It's Stupid Question Time

[Misty_Morning]

OK. I always thought that people were supposed to receive all their tax documents by January 31. It's February 1 and I have yet to receive anything. No W-2's, no 1099's ...nothing.

I really want to get my taxes done to see if owe anything or will be getting a return. I already got my turbo-tax installed and am ready to go.

I'm kinda a little nervous as I got audited this year for my taxes a few years ago when I attempted to do them myself. Apparently I didn't do them right cuz I received a letter from the IRS saying that I owed them $89,000.

It was my boo-boo. I forgot to deduct the original investment for some capital gains I received. I did owe some plus a penalty, fines and interest but not 89K. But it kinda freaked me out and now I just want to get it over with for this year.


So....has everyone received their tax documents yet? Is it just me? What's going on?

 

[lucky-E-leven]

I thought the companies had to have them sent by the 31st. I just received mine yesterday, I believe.

Nothing like waiting until the last minute.

 

[Misty_Morning]

I thought the companies had to have them sent by the 31st. I just received mine yesterday, I believe.

Nothing like waiting until the last minute.

I love your AV.

 

[Darkniciad]

Employers can file for extensions, but they have to have a reason to do so. As to the 1099's... Financial institutions have even stricter restrictions about getting that information out, I believe.

Not sure what's up, but you certainly should have everything by now. May be time to call the bank and the boss.

 

[cantdog]

I never did get a W2 from one particular employer, years ago. He had treated me shabbily right through the summer. He paid in cash, but withheld "taxes" anyhow. I took rather great pleasure in turning him in to the IRS.

If he had wanted to pay me 'under the table,' he ought to have at least said so. I considered that idea, that he may have imagined he was doing that, but he made great show of deducting the 'taxes' to explain why I never received my full wages. His hours for me were erratic in the extreme, and I got notice of changes the day before, usually. It was impossible to plan anything. Minimum wage, too. I truly relished explaining to the tax office that he was not compliant-- in late March.

 

[cloudy]

W-2's just have to be mailed by January 31, according to Federal law.

That means you might get it this week, maybe next week....if, of course, you stand on your head balancing a bowl of rice, and three rubber balls while humming "Mr. Postman."

don't mind me....I'm in a slightly strange mood this evening.

 

[talimenios]

I have all of my W-2's but not my financial crud. It all depends on the good ol' US postal service.

 

[Misty_Morning]

OK. Here's another stupid question......

Can I deduct any of the penalty, fines, interest that I paid this year for an audit of my tax return from a few years ago?

I'm kinda hesitant to even ask cuz I would think that I could...but then again thinking is what got me into trouble with IRS in the first place.


I'll probably just forget about that and go on...I still have a bad taste in my mouth from that episode.

 

[Boxlicker101]

OK. I always thought that people were supposed to receive all their tax documents by January 31. It's February 1 and I have yet to receive anything. No W-2's, no 1099's ...nothing.

I really want to get my taxes done to see if owe anything or will be getting a return. I already got my turbo-tax installed and am ready to go.

I'm kinda a little nervous as I got audited this year for my taxes a few years ago when I attempted to do them myself. Apparently I didn't do them right cuz I received a letter from the IRS saying that I owed them $89,000.

It was my boo-boo. I forgot to deduct the original investment for some capital gains I received. I did owe some plus a penalty, fines and interest but not 89K. But it kinda freaked me out and now I just want to get it over with for this year.

So....has everyone received their tax documents yet? Is it just me? What's going on?

That's rather puzzling. If you had some investment property or securities and sold them and reported the proceeds WITHOUT deducting the purchase price, you would have overreported income. If they were long-term capital gains, I hope you did the calculation before reporting them.

 

[Misty_Morning]

That's rather puzzling. If you had some investment property or securities and sold them and reported the proceeds WITHOUT deducting the purchase price, you would have overreported income. If they were long-term capital gains, I hope you did the calculation before reporting them.

Well, see.....the original investment was made when I was married and I didn't have all the info and I wasn't gonna call my ex. I did call the CPA that used to do our taxes and asked for copies of the returns from the time I was married and never got them. I had a CPA do my taxes for the first few years after I was divorced and then one year I thought I could do them myself....wrong.....I did some creative math in figuring what I thought I owed. I kinda thought it made sense.....

To be honest I can't remember right now what it was that I did....but what set the IRS off was the my numbers didn't jive with the forms they got from the precious metals broker.....ding...ding...ding.....

Actually the IRS guy was kinda cool....I brought all my stuff and he sat down and figured out what I did and I just wrote him a check right then and hauled ass. Writing the check was kinda painful but the tax man was actually very nice....so it wasn't a nightmare like I was lead to believe it was going to be.

 

[Misty_Morning]

Oh yeah, ONE of the things I did was I deducted the brokers commision and the interest that I had paid one leveraged account....apparently you can't do that....I even checked with a CPA in town....I think it's fucking stupid....why should I pay taxes on money I never got?

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

OK. Here's another stupid question......

Can I deduct any of the penalty, fines, interest that I paid this year for an audit of my tax return from a few years ago?

I'm kinda hesitant to even ask cuz I would think that I could...but then again thinking is what got me into trouble with IRS in the first place.


I'll probably just forget about that and go on...I still have a bad taste in my mouth from that episode.

As I understand it -

You can deduct the cost of the audit, assuming you had a CPA or Attorney representing you. As a person you cannot deduct the fines, penalties and interest on unpaid taxes. As a business you could. However, you can deduct the taxes and any penalties and interest that accrues from the audit. But the penalties and intrest are cutting a fine line, since most interest deductions have been removed except mortgage interest.

The general rule is: Take the deduction. The worst that can happen is the IRS will disallow it and you have to pay the taxes on it. If you don't take it, you won't have a chance of getting it.

If you borrowed the money to pay your taxes, that interest would be deductable as a business expense on a business or corporate return, but not on a personal return.

It's a matter of FUCK THE PEOPLE as far as taxes go

 

[rgraham666]

That's one of the nice things about being desperately poor. My taxes are really simple.

 

[lucky-E-leven]

I love your AV.

Thank you.
Yours is making me long for the water again.

 

[Harry Leg]

It's a matter of FUCK THE PEOPLE as far as taxes go

I think that was the founding principle.

 

[Misty_Morning]

Yea, the mail just ran and I got 2 1099 forms...still no W-2's though.....and waiting on several other forms as well.....