When to file tax return?

[OAG]

I used FREETAXUSA and filed very early (return submitted to FTUSA on 1/2/19 for filing when IRS would accept it). Return accepted by IRS, small Refund received a couple of days ago), and return data is listed on IRS Site.

State of OH Return submitted, accepted, and they took the payment yesterday from my checking account.

So all done.

I keep detailed yearly information for tax filing in Excel and accounting application(s).

[RunningBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harllee It appears there is an error on the Turbo Tax federal form (see thread above on this) so those using Turbotax may want to wait to file until Turbotax gets the error corrected.

The "thread above" is not too helpful because thread order moves around as new posts come. I assume you mean this one: http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...ror-95972.html ?

[badatmath]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian S Here in Arizona, they are recommending waiting to file the state return as our stupid politicians haven't yet decided how to change our rules to comply with last year's Federal changes. .

I googled this but I still kind of don't get it. States choose what to do? I didn't realize it was a free for all. Kind of sad they wait a year to think about it.

[RunningBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by badatmath I googled this but I still kind of don't get it. States choose what to do? I didn't realize it was a free for all. Kind of sad they wait a year to think about it.

I thought I heard something this week about Virginia looking into itemizing deductions for state even if you didn't for federal, since some will be looking at a tax increase if they don't itemize with the larger federal standard deduction. I don't think they were talking about for the 2018 tax year though, but I didn't hear it closely. If you lose, say, $5000 in deductions at 5%, that's $250.

[USGrant1962]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunningBum I thought I heard something this week about Virginia looking into itemizing deductions for state even if you didn't for federal, since some will be looking at a tax increase if they don't itemize with the larger federal standard deduction. I don't think they were talking about for the 2018 tax year though, but I didn't hear it closely. If you lose, say, $5000 in deductions at 5%, that's $250.

The issue is that many States conform to the federal tax code. The TCJA reduced rates across the board, but also limited certain tax deductions. If States continued to use the Federal tax base (AGI, deductions, taxable income, etc.) and didn't similarly reduce their rates, they imposed a tax increase on their citizens due to inaction on the part of their legislatures.

This analysis is from before TCJA was actually passed, but is still relevant: https://taxfoundation.org/federal-ta...act-on-states/

[Mango1956]

I just filed using TurboTax. Had to wait for a form until today. All done.

[badatmath]

Thanks for the link USgrant.

[Sunset]

I'm in no rush to file early, as I hate when we get sent an amended brokerage form, where they were off by $10 or some small amount.
Meant I had to do an amended return.

So now I wait a while before filing.

[audreyh1]

We’re always stuck waiting for foreign tax credit detailed info to get the tax credit. Last year it wasn’t all available until the end of March.

[rk911]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunningBum That's still p*ssing me off, VG telling me there would be no effect but now telling me I get my tax info a couple weeks later.

our VG brokerage 1099 became available yesterday.

[rk911]

Quote:

Originally Posted by badatmath I googled this but I still kind of don't get it. States choose what to do? I didn't realize it was a free for all. Kind of sad they wait a year to think about it.

same old , same old. if it wasn’t for the last minute nothing would ever get done.

[Montecfo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian S Here in Arizona, they are recommending waiting to file the state return as our stupid politicians haven't yet decided how to change our rules to comply with last year's Federal changes. If you file early, it's a crap shoot as to whether or not you'll have to file an amended return when the rules are finalized. Thing to do I guess would be to file Federal and wait to file the state.

Same in Virginia. it is a big issue for states which follow federal. it creates a huge state windfall because deductions are lost, but unlike federal, tax rates did not change.

Politicians thus have new money to play with and reluctant to give it up.

[meleana]

I don't get our brokerage form until March or else I would be done. I use Tax Act.



Usually if you owe money you can indicate when you want the money you owe to be withdrawn from your account.

[Curmudgeon44]

Do people not understand that FILING taxes is not the same as PAYING them, and if you owe taxes and file today, you still have until April 15 to pay on time?

That reduces the reason to wait. It's a little thing but you can frustrate fraudulent filers when you file early.

Hope this helps,

C44 with TaxAide 20 years

[gerntz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gauss You probably have 'brokerage accounts', which had their deadline to report moved back to Feb 15 about 10 or so years ago. If you stick to earned income, retirment accounts, stocks / bonds / bank accounts / mutual funds that are held outside of a brokerage account. then the 1099's all need to be reported by Jan 31. This was one of the reasons that I never gave up my Vanguard legacy mutual fund (aka non-brokerage) account despite their nagging me to do so. -gauss

True. But I wouldn't make an investment choice based on getting tax info by Jan. 31 vs. Feb. 15.

[gerntz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brat Both Fed and State owe me this year but I will wait for the next software update. If my tax software wants to charge me $ to e-file my State return (as they did last year) then I will kill trees.

Yea, I finally figured that out. Timber!!

[gerntz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunningBum I would think if your return were pretty basic, you're ok to file anytime. It's not like they are still trying to get the tax brackets correct by now or anything (though I think they did have an issue with cap gains taxability initially)? If it's more complicated, like rental income, your own business, limited partnership, etc, maybe they don't have those nailed down yet? Just guessing.

