Friday, February 5, 2016

Taxes

It's always great news when I get this e-mail message!


Great news, Linda I Reeder!

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Your federal tax return was accepted by the IRS.

I began the tax filing process on Wednesday, using Turbo Tax, linked to my online banking with the credit union. This is my third year of filing on line.

Always before that I filed using the standard paper forms, you know, the ones the IRS doesn't send you any more. Since we have a simple life with no debt anymore, that means there is no point in itemizing deductions. The standard deduction works best for us. That simplifies the filing process.

However, income reporting has become more complex. Tom reached the age, 70.5, where he had to start taking Required Minimum Distributions (RMD's) from his IRA's several years ago, so I had that figured out. Then this year I reached the magic age and had to report the RMD's from two IRA accounts.  Except, in the process of filing, just as I was about to tap the final "Send", I realized I didn't have a Form 1099-R from one of the accounts and hadn't reported it. Whoa. Put the breaks on. 

Too late in the day to call on Wednesday, I put the process on hold and waited until Thursday morning to call the number provided for the financial service. I was told the forms had been sent out. Well, I told the nice person, that doesn't help me since I don't have it and I want to complete the filing. 

I found out I could access my account online and get the 1099-R that way, but I needed to set up an online account first.  Well, that got messy, what with having to wait for an email verification code, my newly registered user name getting screwed up, having to make another phone call, finding the problem and starting all over again. 

Success! I got access, got my form, and managed to get back into my TurboTax process, go backwards and find the place to insert the additional RMD information. By now I was feeling a bit shaky about the whole process, but I carefully reviewed everything, finalized the forms and hit the "Send" button.

Then I waited, and waited. Finally Thursday evening I got the e-mail message I was waiting for.  Hallelujah!    

Now my refund can come, and I can apply it to my property tax bill. :-/

At least with that one all I have to do is send a check. 









15 comments:

  1. Well good for you. Isn't it neat to do almost everything on line. I sometimes miss the person communication but then again when you just want it over with---go online.
    I haven't filed yet---maybe I won't.
    MB

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  2. I am glad it works for you! We have too complicated of a return to do it ourselves, wish we could. I am still waiting for W2's. I don't do online banking either, I send checks...old fashioned I guess:)

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  3. Mine is so easy that we just take it to AARP volunteers and ten minutes later it's file. We do have to pay a little, but not much. Congratulations on getting yours done so easily! :-)

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  4. Bob has always seen about taxes at our house. Our son did our taxes on Turbo Tax a couple of years but we had some complicating factors that he wasn't comfortable with so he recommended we go to a tax person. That worked out fine until last year when Bob was too sick to think straight and missed a 1099, ouch. I was the one that had to straighten out the situation and I knew absolutely nothing. It was a good learning experience. We have an appointment with the tax person later this month. You can bet I'll be there front and center this year.

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  5. You lost me in the first sentence but congratulations on your success.

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  6. It's that time again...I like getting my forms online-found out I made a whopping $82 selling e-books on Amazon.com last year! I'll never get rich at this rate. Hubby does the taxes online and we take a standard deduction too-sure simplifies things!

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  7. Awesome! It's great that you persist in doing your own taxes. It's not that hard. It's just a lot of work. Ours is due April 30 and we have very few information slips at this time.

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  8. Sure don't envy you. So nice to know what I am not missing being old and poor. Haven't had to file income tax in 9 years. Ahhhh.

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  9. I have an accountant to guide me through this process. Because Mike had his own business he always had the accountant do the taxes.

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  10. The whole business sounds complicated and very time consuming. But... you did it and it worked.

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  11. This is really way too complicated for me, I'm sorry to say. Art takes care of our taxes and sends it to an accountant.

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  12. Well I feel relieved and happy for you. :) The IRS and taxes are way too complicated for me. Thankfully, Poppy takes care of all that.

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  13. Hubby uses Turbo Tax for us and our daughter. He doesn't have any problems with it, so I never worry about it.

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  14. You are way ahead of us. My hubby does the taxes. He hasn't even started. I keep thinking I should take over since I once worked for the IRS. That being said, I really don't want the job of doing our taxes. I would prefer we hire someone, but Jim does it doing Turbo Tax.

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  15. Good for you, Linda! Tom, being an accountant, always does our taxes. It's been nearly 30 years since I did taxes and was surprised when the paper forms stopped coming in the mail.

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