Octopus Overlords

Posted: **Thu Feb 24, 2022 7:11 am**

I had no trouble with Turbotax this year. Finished my taxes off on Tuesday. Getting a smaller refund than in past years, but it wasn't unexpected. I'm just happy to have it done.

Posted: **Sat Feb 26, 2022 8:36 pm**

Mine are done, but I screwed up by underestimating my withholding and will have to cough up 10k total between state and fed. I would never have done this purposely, but it actually does not work out so bad, hear me out.

I would have had to pay the taxes regardless, but by not withholding enough from my retirement account, my stock investments continued to earn for me for 4-5 months instead of handing it to the government. Plus the payment is not due until April 15, so another month and a half of earnings. This is the first time I have had to pay taxes in over 20 years, but now I better understand the drill. No penalty from the fed, but $110 penalty to the state.

Big wow, that's like 4 pizzas. I earn way more that that in one month day.

Posted: **Sun Feb 27, 2022 12:00 am**

Took only 4 days to get my fed tax refund this year. After they kept saying expect delays and got it quicker than ever.

Posted: **Sun Feb 27, 2022 2:20 am**

stessier wrote: Sat Feb 19, 2022 11:38 am Did my taxes - annoyingly had to go up to TurboTax Premiere because a stock I own spun off a company and the partial share was sold. I'm pretty sure without that I could have filed for free. Drat.

The Child Tax Credit prepayments lowered my expected return by about $2000. I set aside all the prepayments, so not a big deal, but I can see those who didn't understand what was happening being a wee bit miffed.

ya before the child credit i was getting a nice return. I, like you, also put it aside, so no big loss, but I was already thinking what I'd used that money for

We're essentially getting a little bit of the same as last year. I need to go through the process again just to make sure it's ready. I usually wait a bit and send it, just in case something changes in the program.

Posted: **Tue Mar 01, 2022 4:53 pm**

I'm scared of doing taxes this year. The child tax credit has got me twisted.

I have a child, and every year my ex and I alternate who claims.
My spouse has a child, every year she and her ex alternate who claims.

So for my taxes, I am claiming one child every year, but it alternates while specific child it is.

Well, I got money for the child I clamed last year, At least thats what I presume. I am claming a different child this year, but children are the same amount, so My personnel taxes should be the same, BUT, one of the Ex got tax money for a child they won't claim, and the other ex is going to claim a child they didn't get money for, and I got to figure out how that needs to work.

Posted: **Tue Mar 01, 2022 5:03 pm**

I mailed our package off the the CPA today, so now it's just wait-and-see. We typically find out at the last minute that we owe a big payment, and I expect this year to be no different.

Posted: **Tue Mar 01, 2022 5:11 pm**

Jaymon wrote:I'm scared of doing taxes this year. The child tax credit has got me twisted.

I have a child, and every year my ex and I alternate who claims.
My spouse has a child, every year she and her ex alternate who claims.

So for my taxes, I am claiming one child every year, but it alternates while specific child it is.

Well, I got money for the child I clamed last year, At least thats what I presume. I am claming a different child this year, but children are the same amount, so My personnel taxes should be the same, BUT, one of the Ex got tax money for a child they won't claim, and the other ex is going to claim a child they didn't get money for, and I got to figure out how that needs to work.

I'm thankful every year that I have twin step kids and fully shared custody. We each claim one kid and keep it the same every year...makes it easy!

Posted: **Tue Mar 01, 2022 7:15 pm**

I just got the last of my paperwork so this should be tax weekend.

stessier wrote: Sat Feb 19, 2022 11:38 am Did my taxes - annoyingly had to go up to TurboTax Premiere because a stock I own spun off a company and the partial share was sold. I'm pretty sure without that I could have filed for free. Drat.

This should be the last year I have to do premium. I finally unloaded a stock for which I had to fill out Schedule K every year.

I'm a bit worried how gains and losses will play out. I was a very active trader in 2021 which was a first for me. TD Ameritrade make it look like my gains will be modest but we'll see how it actually reports. Also my dividend income hit a level that is meaningful and I fear that's going to start making an impact.

