Octopus Overlords

Biyobi wrote:

Cortilian wrote:Self-employment tax is a bitch.

+1

It's the same as everyone else.

noxiousdog wrote:

Cortilian wrote:It's the self employment tax that's killing me. For example, if I had $50,000.00 in income that is from self-employment that is an additional $7,065.00 tax liability on TOP of the normal tax liability I have on the 50k to begin with. It's absolutely crushing if not planned for.

True, but it's only ~$3500 more than non-self employment tax, and those are just wages that the rest of us aren't being paid either.

You can look at it that way. You are the only person that I know that does that. When people talk about how much they make they don't say - "Oh I make 100k a year. But really since my employer pays a share of my taxes I really make $107k a year."

Cortilian wrote: You can look at it that way. You are the only person that I know that does that. When people talk about how much they make they don't say - "Oh I make 100k a year. But really since my employer pays a share of my taxes I really make $107k a year."

That's because I can do math

The simple version is the government gets roughly 15% of your gross income. The source is irrelevant.

Cortilian wrote:

noxiousdog wrote:

Cortilian wrote:It's the self employment tax that's killing me. For example, if I had $50,000.00 in income that is from self-employment that is an additional $7,065.00 tax liability on TOP of the normal tax liability I have on the 50k to begin with. It's absolutely crushing if not planned for.

True, but it's only ~$3500 more than non-self employment tax, and those are just wages that the rest of us aren't being paid either.

You can look at it that way. You are the only person that I know that does that. When people talk about how much they make they don't say - "Oh I make 100k a year. But really since my employer pays a share of my taxes I really make $107k a year."

Every year my employer sends me a benefits statement that says exactly that.

stessier wrote:

Cortilian wrote:

noxiousdog wrote:

Cortilian wrote:It's the self employment tax that's killing me. For example, if I had $50,000.00 in income that is from self-employment that is an additional $7,065.00 tax liability on TOP of the normal tax liability I have on the 50k to begin with. It's absolutely crushing if not planned for.

True, but it's only ~$3500 more than non-self employment tax, and those are just wages that the rest of us aren't being paid either.

You can look at it that way. You are the only person that I know that does that. When people talk about how much they make they don't say - "Oh I make 100k a year. But really since my employer pays a share of my taxes I really make $107k a year."

Every year my employer sends me a benefits statement that says exactly that.

Yep, everyone is pushing "Total Compensation Statements" now. It may not be how much you make but it's now much employers pay for you.

Munch, crunch, gobble, gone. 6th in post count.

Congrats, Isgrim!

In honor of the occasion, I propose that the Overlords institute a 15% post tax on the Top 10 posters to assist all our lurkers pad their count.

Zarathud wrote:In honor of the occasion, I propose that the Overlords institute a 15% post tax on the Top 10 posters to assist all our lurkers pad their count.

No, no, that would only hurt the middle posters. Let's see...

I think

I can come up with

a

Quit cheating. It's going to be a while before I come for you.

I don't like to send personal mail through our mail room. Turns out my building gets its last public mail pickup at 3:30 pm. The main post office was dark at 7 pm with the only dropoff at a blue box across the street. Last pickup at 5 pm. No wonder all the loop mail has been taking 3-5 days instead of 2-3.

Good thing the state owes me $540 and the feds $5,700. My wife's business lost $800 of $1,000 invested as she builds up stock, and she hasn't paid herself from the S Corporation. Our effective income tax rate for 2012 was 16.44%. We'll be paying self-employment if she keeps growing her business instead of volunteering with the CAPS office in 2013. But her volunteer work could lead to a job with city medical insyrance, which would save us a ton long term.

Finished mine at about 1am last night via Turbotax online.

Couple of firsts:
1. First time I owed the govt money since I have been paying taxes (pro tip: it's REAALLLLY bad to take a non qualified early withdrawal from your retirement IRA. i.e. NEVER DO THIS! (I fully knew the consequences before doing it, just want to emphasize for others thinking about it)
2. First time I filed PAST the deadline (without an exemption). I filed late before without an exemption but they always owed me money, and I have heard there is no problem if that is the case (no need for extension if you are owed). TECHNICALLY you should file for an extension even if they owe you, but everything I read online, from tax attorneys, to others who did it, said they had never heard of any issues.

Interestingly, even though I completed my forms at 1am, and filed at 1am as well, Turbotax time stamped my return at 10:14p! (3 hours earlier, when I started). Yay?

Weird, huh? Is there some unstated late window of a few hours that I don't know about? (wink wink, nudge nudge)

Maybe you got lucky and the TurboTax server is on the west coast.

In general, late filing penalties from the feds are based on the amount you owe, so if you are getting a refund--no worries. However, I think some states will ding you for late filing no matter what (or for owing too much because you did not withhold enough during the year or make estimated payments). I guess states are a little more nervous about cash flow since they don't have Uncle Sam's credit line.

