2017 Taxes!

[rosarugosa]

Ever since our refund got stolen a few years ago, it has been my mission to make sure there isn't any federal tax return to steal. That was a little painful for a couple of years when we had to make payments; we just weren't used to that, although we had the money in the bank so it wasn't an actual hardship. It just stung a little bit! Well this year between a very modest state return and a very modest federal amount owed, we will end up paying $41. out of pocket. I don't think I could hope to get it much closer than that!

[iris lilies]

Ever since our refund got stolen a few years ago, it has been my mission to make sure there isn't any federal tax return to steal. That was a little painful for a couple of years when we had to make payments; we just weren't used to that, although we had the money in the bank so it wasn't an actual hardship. It just stung a little bit! Well this year between a very modest state return and a very modest federal amount owed, we will end up paying $41. out of pocket. I don't think I could hope to get it much closer than that!

That is a beautiful thing indeed. Truly!

We are winging the income tax thing in these years of transition to stable retirement income. We are not yet drawing Social Security. The ACA is a big determinant of how it all washes out, so we shall see if our estimates this year pan out. Last year we got a big refund and that isnt good, but all of the factors of income and ACA health insurance premiums make this estimate game tricky.

[Williamsmith]

I could have literally filled out my federal tax return on a postcard if the IRS would provide it in that format. My 1040EZ declared a refund of $175 which surprised me. I still don’t think any identity thief worth his/her salt would waste their time with me. If I go to Ohio and purchase my tipple, that’s seven 750 ml bottles of Makers Mark. And I can fill up my gas tank for 75 cents a gallon cheaper too. I love the Buckeye State.

[Yppej]

I had to pay in for both Federal and state, but not so much that I had to pay a penalty so I was happy, but usually I get something back from the Feds. How do I prevent this? I claim one exemption. I don't think the W4 form will let me claim 2 as I file as a single. I do not want to leave any potential refunds out there for identity thieves.

[Williamsmith]

I had to pay in for both Federal and state, but not so much that I had to pay a penalty so I was happy, but usually I get something back from the Feds. How do I prevent this? I claim one exemption. I don't think the W4 form will let me claim 2 as I file as a single. I do not want to leave any potential refunds out there for identity thieves.

You can designate a specific amount in addition to have taken out of your income.

[SteveinMN]

Waiting on our Form 1095-C, which DW informs me will not be available from her workplace until the end of this month. Everything else is ready to go so I may just ship it off to the accountant and have them file as soon we get as the mandatory form. Last year I think we ended up with a very small refund; that may change this year because of medical expenses. *shrug* We don't spend it till we get it.

[Yppej]

Thanks WS. I probably should see how I end up when I file next year, my first full year at a new job that does payroll in house rather than using ADP. Management is very Republican and sent us all an email that thanks to the Trump tax cut we will be getting bigger paychecks (not the first time they have promoted the current president). So they may try to withhold to maximize take home pay. And I hope they don't think this absolves them from giving normal raises.

[Williamsmith]

Thanks WS. I probably should see how I end up when I file next year, my first full year at a new job that does payroll in house rather than using ADP. Management is very Republican and sent us all an email that thanks to the Trump tax cut we will be getting bigger paychecks (not the first time they have promoted the current president). So they may try to withhold to maximize take home pay. And I hope they don't think this absolves them from giving normal raises.

Perhaps, I can make you feel a little better about the expected “normal” raise. My wife works for a non profit in the morning and then goes to a public school. She just started at the school a year and a half ago.....has thirteen years in for the non profit. She is already making more at the school than at the non profit. The CEO of the non profit was fired for sharing pornography with unappreciative subordinates....well that’s the rumor.

The board of directors is mum on the whole thing. Rumor also has it, he left with a full pension, back pay for the days he was banned from the property but not yet fired, and with a letter of appreciation for the great work he’s done for them and well wishes for his future.

Meanwhile, the acting CEO has informed all the staff that due to the expense of investigating his misdeeds...there will be no raises this year. Well, nothing new....she hasn’t had a raise in three years.

Not sure what that has to do with your tax question but hey.....I feel better venting.

[frugal-one]

Thanks WS. I probably should see how I end up when I file next year, my first full year at a new job that does payroll in house rather than using ADP. Management is very Republican and sent us all an email that thanks to the Trump tax cut we will be getting bigger paychecks (not the first time they have promoted the current president). So they may try to withhold to maximize take home pay. And I hope they don't think this absolves them from giving normal raises.


Can they do that? You have to sign a form for deductions?

[Yppej]

They can choose how to round it, whether to put incentive pay on a separate check, some small things like that. ADP always overwithheld a little on my federal and underwithheld a little on my state taxes.