Posted: **Wed Mar 02, 2022 3:07 pm**

Kraken wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 5:03 pm I mailed our package off the the CPA today, so now it's just wait-and-see. We typically find out at the last minute that we owe a big payment, and I expect this year to be no different.

We emailed ours to the CPA last month, she told us our day for the prelim would be Feb 21 and it was in my email first thing in the morning. There was one late form that just came in that day -- from a stock we sold for a pittance. It was originally purchased via ESPP 15-20 years ago, and was reduced to a fraction of it's purchased value...it reverse-split a few times and was maybe 1/10 worth what I paid.

When I got the final revision yesterday, I gave her the thumbs up to file, and got an auto-response saying if you were just sending documents now, you probably want to think about filing for an extension as she's booked up solid from now through dooms day.

Posted: **Mon Mar 21, 2022 4:38 pm**

Got the papers back from the tax guy, ~$10k return which is a good bit more than I expected. Interesting thing is they have us filing separately for some reason. He said it was a one time thing for 2021 that it just worked out that way, basically doubling our return. I think he just wanted us to pay him more.

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2022 3:35 pm**

We owe the feds $1,900, which is $900 more than I expected. That's mostly thanks to my company making a profit because two payments that were supposed to come in December (and be converted into paychecks) arrived in January instead. The revenue is booked when the invoice goes out, not when the money lands -- I probably already wrote about this. The rest is because Wife's teaching gig underwithholds federal taxes. Our effective federal tax rate was 9.9%.

This year I will try harder to avoid booking a profit. Kraken Enterprises retained its earnings, so it has enough cash on hand to pay its shareholders (me) enough to cover my tax bill.

But hey, we're getting $75 back from the state!

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2022 3:44 pm**

I looked a bit closer at my tax stuff and my wife's return is double what she actually paid in taxes. I have no idea how that is possible but I'll take it.

Posted: **Thu Mar 24, 2022 8:55 am**

I have a schedule K-3 to fill out and apparently the Fed just finished the form in PDF on the 20th but do not have anything in place for electronic submission to TT still isn't ready for me. It's kinda puppies. Thank pancake this is the last year I will have deal with a partnership based security much less one with foreign holdings. I lost a bunch of money for this enduring headache.

Posted: **Thu Mar 24, 2022 9:44 pm**

Starting on mine, and I am terrified. Terrified that Uncle Joe's cash will mean we owe this year for the first time...ever. ALSO, I was in the unenviable situation of having both a W2 job AND 1099, which is going to probably suck, tax-wise.

Posted: **Fri Mar 25, 2022 10:21 am**

%$@^# I was up until 2:30a last night working on taxes. I FOOLISHLY threw away my wife's letter from the IRS stating how much she was paid for the early child tax credit. I had been getting what seemed like tons of other, very similar looking letters from IRS after we got the Economic Impact Payments (one for me and one for wife, so that's what...9 letters, all sent separately), so I kind of dismissed the most important ones. At least I kept mine. And of course, those letters are basically equivalent of a 1098, 1099 or any other necessary and very important tax doc you need in order to complete your taxes. Grrr.

The process of finding the exact amounts they are asking for, online, with the IRS is un freaking believable.

I guess they have upgraded security, because this all happened last night, and I STILL can't get in:
1. I had a pre-existing IRS online account, but with the new system in place, I was forced to convert it to the new one
2. Converted it, and then it send me a link to my phone, which then prompted me to take a pic of front and back of license, and upload it. It scanned that, THEN it asked me to hold my phone up to my face super close and I felt like I was in a sci fi movie...it had a horizontal line moving up and down while the image of my very close face was extremely fuzzy...it was both freakish and cool at the same time.
3. But alas, it said it didn't work. Now I had to:
4. Upload two docs, original SS card and one other primary thing...and THAT didn't work (all this after much time waiting for the system to process these attempts, and it wasn't very quick)
5. FINALLY it said I needed to do a video chat with a specialist to get an account, which requires even more forms and proof, etc, and you have to wait in a virtual waiting room....my God.

At this point I'm just going to guess. All that shit is not worth whatever the credit or difference or almost being audited for getting it wrong, would be. Jesus.