When you need TT Premier to handle your LLC's, basic isn't where it's at.

[W2R]

Last year I filed on February 18th. This year I wanted to wait a bit longer for some unknown reason; to make sure TurboTax correctly implemented the changes I guess?

But I'm already starting to think "I'd better get busy and DO this", nearly every day. At this rate, I'll probably get my forms printed out in a week or so, and maybe file in a couple of weeks if all my forms are available.

[skipro33]

I completed my federal and state filing using H&R Block software. A couple things I discovered.

1. I am a resident of California. The software has you fill out the federal forms first. Several times the program pointed out that I didn't need to file deductions; for charities, donations, work related expenses, even expenses for filing taxes since all of them don't add up enough to offset the new and higher standard deductions. Great! Knowing this, next year's taxes will take all of 5 minutes. Then it had me fill out the state forms. I was shocked to see I owed hundreds more than I should. I went back to the federal form and reloaded all the donations and deductions I had deleted after painstakingly entered earlier, even though the new standard federal deduction is more than my itemized ones, and all of a sudden, instead of owing the state hundreds of dollars, I was due a refund of hundreds of dollars.

2. At one point the software had me enter a date to pay my taxes. It suggested April 15th. I could file my taxes electronically and pay the amount due at a later date. Refunds are paid back as quick as the system allows.

3. H&R Block software made a mistake on my filing. I used them last year and at one point near the end of e-filing, the federal government asks for the AGI from last year's taxes. H&R filled that box in and I assumed it was right. It wasn't. My federal form was rejected. Then the state of California also rejected my return as they require the fed to accept before they will. I looked up what my AGI was from last year and compared it to what H&R filled in. H&R filled in with the amount I got back from my state return last year, not the AGI from the federal form last year, but the refund from the state last year. That's messed up! Not only that, it's a box that I could not modify what H&R populated it with. Took me a while of research to find out I had to right click on the box, agree that any number I put in released them from any guarantee that the forms were filled right and I was safeguarded from an audit. Eventually I got the number in right and the feds accepted my filing. But the state rejected it because the AGI wasn't right. Fuuuuu......
Seems the state wants the AGI from the state form and the feds want the AGI from the Fed form. But H&R only asked me for the Fed AGI. But now that the feds accepted the form, I could repopulate the AGI that the state wanted. Filed again and it worked.


****EDIT****
4. I forgot; the software encourages me to hold off giving my donations and deductions every other year in order to accumulate enough to be more than the standard deduction on the federal return. If I did that, I'd owe more to the state of California every other year than I'd get back from the Feds.

[cathy63]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skipro33 I completed my federal and state filing using H&R Block software. A couple things I discovered. 1. I am a resident of California. The software has you fill out the federal forms first. Several times the program pointed out that I didn't need to file deductions; for charities, donations, work related expenses, even expenses for filing taxes since all of them don't add up enough to offset the new and higher standard deductions. Great! Knowing this, next year's taxes will take all of 5 minutes. Then it had me fill out the state forms. I was shocked to see I owed hundreds more than I should. I went back to the federal form and reloaded all the donations and deductions I had deleted after painstakingly entered earlier, even though the new standard federal deduction is more than my itemized ones, and all of a sudden, instead of owing the state hundreds of dollars, I was due a refund of hundreds of dollars. 2. At one point the software had me enter a date to pay my taxes. It suggested April 15th. I could file my taxes electronically and pay the amount due at a later date. Refunds are paid back as quick as the system allows. 3. H&R Block software made a mistake on my filing. I used them last year and at one point near the end of e-filing, the federal government asks for the AGI from last year's taxes. H&R filled that box in and I assumed it was right. It wasn't. My federal form was rejected. Then the state of California also rejected my return as they require the fed to accept before they will. I looked up what my AGI was from last year and compared it to what H&R filled in. H&R filled in with the amount I got back from my state return last year, not the AGI from the federal form last year, but the refund from the state last year. That's messed up! Not only that, it's a box that I could not modify what H&R populated it with. Took me a while of research to find out I had to right click on the box, agree that any number I put in released them from any guarantee that the forms were filled right and I was safeguarded from an audit. Eventually I got the number in right and the feds accepted my filing. But the state rejected it because the AGI wasn't right. Fuuuuu...... Seems the state wants the AGI from the state form and the feds want the AGI from the Fed form. But H&R only asked me for the Fed AGI. But now that the feds accepted the form, I could repopulate the AGI that the state wanted. Filed again and it worked. ****EDIT**** 4. I forgot; the software encourages me to hold off giving my donations and deductions every other year in order to accumulate enough to be more than the standard deduction on the federal return. If I did that, I'd owe more to the state of California every other year than I'd get back from the Feds.

This is good info. I've been wondering how TurboTax will deal with the situation of std deduction on Fed and itemized on CA returns. I can't do our returns until after mid-Feb due to 1099s not being available yet, but I'll be interested to see how my experience compares with yours.