[ToomuchStuff]

Normally, tax forms are available by December 20th and I can figure fairly closely what mine will be. With the change/last minute stuff, they were not completely out until the day of the shutdown. So I now have all the forms and documents needed and it is pretty standard stuff for me. I get back a little in Federal, and owe a little to state (under $50). The federal will be deposited to my account as a tax shift, as it goes a good ways towards my property taxes at the end of the year. That provides a greater raise, then the little bit that we aren't being taxed (in payroll taxes) from the feds (but will show up on something else as taxes/fee's later). That % that I heard was coming back (never heard an official figure), I already have made an adjustment for and it is going into savings, that may go towards retirement, but for now, is going to be set aside to offset those future fee's I expect.

[pinkytoe]

I am just wading into mine. We had an odd situation as the house we bought had tenants in it for the first three months of 2017 so I guess I have to do a Schedule E to show rental income and expenses. What a hassle!! Also, having to do state taxes for the first time in our lives is not fun. I always thought that when we retired all of this would get simpler but that is not the case.

[jp1]

I'm still waiting on e*trade. Supposedly I should have my forms from them on the 15th. I plan to do as much of the rest as I can this weekend so that hopefully an hour that evening and I can get them filed. Last year I ended up being within $100 of what I ended up owing for both federal and state. Hopefully this year works out as well.

[Lainey]

I'm getting a refund from both federal and state. Wasn't sure how it would work out since I had retired in May, so I had employment pay, pension pay, and Social Security, not to mention a subsidy on my ACA. I did have several thousand dollars of expenses on my little rental house, so I think that's what made the difference.
Regardless, my accountant said that next year it won't be worthwhile for me to itemize because the standard individual deduction will be $12,000.

p.s. am not surprised that companies are crowing about the tax cut, and the few extra dollars they may (or may not) be giving to their employees. I'm also not surprised that they omit the second part: that this huge and unnecessary cut has plunged our country further into debt and our infrastructure will continue to be neglected. Not something to celebrate, IMO.

[iris lilies]

I'm getting a refund from both federal and state. Wasn't sure how it would work out since I had retired in May, so I had employment pay, pension pay, and Social Security, not to mention a subsidy on my ACA. I did have several thousand dollars of expenses on my little rental house, so I think that's what made the difference.
Regardless, my accountant said that next year it won't be worthwhile for me to itemize because the standard individual deduction will be $12,000.

p.s. am not surprised that companies are crowing about the tax cut, and the few extra dollars they may (or may not) be giving to their employees. I'm also not surprised that they omit the second part: that this huge and unnecessary cut has plunged our country further into debt and our infrastructure will continue to be neglected. Not something to celebrate, IMO.
If you are seriously interested in debt control, you will support Rand Paul and his efforts to bring rational thought to the U.s. debt problem. He is pretty much the only grownup in the room there in D.C., the dad who is willing to say “no, we cant afford that.”

I love that his Halloween outfit one year was to the dress up at the national
debt because that was the scariest thng out there. Haha.

[Williamsmith]

I'm getting a refund from both federal and state. Wasn't sure how it would work out since I had retired in May, so I had employment pay, pension pay, and Social Security, not to mention a subsidy on my ACA. I did have several thousand dollars of expenses on my little rental house, so I think that's what made the difference.
Regardless, my accountant said that next year it won't be worthwhile for me to itemize because the standard individual deduction will be $12,000.

p.s. am not surprised that companies are crowing about the tax cut, and the few extra dollars they may (or may not) be giving to their employees. I'm also not surprised that they omit the second part: that this huge and unnecessary cut has plunged our country further into debt and our infrastructure will continue to be neglected. Not something to celebrate, IMO.

General Motors Corp. is touting its payment of bonuses to hourly workers in the amount of @$12,000! Back in the day when George Bush approved the bailout of GM and Chrysler....I was going bonkers. Why should the taxpayers bailout a failing company? And so, now that they have paid back their loan with money that we loaned them, hey are stuffing their workers pockets with profits made possible by their consumers. I’m not jealous of or begrudge the workers the bonuses....good for them but where is the break for consumers?

And IL.....I do hope Rand Paul makes another entry in the Presidential sweepstakes some day. That would make this tax stuff quite interesting,

[beckyliz]

Got ours done earlier this week. It was a weird year - some of the stuff I inherited from Mom was taxable when I didn't expect it to be, but it was offset by the HOPE college credits. Not sure how to plan for next year with the new tax rates. I'll need to sit down and do a spreadsheet. At any rate, getting a substantial refund from feds which will go to pay down debt and to pay the state taxes we owe.

[iris lilies]

I hate the process of doing taxes. Until I retired I didnt pay attention to income tax, it was what it was, DH took care of everything, I was out of it.

In setting up our trust I was forced to consider tax issues, ugh. I dont care, I will be dead. DEAD! And taxes will be of no concern to me, and I really do not care if I maximize amounts for those who inherit.