The lesson, here, parents is: KEEP BOTH 'ADVANCE CHILD TAX CREDIT" letters!!

Posted: **Fri Mar 25, 2022 2:55 pm**

Carpet_pissr wrote: Fri Mar 25, 2022 10:21 am %$@^# I was up until 2:30a last night working on taxes. I FOOLISHLY threw away my wife's letter from the IRS stating how much she was paid for the early child tax credit. I had been getting what seemed like tons of other, very similar looking letters from IRS after we got the Economic Impact Payments (one for me and one for wife, so that's what...9 letters, all sent separately), so I kind of dismissed the most important ones. At least I kept mine. And of course, those letters are basically equivalent of a 1098, 1099 or any other necessary and very important tax doc you need in order to complete your taxes. Grrr.

The process of finding the exact amounts they are asking for, online, with the IRS is un freaking believable.

I guess they have upgraded security, because this all happened last night, and I STILL can't get in:
1. I had a pre-existing IRS online account, but with the new system in place, I was forced to convert it to the new one
2. Converted it, and then it send me a link to my phone, which then prompted me to take a pic of front and back of license, and upload it. It scanned that, THEN it asked me to hold my phone up to my face super close and I felt like I was in a sci fi movie...it had a horizontal line moving up and down while the image of my very close face was extremely fuzzy...it was both freakish and cool at the same time.
3. But alas, it said it didn't work. Now I had to:
4. Upload two docs, original SS card and one other primary thing...and THAT didn't work (all this after much time waiting for the system to process these attempts, and it wasn't very quick)
5. FINALLY it said I needed to do a video chat with a specialist to get an account, which requires even more forms and proof, etc, and you have to wait in a virtual waiting room....my God.

At this point I'm just going to guess. All that shit is not worth whatever the credit or difference or almost being audited for getting it wrong, would be. Jesus.

The lesson, here, parents is: KEEP BOTH 'ADVANCE CHILD TAX CREDIT" letters!!

Can't you just look bank in your bank account and look for the deposits from the Government? That's how I did it when I thought I didn't have the letters (found them right before I hit submit).

Posted: **Fri Mar 25, 2022 4:53 pm**

stessier wrote: Fri Mar 25, 2022 2:55 pm Can't you just look bank in your bank account and look for the deposits from the Government? That's how I did it when I thought I didn't have the letters (found them right before I hit submit).

That's what I did, because it was easier than walking upstairs to get the letters...

Taxes done as of yesterday. Painful this year, but only because last year was a fun one for the market.

Posted: **Fri Mar 25, 2022 9:00 pm**

stessier wrote: Fri Mar 25, 2022 2:55 pm
Can't you just look bank in your bank account and look for the deposits from the Government? That's how I did it when I thought I didn't have the letters (found them right before I hit submit).

That was my first thought, but "they" specifically recommended against that method (and now I can't remember why...it was 2am)

But it's what I am going to do. Would there be a reason that my wife's letter would show a different amount than mine? Should be the same, right? Because I have my letter.

Posted: **Sat Mar 26, 2022 12:38 pm**

Did mine this morning and came away mostly annoyed.

I’ve gotten back between $2k-4k for the past 10’ish years. This year, my total income was around 25% than last year (yay commission sales!) and last year I got a $2,500 refund. This year, I owe just over $500.

I didn’t change any deductions, everything stayed exactly the same. I just made significantly less but paid significantly more, apparently.

Posted: **Sat Mar 26, 2022 12:53 pm**

Did you get the child tax credit every month last spring and summer? I was scheduled to get back about $1100 dollars but because of the tax credits coming in advance, the feds only owe me $100 for 2021.

Posted: **Sat Mar 26, 2022 12:53 pm**

Taxes have been painful this year for market movement reasons as well. Mostly the CPA asking me for more information, etc. The only real "tax break" I got was the tax credit for an EV charger install. That ended up only balancing out my owed taxes. We can't seem to balance that right. My wife and I both deduct 0 *and* take extra money out of our checks but it never works out. That said we paid about 18% to the Feds (SALT!) and tallied up ~40% overall total tax load across all entities. That should be NJ's new motto - "It's like living in Europe but getting almost none of the perks!"