Freezer-TPF- wrote:Maybe you got lucky and the TurboTax server is on the west coast.

In general, late filing penalties from the feds are based on the amount you owe, so if you are getting a refund--no worries. However, I think some states will ding you for late filing no matter what (or for owing too much because you did not withhold enough during the year or make estimated payments). I guess states are a little more nervous about cash flow since they don't have Uncle Sam's credit line.

I thought about the west vs east coast issue - that is likely what it is.

This year I owed federal, and got a refund from state FWIW.

Didn't finalize my taxes, but it looks like between what I get back from the state and what I owe The Man it's 700 bucks. I thought I was going to get totally reamed so I'm pretty happy about that. I'm totally not finishing my taxes until April.

This year I paid the minimum quarterly estimated tax instead of adjusting it as the income comes in, as I usually do. I expect to owe $2800 and I have that saved up. I'll find out in April how that worked out.

I'm having a doozie of a time already with mine. My previous mortgage servicer was bought *entirely* by my current mortgage servicer. So I paid Company A from January to March. 3 payments. And the following 10 (I cheated one onto 12/31) are with new Company A+B. I got a 1098 from Company A+B covering 10 payments about 2 weeks ago. Nothing covering period of Company A so I decided to give them a few weeks to get it. I don't have it yet so I called them this morning. The operator has no idea what I am talking about when I reference Company A or that they were bought.

She keeps telling me that my previous service company would send the documents. I agree over and over that would be the normal practice but that they were bought - bought by you. They are you. Your company would have to generate the documents since they do not exist any longer. You are them. After about 5 minutes of that I give up and thank her to call back and hopefully get someone else. They generally give me the same story but at least this one heeds my advice to speak to a superior who comes on to tell me that the 1098 I received covers the whole year. Not true. I relayed that I have all the statements in front of me and they don't add up. I am told I must be making a mistake. Great. Alright. At this point I thank her for her time and give up because I have dealt 5 times with this company this year about mistakes and it takes at least 10 calls to resolve anything. Not going to do it this time. I have the documentation - I just will have to break down and go to an accountant because I don't know how to write up the discrepancy between what the IRS will receive and what I have documentation of.

Octavious wrote:Didn't finalize my taxes, but it looks like between what I get back from the state and what I owe The Man it's 700 bucks. I thought I was going to get totally reamed so I'm pretty happy about that. I'm totally not finishing my taxes until April.

Still waiting on my mortgage statement and my paltry 1099. Then I will do the first round to see if I should take out a last minute IRA. My taxes are usually done by now and I usually end up owing around $1,000. Right now I'm anxious. At this rate it may be another month until I do my taxes. With my mortgage shrinking as quickly as I can make it, I fear I am going to owe two grand and that I'm going to have to eat $5,000 in savings into an IRA to get what I owe down to $2000. $7,000 would leave me with no savings at cushion at all.

If I don't get my paperwork soon and address this, it will be time to up my dosage of omeprazole.

malchior wrote:I'm having a doozie of a time already with mine. My previous mortgage servicer was bought *entirely* by my current mortgage servicer. So I paid Company A from January to March. 3 payments. And the following 10 (I cheated one onto 12/31) are with new Company A+B. I got a 1098 from Company A+B covering 10 payments about 2 weeks ago. Nothing covering period of Company A so I decided to give them a few weeks to get it. I don't have it yet so I called them this morning. The operator has no idea what I am talking about when I reference Company A or that they were bought.

She keeps telling me that my previous service company would send the documents. I agree over and over that would be the normal practice but that they were bought - bought by you. They are you. Your company would have to generate the documents since they do not exist any longer. You are them. After about 5 minutes of that I give up and thank her to call back and hopefully get someone else. They generally give me the same story but at least this one heeds my advice to speak to a superior who comes on to tell me that the 1098 I received covers the whole year. Not true. I relayed that I have all the statements in front of me and they don't add up. I am told I must be making a mistake. Great. Alright. At this point I thank her for her time and give up because I have dealt 5 times with this company this year about mistakes and it takes at least 10 calls to resolve anything. Not going to do it this time. I have the documentation - I just will have to break down and go to an accountant because I don't know how to write up the discrepancy between what the IRS will receive and what I have documentation of.

Ya I don't have the documents from the company I got sold to either. That's one thing I'm waiting for, but so far the way it shakes out I'm doing a standard deduction this year so it probably won't matter in the end.

Update: Just found out my employer did the W-2s all wrong. They added education assistance (tuition reimbursement) to my Gross Income and forgot to put a crucial code ( {w} ) in the 12 box that will screw up anyone in the company in our HSA. Couple that with my mortgage company and I will have a happy accountant. I wonder if this is a consequence of in-sourcing payroll but not having a payroll manager?

Only you... Only you...

Octavious wrote:Only you... Only you...