Today I waded into another bout of communication hell in trying to determine if I cash out an old investment of a few thousand dollars, will that cause a taxable event that affects my income in context of Obamacare subsidies? The investment company representative mouthed a lot of gobblygook. DH thinks we will be ok, but I dont want to risk it.

This, on top of the excessive hoops required to actually GET the money since it is in my maiden name.

Ugh, the intersection of investment vehicles and taxes is an awful place.

[Simplemind]

My husband was sneaky and made me pumpkin waffles with bacon before sliding over the return and handing me my checkbook. Owie !!! Mama needs a tax break.

[Lainey]

My state income tax refund was auto-deposited into my account today, exactly 2 weeks after e-filing. Except for the potential fraud factor, there's lots of upside to digital tax filing, especially speed.
Of course, wouldn't you know it, my TV has been acting up lately, so it's likely I'll be taking the refund money to Costco to buy a new one.

[jp1]

I finally filed my taxes yesterday. Miraculously, and with no intentional effort on my part, withholding compared to what would come due worked out pretty well this year. I'm getting $15 back from the franchise tax board (I have no idea why the hell our state tax agency has that name) and owe $570 to the IRS. Not bad for someone with 38 pages of income tax documents and some quirky investments I would never have personally made but which I inherited from my father. (energy trust royalties, anyone... I have no idea what the cost basis of them was but compared to their current value the royalties are pretty decent so i'll hold onto them despite the extra pages they add to my tax return every year.)

Now I need to start researching whether I need to modify my withholdings for 2018 to have a repeat scenario a year from now.

[flowerseverywhere]

If you are seriously interested in debt control, you will support Rand Paul and his efforts to bring rational thought to the U.s. debt problem. He is pretty much the only grownup in the room there in D.C., the dad who is willing to say “no, we cant afford that.”

I love that his Halloween outfit one year was to the dress up at the national
debt because that was the scariest thng out there. Haha.

agree about Rand Paul. He will face an uphill battle but someone has to do it. Crazy times, the GOP screams about debt until they have some control, and the Dems do the same thing. Liars the lot of them.

Owe a a few hundred dollars to both, on purpose. We like to be close. Next year hard to determine but one way or the other we should not get a penalty or be owed a huge refund.

[SteveinMN]

Waiting on our Form 1095-C, which DW informs me will not be available from her workplace until the end of this month. Everything else is ready to go so I may just ship it off to the accountant and have them file as soon we get as the mandatory form. Last year I think we ended up with a very small refund; that may change this year because of medical expenses.
So we still don't have the 1095-C but the accountant filed our taxes anyway and we got the notifications that both returns were accepted, so I guess the "mandatory" document isn't so mandatory. >8) A few hundred dollars in federal refund; $17 to the state. According to our accountant, it wasn't medical expenses that made the difference, it was a sizable loss on our rental property. Yay us.

[organictex]

we got a small refund back and it was double what it was supposed to be. they sent a note
saying I had made a mistake. I went to website and it said "call for details"...I wonder what I
did wrong but I'm afraid to call about it! :)

[Tybee]

Got small refunds, happy not to owe, not sure why it worked out so well this year, but relieved to have it over. Now she is doing Dad's, so that's a huge relief.

[Teacher Terry]

We itemized the past 2 years because of medical expenses. I spent a total of 44k on teeth implants. Ugh! I intend to vote Democrat in hopes that we can gain a majority and repeal all these tax breaks to the rich. That will go a long ways in not increasing the national debt.

[Alan]

I intend to vote Democrat in hopes that we can gain a majority and repeal all these tax breaks to the rich. That will go a long ways in not increasing the national debt.How close to "rich" can a person get before the Democrats start divvying up their excess?

[Teacher Terry]

Alan, they can just repeal what the Republicans did by giving all the corporate breaks, etc. Now that they have done that they will say they need to rob SS, Medicare, etc to pay the bill. So the rich get richer and the peons can starve. Great philosophy>:(

[Alan]

Alan, they can just repeal what the Republicans did by giving all the corporate breaks, etc. Now that they have done that they will say they need to rob SS, Medicare, etc to pay the bill. So the rich get richer and the peons can starve. Great philosophy>:(What about people like you and I who itemize in order to pay the least possible tax. Are we simply getting richer and allowing the peons to starve?

[Teacher Terry]

Even with itemizing we still pay taxes. We now make half of what we did when working so pay less taxes. I never resented the taxes I have paid. Many elderly people live on SS alone and any cuts will have them choosing between eating or buying their meds. Even people that saved for their retirement run out of $ if they live long enough. Many older people have had huge medical bills that have taken their $. This happened to a couple we are good friends with. Even with insurance multiple battles with cancer bankrupted them and they died broke even though at one point they had plenty of $. Where we live rents have sky rocketed and people can't afford them. I do not mind paying my fair share of taxes but corporations were already getting a sweet deal before the new tax breaks. With the baby boomers aging I see a crisis coming with the way things are going.