Posted: **Sat Mar 26, 2022 1:02 pm**

Smoove_B wrote: Sat Mar 26, 2022 12:53 pm Did you get the child tax credit every month last spring and summer? I was scheduled to get back about $1100 dollars but because of the tax credits coming in advance, the feds only owe me $100 for 2021.

Yep, that was entered.

Posted: **Sat Mar 26, 2022 3:09 pm**

Gah, I can't say that was a nightmare, but it took forever. Also not the worst return I've done, but definitely top three.

First time ever since I have filed taxes, that I owed ($30!) instead of was owed thousands (usually we get back between $5-$7K (federal and state combined) Got back about $2600 in state this year (normal).

Hopefully this will be the last time I have to file as self-employed (and as a bonus, ALSO as a W2 worker in the same year!). Sucked.

I assume we will not be getting advanced child tax credits again this year? I would rather just get it in one lump sum as before when doing taxes. Taxes are already too complicated, and that just made it slightly moreso IMO.

Posted: **Wed Mar 30, 2022 11:08 pm**

Just did my own. Actually made 18K last year, so I'm getting about 1600 back total. That would help surviving until my next job. Was able to use the free file as I only have 1 W2 to enter.

Posted: **Fri Apr 01, 2022 12:32 am**

Zaxxon wrote: Fri Mar 25, 2022 4:53 pm Taxes done as of yesterday. Painful this year, but only because last year was a fun one for the market.

That is my response also. Taxes are done and I fully understand that having a large tax bill generally means you earned money but our non-retirement savings really kicked out some taxable gains last year!

Actually the last two years have been really weird compared to previous years. One of my tasks this summer is to get a better handle on the old no load mutual funds that we put money into 30 years ago. They've been doing ok and it will be a big hit to move them but they seem to be poorly set up for tax purposes. I need to find out if a one year hit while I move them into an index fund is worth it.

Posted: **Fri Apr 01, 2022 10:02 am**

So the CPA picked up my stuff for this year last night. I am on his way home so he usually stops by to pick it up and then drop it off a day or two later. He is now thinking retirement. The idea of finding someone new is scary. He is an old friend who used to do my business return and has done my personal return for decades.

Posted: **Fri Apr 01, 2022 10:44 am**

Scuzz wrote: Fri Apr 01, 2022 10:02 am So the CPA picked up my stuff for this year last night. I am on his way home so he usually stops by to pick it up and then drop it off a day or two later. He is now thinking retirement. The idea of finding someone new is scary. He is an old friend who used to do my business return and has done my personal return for decades.

We've used the same tax guy for more than 20 years. He is also retiring, but both of his kids are CPAs and have taken over his business. They've worked with him for the past few years and now they are taking the lead.

Posted: **Sun Apr 10, 2022 7:00 pm**

May I never have to do Turbo Tax Premier and file a K-1 again! Had to wait this long just to get the paperwork.

Posted: **Mon Apr 11, 2022 7:45 pm**

So we got a little back from the state, pay a little to the feds and pay the CPA and end up $20 down. That is a good year for us.

Posted: **Mon Apr 11, 2022 8:07 pm**

We owed a lot on the federal and the state seems to have lost track of one of our quarterly payments so they claim we own them too.

My wife will fight the state battle and we have the records so it should sort itself out. The federal one is a bigger deal. Over the past two years our taxable gains on mutual funds have been huge (at least compared to the couple of years prior to that). So now I get to figure out if it is simply the result of great returns or whether it is a sign that we need to rejigger all of our non-retirement accounts into something more tax friendly. Which would mean dealing with a handful of mutual funds that we've owned since the late 80s when we turned a grad student lifestyle with a real person's job into a nice start in investing.

Posted: **Fri Apr 15, 2022 6:42 pm**

Effective Tax Rate
2021 - 9.76%
2020 - 9.87%
2019 - 10.31%
2018 - 11.31%
2017 - 10.16%
2016 - 10.33%
2015 - 11.65%
2014 - 11.03%
2013 - 13.47%
2012 - 15.81%
2011 - 13.10%
2010 - 12.85%
2009 - 12.87%
2008 - 12.35%
2007 - 9.82%
2006 - 9.42%
2005 - 10.66%

Posted: **Fri Apr 15, 2022 8:04 pm**

2021 - 14.26%

Posted: **Fri Apr 15, 2022 8:40 pm**

Uncle Sam hates single people.

