damj Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 Most Americans are about as financially savvy as a houseplant. Correction ... Most Americans are about as financially savvy as a houseplant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erynthered Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 I know this is contrary to what most believe, but I have had to deal with the IRS quite a bit over the last 7 years or so, and I have always found them to be suprisingly cooperative and willing to hear my side of the story on things. Yes, the wait time can be maddening sometime to speak to an agent, but i just dial em, put it on speaker and do some work while waiting. Once on the phone with an agent, it has a much better custsomer experience than 80% of the companies I work with. They actually listen to what I say, if they do not know an answer they find out right there and then, and are willing to compromise to get situations taken care of. I will always tell people who owe back taxes etc, call them up, ask to work with them, and you would be surprised on what you can accomplish TRUE!! Look at our Secretary of the Treasury!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dean Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 I know this is contrary to what most believe, but I have had to deal with the IRS quite a bit over the last 7 years or so, and I have always found them to be suprisingly cooperative and willing to hear my side of the story on things. Yes, the wait time can be maddening sometime to speak to an agent, but i just dial em, put it on speaker and do some work while waiting. Once on the phone with an agent, it has a much better custsomer experience than 80% of the companies I work with. They actually listen to what I say, if they do not know an answer they find out right there and then, and are willing to compromise to get situations taken care of. I will always tell people who owe back taxes etc, call them up, ask to work with them, and you would be surprised on what you can accomplish I agree 100%. Others have had bad experiences, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordio Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 I owe less than a thousand...which is just the way I like it: not giving the irresponsible government any more than I have to through the year, and no underpayment penalties or surprisingly large tax bills come April (like a few years ago, when my wife raised her withholding to fifteen in 2004, and I was then surprised by a twelve thousand dollar tax underpayment.) Am I the only one that claims -0- around here & with the writeoff on the house & capital losses in the market this year that have beaten the sh*t out of me got a big fat check from the federal government? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordio Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 People who brag about big refunds just don't get what that means-it means they're not taking home enough on payday & need to adjust their witholdings. Even better are the ones who think that what they pay on their return is what their tax bill is. My sister & I both had to pay big this year because we inherited an IRA distribution (we both chose not to do the stuff necessary to defer the taxes for a variety of good reasons that are irrelevant in this post) and when she asked me how much I was paying on my tax return I had to explain that my payment was a result of how much I earned, how much was withheld and how much I still owed and that we couldn't compare what we paid unless we looked at the what we both made & the totals including payments & withholdings. I perfectly understand it. I just like the big lump sum return at the end of the year instead of getting more in my pay every week. Alot of the guys in my office make fun of me for doing it this way, but to each their own I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Anchorage Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 TRUE!! Look at our Secretary of the Treasury!! Daschle must have been on hold to long Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Miner Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 What bugs me every year that I pay (and I seem to pay every year ) is that it's not like the gov't really needed the money. I could have done numerous things with the few hundred $'s I pay the gov't every April. I could have even spent more than those few hundred on donations or investments or whatever, and instead of owing, gotten a refund. The gov't didn't really need it, because there are so many different ways I could have spent it, that they would have been just fine with what I'd already paid in. And if I'd spent $1 more, they would have been happy to send me a check. The gov't apparently just doesn't like the way I manage my own money. Since I didn't do anything they approve of with that money, it should obviously go to the gov't so they can waste it. Because from watching the gov't it's obvious that they know how to manage money... IMO, I should have the choice every April to either give my money to the gov't or spend it on 1 of the various entities as I see fit. As long as I'm gonna get f'd, I should at least get the reach around of my choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 Just pressed the button here. Thank God for efiling. Interofficed my return to my CPA with my PIN and he pressed the button. See when you're rich you can pay other people to press your buttons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 Am I the only one that claims -0- around here & with the writeoff on the house & capital losses in the market this year that have beaten the sh*t out of me got a big fat check from the federal government? How much capital losses did you write off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordio Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 How much