[rosarugosa]

we got a small refund back and it was double what it was supposed to be. they sent a note
saying I had made a mistake. I went to website and it said "call for details"...I wonder what I
did wrong but I'm afraid to call about it! :)

It's a funny position to be in to hope they are right and that you did make a mistake! :)

[Tenngal]

we got a small refund back and it was double what it was supposed to be. they sent a note
saying I had made a mistake. I went to website and it said "call for details"...I wonder what I
did wrong but I'm afraid to call about it! :)

I did not get my refund and they said I made a mistake. They were trying to give me 3x my amount.
Looks like the bank who gives our pensions did not report them to IRS. Still don't have it worked out but I know if I accept the large amt I will be paying it back!

[organictex]

It's a funny position to be in to hope they are right and that you did make a mistake! :)

I forgot I had to do state taxes so in order to make sure I wasn't furthering the mistake I did call them and yes, I made a stupid
addition error! it didn't change my state tax calculations but I did get to legitimately keep the money :)

[organictex]

I did not get my refund and they said I made a mistake. They were trying to give me 3x my amount.
Looks like the bank who gives our pensions did not report them to IRS. Still don't have it worked out but I know if I accept the large amt I will be paying it back!

I'm sure. IRS has a very long memory ;)

[Lainey]

So, my earlier post about getting a refund on federal income tax turned out to be wrong. I got a notice that the IRS thought I underestimated my 2017 income and therefore my ACA insurance subsidy was too much.
My mistake was calculating "projected" income as my retirement income which started in the middle of the year. But for purposes of the subsidy, they count your entire calendar year income, even though I didn't start the ACA insurance until June. Even my very experienced tax accountant was confused. So, I'll be writing a check to reimburse them this year, ugh.

[iris lilies]

So, my earlier post about getting a refund on federal income tax turned out to be wrong. I got a notice that the IRS thought I underestimated my 2017 income and therefore my ACA insurance subsidy was too much.
My mistake was calculating "projected" income as my retirement income which started in the middle of the year. But for purposes of the subsidy, they count your entire calendar year income, even though I didn't start the ACA insurance until June. Even my very experienced tax accountant was confused. So, I'll be writing a check to reimburse them this year, ugh.

I am awaiting the final reconciliation of Obamacare subsidies and our income. I suspect it may not bepretty, but we will see.

[Tybee]

I am awaiting the final reconciliation of Obamacare subsidies and our income. I suspect it may not bepretty, but we will see.

That's really interesting, Lainey and Iris Lilies, in a horrible sort of way--so you have to pay back the subsidy now? have others faced this?

[Tenngal]

the rascals sent the inflated amount to my account. Guess I will get a letter later this year saying I own them? Stayed on the phone with them 20 min one day telling them that we did get our pensions last year.
They say the financial institution did not report them to the IRS, never mind that the amount has been the same for years?

[Lainey]

That's really interesting, Lainey and Iris Lilies, in a horrible sort of way--so you have to pay back the subsidy now? have others faced this?

My tax accountant is filing an amended return. At least I get to claim the insurance premiums in my medical cost, so it won't be a total loss. But yes, I'll have to write a check for whatever the final amount turns out to be.
Had I known this I would have opted for COBRA when I retired last year, and then started with ACA on Jan. 1st of this year. If you know of others who are retiring prior to Medicare age and will be using ACA, please let them know!

[Zoe Girl]

Hey I am getting money back! My income went up and I still got a more significant refund than last year. I am pretty excited, so now pay on student loan and/or go on a retreat. I hope there is still room in the retreat I really want to go on.

[iris lilies]

That's really interesting, Lainey and Iris Lilies, in a horrible sort of way--so you have to pay back the subsidy now? have others faced this?
Sure, other people have been charged with paying back the I.R.S. Obamacare subsidy money. Early on in Obamacare there was yammering about how the I.R.S. Doesnt have legal suthority to collect this money, and some claimed IRS would not even bother to collect it. But
I had always planned to pay it if charged because who wants to be on the wrong side of the IRS? Not me.

I am paying $0 anyway this year for health insurance premiums so that part looks good. Last year we paid around $265 a month.

I have two more tax years after this year of this bullshit, then I will be smooth sailing on Medicare.

[iris lilies]

Well, we got our tax preparation documents back and we are A OK for Obamacare subsidies this year and are, in fact, getting a little bit back. But I dont understand why we are getting some of it back since our income went way up due to capital. gains in the stock market. But I dont remember how much I told Healthcare.Org we would make and now I cant cind that amount. Rats.

I think we will be in trouble next year and will have to pay out for the healthcare premium subsidies we received.