downloaded, it listed standard deduction at $6350. So it should be much less taxes paid yet, increased refund.

 

[low-key]

im going Thursday, I hate doing this and I have to go down to Canton, but I got a real shyster who does me right

 

[disneychrista]

I calculated it. Made $1000 more for 2018 and paid $988 less in taxes. But I was wondering where this $24,000 standard deduction was ($12,000 single.) On the 2018 form I downloaded, it listed standard deduction at $6350. So it should be much less taxes paid yet, increased refund.

Sounds like you are looking at a 2017 1040 not the 2018 1040

 

[mefordis]

I haven't started ours yet, but I'm confused. When the tax changes went into place I kept hearing that people were supposed to be get MORE back, not less. But so many of you are getting less and it sounds like you were expecting that to happen.

(But maybe I'm not remembering it right.)

Is it more a matter of whether the Family is low income, middle income, or upper income?

I can only speak for my situation but we paid about $5200 less in taxes than the previous year. It was realized in our paychecks. So, no refund and we paid in about $500 but our checks were bigger due to less withholding. We are also in NJ where we can no longer claim all of our property taxes (up to 10k only).

 

[wvjules]

I'm a little concerned. My return was accepted on 1/28 but my Where's my Refund status still has it as "received" and hasn't moved to "refund approved" yet. It's been a week. It's pretty standard. 2 W-2 and a 1099-R. Not itemized, no income credits, heck I don't even qualify for the student loan interest rate reduction anymore. I wonder what the hold up is.

 

[runwad]

I'm a little concerned. My return was accepted on 1/28 but my Where's my Refund status still has it as "received" and hasn't moved to "refund approved" yet. It's been a week. It's pretty standard. 2 W-2 and a 1099-R. Not itemized, no income credits, heck I don't even qualify for the student loan interest rate reduction anymore. I wonder what the hold up is.

We're dealing with the government here, come on

 

[NotUrsula]

DH did them Sunday. We lost a lot of deductions and will owe quite a bit; probably about $2K

 

[Floridaman999]

A quick review so far seems to indicate that we're going to pay a bunch more this year for sure. Not sure how I feel about that.

 

[J'aime Paris]

Finally made the appointment with our CPA. It's a start...

 

[Skellingtonj]

I'm a little concerned. My return was accepted on 1/28 but my Where's my Refund status still has it as "received" and hasn't moved to "refund approved" yet. It's been a week. It's pretty standard. 2 W-2 and a 1099-R. Not itemized, no income credits, heck I don't even qualify for the student loan interest rate reduction anymore. I wonder what the hold up is.

Could be held up due to the shutdown. It’s only 6 business days so I’d give it another few days

 

[wgeo]

Yeah, I use Turbo Tax every year and we knew with the new tax changes that we would end up owing more and we do. But there is some confusion over some of the changes and apparently a lack of guidance from the IRS (at least that's what the CPA on the phone said when I talked to Turbo Tax for multiple hours last week). It's gotten to the point where we've had to send TT our tax forms and they are sending it up the chain quite a few people to figure out how to fix their system to apply to cases with our with the new tax laws. So now we wait. Either way though, as expected, we will be paying instead of getting a refund this year. bummer

Quoting myself here - we finally heard back from Turbo Tax after our specific case went way way up the chain of command. Turns out their final decision is they simply can't tell us what to do and they can't update their software because the government did not supply enough guidance on the new Qualified Business Income - so everyone with a case like ours has to either file improper taxes or just guess at what the government is intending the process to be and I quote "hope you can explain it well enough when you get audited". Sigh so I can either pay more than I should, or guess and pay a little bit less and hope I don't get audited because the government wasn't competent enough to explain the new tax laws.

 

[wvjules]

We're dealing with the government here, come on

Could be held up due to the shutdown. It’s only 6 business days so I’d give it another few days

I'd agree, but I've seen others get dates and some already gotten a refund. I don't need it for anything so I'm not worried. But I want it! lol

 

[lifesavacation]

Quoting myself here - we finally heard back from Turbo Tax after our specific case went way way up the chain of command. Turns out their final decision is they simply can't tell us what to do and they can't update their software because the government did not supply enough guidance on the new Qualified Business Income - so everyone with a case like ours has to either file improper taxes or just guess at what the government is intending the process to be and I quote "hope you can explain it well enough when you get audited". Sigh so I can either pay more than I should, or guess and pay a little bit less and hope I don't get audited because the government wasn't competent enough to explain the new tax laws.

I didn't realize how much of the tax code falls in the gray area until our business was audited. And after the audit when I was looking for a new accountant, the three I interviewed all made sure I knew they were legally just "advisers" and not to be held responsible for any misinterpretations or mistakes. Gotta love that.

We have 2 businesses so I've done as much reading as possible on the new 20% pass through deduction. There's a lot of vagueness to it. It's not just a simple 20% pass through deduction. Thankfully, both of our businesses clearly qualify so I'm crossing my fingers that our tax return doesn't turn into a complicated nightmare. It's really great that the IRS makes our taxes so vague and complicated that even the tax professionals aren't sure.