capital losses did you write off? It was not much. I think it was around $5 grand. The majority of the money I have in the market is tied up into my 401K. Other then that I really do not have much money in the market, especially compared to some of you investment high net worth guys. I did get to write off 5,500 in property/school taxes & also my interest was pretty high on my house(3rd year into a 30yr mortgage). All in all I got back around $7 grand from federal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBill Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 My wife is opening the wine right now . Celebrating that we did not have to pay . Time for wine . Make it a vodka martini - dirty w three olives and I am there with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 It was not much. I think it was around $5 grand. The majority of the money I have in the market is tied up into my 401K. Other then that I really do not have much money in the market, especially compared to some of you investment high net worth guys. I did get to write off 5,500 in property/school taxes & also my interest was pretty high on my house(3rd year into a 30yr mortgage). All in all I got back around $7 grand from federal. The reason I ask is that you can only write off a maximum of $3,000 of capital losses against your income each year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mead107 Posted April 16, 2009 Author Share Posted April 16, 2009 The count down is on . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon in Pasadena Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 The reason I ask is that you can only write off a maximum of $3,000 of capital losses against your income each year. That 3K is for ordinary income, over and above offsetting any capital gains (of course following the short-term/long-term rules yada yada) right, Chef? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjeff215 Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Ha! Did mine in February! Already been paid suckers! Ha. Same here. Why does everyone wait so long? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon in Pasadena Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 People who brag about big refunds just don't get what that means-it means they're not taking home enough on payday & need to adjust their witholdings. Even better are the ones who think that what they pay on their return is what their tax bill is. My sister & I both had to pay big this year because we inherited an IRA distribution (we both chose not to do the stuff necessary to defer the taxes for a variety of good reasons that are irrelevant in this post) and when she asked me how much I was paying on my tax return I had to explain that my payment was a result of how much I earned, how much was withheld and how much I still owed and that we couldn't compare what we paid unless we looked at the what we both made & the totals including payments & withholdings. Not that I brag about getting refunds (not that mine are that big either) but-- I've been scratching my head trying to figure a way to reduce my refund (increase my weekly take-home) without doing something to trigger an IRS audit. Any clever suggestions are welcome. (Don't bother suggesting claiming more allowances on my W-4; I'm already taking an uncomfortably large number). Until I have a better option I'll consider my 0% interest loan to the Gov (which massively outperformed the rest of my portfolio in 2008, btw) to be a necessary evil to avoid getting audited. Not that an audit would turn up anything -- it would just be a massive time & energy sink that I don't want to have to deal with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stussy109 Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Or, what really bugs me: People who treat their refund as some sort of windfall income they weren't expecting. Hello? It's not a windfall, it's a repayment of the interest-free loan you made to the government. Most Americans are about as financially savvy as a houseplant. There are certain financial investments and other write-offs which cannot be anticipated and therefore result in a large return. I claim 5 or 6, and still get a good chunk of change back every yr. i think next yr will be the first time i have to pay a large chunk to the mighty uncle sam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stussy109 Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Am I the only one that claims -0- around here & with the writeoff on the house & capital losses in the market this year that have beaten the sh*t out of me got a big fat check from the federal government? Claiming zero is bad or you in the sense that you can make money throught the year on the money you would have had in your own pocket, instead you are willingly depositing your money in the US treasury for free. its better to owe a little at the end then to get a refund. I happen to have crazy write-offs over the last few years so I have been in the same situation even with climing a high #. i would rather owe the govt 15k then get a refund of 5k. Essentially I could have had 20k to play with for the whole yr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Christ Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 you all must be some rich people I'm surprised there is so much complaining done of this board with the wallets you guys have =P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 That 3K is for ordinary income, over and above offsetting any capital gains (of course following the short-term/long-term rules yada yada) right, Chef? Correct. You can offset as many gains with like losses as you can. I used to joke after the dot com bust that I came across people that had 100 years of $3k write offs of their ordinary income. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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