Posted: **Fri Apr 15, 2022 10:20 pm**

Isgrimnur wrote: Fri Apr 15, 2022 8:40 pm Uncle Sam hates single people, married people without kids, or (post-2017) people in high-tax states.

Updated. I haven't seen a rate lower than 18% since 2018. It was around 14-15% typically before then. My total tax burden between State, Local, Federal, and other payroll taxes is close to 40% of our gross. It's like living in some countries in Europe without the perks. If I added in medical premiums/out of pocket costs we're probably pushing 45%.

Posted: **Sat Apr 16, 2022 12:13 am**

malchior wrote: Fri Apr 15, 2022 10:20 pm
Isgrimnur wrote: Fri Apr 15, 2022 8:40 pm Uncle Sam hates single people, married people without kids, or (post-2017) people in high-tax states.
Updated. I haven't seen a rate lower than 18% since 2018. It was around 14-15% typically before then. My total tax burden between State, Local, Federal, and other payroll taxes is close to 40% of our gross. It's like living in some countries in Europe without the perks. If I added in medical premiums/out of pocket costs we're probably pushing 45%.

As DINKs in a fairly high-tax state, we typically pay around 10% federal income tax on our modest middle-class income. But sure, if you add all income taxes as well as property and sales taxes we're probably paying close to 50%.

DINK = dual income, no kids.

Posted: **Sat Apr 16, 2022 2:06 am**

Finished yesterday. This may be the last year I do this myself. Not sure I'm doing this right. I ended up making a little less income last year than the year prior (we had unloaded some options from my wife's prior job), but ended up owing more in taxes. Result is $30K owed to the Feds and a $350 penalty as the cherry on top.

On the bright side, for whatever reason, OR is paying money back to all tax payers this year (not sure that makes a lot of sense given some of the problems facing this state), so, with the "kicker" payment, we're getting a $3K refund from OR.

Still, I think I may need to bite the bullet and turn this over to a professional.

Posted: **Sat Apr 16, 2022 11:34 am**

Kurth wrote: Sat Apr 16, 2022 2:06 am On the bright side, for whatever reason, OR is paying money back to all tax payers this year (not sure that makes a lot of sense given some of the problems facing this state), so, with the "kicker" payment, we're getting a $3K refund from OR.

They don't have a choice - it kicks in any time revenues exceed the forecast by 2% or more. It's dumb.

I did our taxes last weekend. My wife got a healthy bonus last year and doesn't withhold enough so we got about $12k back which will probably go to remodel the bathroom.

Posted: **Sat Apr 16, 2022 1:03 pm**

I filed my taxes early this year (April 13). As usual we owed a ton to the feds (plus a small penalty) and a fair amount to NJ as well.

This is the first year that my oldest child is not listed as a dependent on my taxes. That feels weird. Still two more in college now.

Posted: **Sat Apr 16, 2022 2:38 pm**

We somehow escaped essentially breaking even, getting back maybe $100 from federal. This was a relief as we thought for sure we would owe this year due to all the stimulus checks and whatnot.

Posted: **Sun Apr 17, 2022 11:14 pm**

Exodor wrote: Sat Apr 16, 2022 11:34 am
Kurth wrote: Sat Apr 16, 2022 2:06 am On the bright side, for whatever reason, OR is paying money back to all tax payers this year (not sure that makes a lot of sense given some of the problems facing this state), so, with the "kicker" payment, we're getting a $3K refund from OR.
They don't have a choice - it kicks in any time revenues exceed the forecast by 2% or more. It's dumb.

I did our taxes last weekend. My wife got a healthy bonus last year and doesn't withhold enough so we got about $12k back which will probably go to remodel the bathroom.

California was giving money back to. The state constitution requires the state to return revenues if they exceed a certain amount.

Octopus Overlords

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