Tax Time

Agreed & if you use QuickBooks or Quicken financial software, TurboTax will import all the relevant tax info.

I know Turbo Tax and the like are pretty easy, and I'm told people with even a small business find them valuable. But I have a pretty simple tax return, and it really burns me to have to pay out MORE money in order to file. So I just do the paperwork and send it in. The problem is, I invariably spend a couple hours fuming and cursing at the outrageously complex maze of forms and instructions and worksheets, and that can't be good for my blood pressure. So I probably should just give in and get Turbo Tax to spare my health.

Funny thing is, my state return can be done online at NO cost; so I do that, even though it takes longer than doing it on paper, because it speeds up my refund.

TurboTax has a free edition for 1040EZ and simple returns:

http://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-tax ... tion.jhtml

rberq wrote:I know Turbo Tax and the like are pretty easy, and I'm told people with even a small business find them valuable. But I have a pretty simple tax return, and it really burns me to have to pay out MORE money in order to file. So I just do the paperwork and send it in. The problem is, I invariably spend a couple hours fuming and cursing at the outrageously complex maze of forms and instructions and worksheets, and that can't be good for my blood pressure. So I probably should just give in and get Turbo Tax to spare my health.

Funny thing is, my state return can be done online at NO cost; so I do that, even though it takes longer than doing it on paper, because it speeds up my refund.

What burns me up is all the things that used to be deductible that aren't anymore for us middle class taxpayers!
(ie interest paid, state excise & sales tax,etc)

Tip:
Easiest way to figure you correct annual taxes;




Add all our income from every source in the current year &

Make out a check for that amount to the IRS & send it in. (easy, really)

Sales tax is deductible (or a portion of it is) for "big ticket items" that meet certain IRS rules, according to the question I was asked by Turbo-Tax. Also you can get a credit towards the next year's Federal income tax if you have installed certain energy-saving items such as energy-efficient doors and windows, air-circulating fans, etc. You can also claim mileage traveled to and from doctor's appointments, etc. under unreimbursed medical expenses, but I never bother, too hard to figure out.

Before I decided to try Turbo-Tax I had to pay an accountant to fill out my taxes, Turbo-Tax Deluxe costs about $45 a year, far less then I would pay to have the returns prepared, and it really does make it easy. I've tried in the past to fill the 1040 out by hand, it never worked out very well. This is the second year I'm doing the returns myself.

I still let the accountant fill out the returns for my business.

I like the references you find in the IRS instructions to the "Paperwork Reduction Act". Always makes me laugh.

[quote="Wood'nCoal"]Sales tax is deductible (or a portion of it is)


Are you sure about that John? (on the federal return?)

I remember it being in there somewhere but haven't seen it in years, unless it's built in to the Tax Cut software wwe use & I just havent noticed it???
(Seems to me that if you bought a big ticket item that year, like a car, you could actualy save some tax money.)
As far as being able to claim any medical related expenses, after the % excluded (based on your income) I don't think I ever actually got to claim any medical deductions! (except I think the first $150.00 you paid for med insurance, but i think even that is gone)
I did get to claim alot of great stuff when I was in DEA though! (all my jeans, clothing & cleaning of almost any type was deductible....along with my ammo, any firearms purchased (handguns), etc

You are correct, Devil.
The sales tax deduction I was thinking of was for the state return in New Jersey.
I read about it yesterday while doing a state return, of course I cannot find a reference to it on the NJ Division Of Taxation website.

Medical Deductions - - my wife has Parkinson's & she/we spent nearly 3 grand on prescriptions(not JUST for that + some for my daughters) & we couldn't write ANY % off!!! I love NY!!!!!!!

It all depends on your income. My mother is retired and since she has no dental insurance and had major dental work done last year plus the out-of-pocket expenses for medical not covered by Medicare or her supplemental plan she ended up with over $5,000 out of pocket expenses. That was figured in to her tax return.
I researched trying to apply for assistance with her gas & electric bill, but she exceeded the income limit by $80.00 per month, Social Security plus a small pension check.

We got a true kick in the nuts a couple of years ago with sales tax. We live in PA. My daughter got a teaching job in MD after she graduated college. She bought a new car here in July and paid the sales tax. When she registered the car in MD they charged her sales tax again. I argued with them because she already owned the car. I lost that arguement. She paid 6% here in PA and an additional 5% when she registered it in MD. Bastages!

Normally with out of state sale tax on vehicles, you should only have to pay the difference, if your state you are registering it in is higher than where you bought the vehicle, then you would have to pay the difference. NY, every COUNTY has different tax rates, so If buy a car outside your county, they will charge the tax rate where it will be registered normally.

In NY, you have to pay the sales tax on vehicles EVERY time it is bought/sold and registered for the Value claimed or fair market value according to KBB.

It could save us all a lot of headache if they could get the fair tax plan passed, but I don't see it happening. http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer

WNY wrote:Normally with out of state sale tax on vehicles, you should only have to pay the difference, if your state you are registering it in is higher than where you bought the vehicle, then you would have to pay the difference. NY, every COUNTY has different tax rates, so If buy a car outside your county, they will charge the tax rate where it will be registered normally.

In NY, you have to pay the sales tax on vehicles EVERY time it is bought/sold and registered for the Value claimed or fair market value according to KBB.

Except for Maryland. They want their 5% no matter what. If it were reversed PA would only want the difference in rates between MD and PA.

billw wrote:We got a true kick in the nuts a couple of years ago with sales tax. We live in PA. My daughter got a teaching job in MD after she graduated college. She bought a new car here in July and paid the sales tax. When she registered the car in MD they charged her sales tax again. I argued with them because she already owned the car. I lost that arguement. She paid 6% here in PA and an additional 5% when she registered it in MD. Bastages!

The mistake she made was not telling the dealer the car was to be registered in MD. Then the PA dealer would have summited the required tax to only MD. At least I hope she paid a lower tax based on the fact it was now a used car. Technically it's not a sales tax but an excise tax imposed at the same rate as the sales tax based on the value of the car.

When she bought the car she had job offers in MD and VA and wasn't sure which one she was going to take. She knew either way she needed a car to get there so she bought it here in PA. Oh well, lesson learned I guess. To many different taxes to keep current on the rules.