And anyone at my company who has tuition reimbursement...and no one seems to think this is important.

I'm at the hopeful stage of my taxes. Having several (low) paying jobs means that I end up owing a small amount each year. About $200 each of the past three years. Its not the end of the world, which is why I haven't taken the time to tell each job to take a little bit more out of my paycheck than they normally would.

This year I got one W2 extremely early, so I loaded it up into TurboTax while I wait for the other W2s to come in. It's currently saying I'll get about $1,000 back. That just means it's going to hurt that much more when I see the number plummet down into the negatives once I finally get my other W2s to put in.

malchior wrote:

Octavious wrote:Only you... Only you...

And anyone at my company who has tuition reimbursement...and no one seems to think this is important.

Fly to Florida and have mom do them?

Oh, my sweet new tax deductions...how I love you both.

What happens every year when I get a nice tax return. Something breaks or something costs $$$$$$$$$

Last year it was my Mazda 6 that had some major repairs.

This year, the day after I finish my taxes and see that I got a nice return, I get rear ended. Thankfully it's not my fault, but still could cost $$$

Lassr wrote:Bah, almost broke even this year. Owe federal $655. Getting back from State $585. Time to adjust my federal withholding. I usually get $1500 back between the two and use it for vacation. Guess vacation this year will have to be cheaper.

my adjustment got me back $81 federal this year and $789 from the state. Booking a stay in gulf shores this year so this will cover 2/3 of the cost of the room.

Married, filing jointly. Wife quit her job to go back to school halfway through the year. Feds owe us nearly $4,000. w00t! E-filed moments ago.

The state owes us less than $300, but currently you can't e-file in Massachusetts for some reason. Just going to wait a few weeks until that gets changed and file it.

I found my tax situation pretty irritating this year, mostly because of my cheapness.

I used free file last year through H&R Block for both state and feds. No problems. Smooth experience. Figured I'd do it again this year.

Turns out they won't do Schedule C's for free any more. I poked around the other free file sites, but they all pretty much sucked. So I ponied up the fifteen bucks for H&RB to do it again. Barely took any time at all.

Now they want like 35 bucks to do the state filing. That's about 35 bucks more than I'm willing to pay.

Check the state website for free file option. H&RB is listed, along with some of the crappy companies I saw from the fed site. I poke around a couple of them, but none of them actually want to do NC forms for free. I finally find one. Spend 20 minutes registering and filling out boxes. Find out they don't support Schedule C.

Looks like I'm going to be doing the state form on paper this year.

naednek wrote:What happens every year when I get a nice tax return. Something breaks or something costs $$$$$$$$$

Last year it was my Mazda 6 that had some major repairs.

This year, the day after I finish my taxes and see that I got a nice return, I get rear ended. Thankfully it's not my fault, but still could cost $$$

I know the feeling. The day after I finished my taxes, my furnace blower motor died. Its like some kind of nasty re-tax.

Effective Tax Rate
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%

I changed jobs between 2007 and 2008 with a 50% increase in pay.
I changed jobs in 2012 and ended up with a 32% increase in AGI.
I went from contracting through May 2013 to unemployment for 4 months to a steady job in September.

Refund this year is about $1,800. Aside from getting a Saitek X-55 Rhino, the rest of it is likely going to be squirreled to pay for wedding expenses.

Wow, my effective tax rate has been over 50% most of that time. And that was with just a little self-employment income.

Jeff V wrote:Wow, my effective tax rate has been over 50% most of that time. And that was with just a little self-employment income.

How is it possible to have an effective tax rate of over 50% with a top marginal rate of under 40%?

I assume the other poster is just referring to federal and possibly state income tax and that you are not?

Jeff V only just found his additional tax deductions (wife/kids) and was likely adding in Federal and State taxes. Plus, paying both sides of the Social Security tax is a bitch.

As I try to do every year, I checked my credit reports after filing my taxes. Hooray, no one has stolen my identity yet! (That I know of!)

Now hurry up and give me my refund, Uncle Sam.

Ugh. Usually get back about $4-5k total. This year we moved and part of the package was cash to help defray the costs. This apparently sent me into a tax bracket I can only aspire to in other years. As a result, we don't get many of the deductions we normally qualify for, or get them at much reduced rates and our tax burden has increased. I'm still working on it, but at one point it had us owing $5k federal. This is not good.

Edit: And what the frak TurboTax - you ask all these questions about the house we sold, make me dig up all sorts of numbers, came up with the huge value we lost and then said "Sorry, personal losses can not be deducted!" [Lily Ericsson]You......sonovabeetch[/Lily]

Finally mostly finished everything. I am still waiting for a K-1 form, but everything else is entered. That form doesn't materially change anything - I think it adds like $1 to my income - so I know the final numbers but I can't actually file. Annoying - but at least I ended up getting money rather than owing it.