Filing taxes: Anyone else as hesitant as me to pull trigger

[kaneohe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Wow, not for me! Perhaps you have not yet tried EFTPS for estimated tax payments? I think you might find you like it. It only takes me about 5 minutes to set up EFTPS payments for the entire year, and the amount is completely under my control which I much prefer. I'd far rather do that than deal with withholdings from half a dozen small income streams coming at me from various sources. I have to give Audreyh1 credit! I found out about EFTPS from her, or I never would have known about it.

How do folks who use EFTPS remember to have enough bucks in the account at the right time?

[Lagniappe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaneohe How do folks who use EFTPS remember to have enough bucks in the account at the right time?

I just put a reminder on my calendar at the same time that I schedule the payments for the year.

[KB]

I don't schedule my payments all at once. I go in a couple of weeks ahead of each quarterly payment and schedule and deduct the money from my checking account balance.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaneohe How do folks who use EFTPS remember to have enough bucks in the account at the right time?

I finally got brave enough to link it to one of my savings accounts.

But I only had one year where I prescheduled all payments. I usually schedule each payment a week in advance.

That year with the prescheduled estimated payments - it sure was nice not to have to do anything!

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 I finally got brave enough to link it to one of my savings accounts.

I have it linked too (Ally). But no big deal as the Gov has ALL your account information for ALL your accounts anyway.

[RunningBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaneohe How do folks who use EFTPS remember to have enough bucks in the account at the right time?

I use a spreadsheet to track and balance my checkbook. I write all 4 quarters in that spreadsheet, each put approximately when I expect it to hit, so I'll see it coming and make sure I won't have a negative balance, just like I make sure I won't overdraft on my other bills. I also set up a reminder on my google calendar.

[kaneohe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 I finally got brave enough to link it to one of my savings accounts. But I only had one year where I prescheduled all payments. I usually schedule each payment a week in advance. That year with the prescheduled estimated payments - it sure was nice not to have to do anything!

That's why I was wondering.........not brave enough to link to savings account either w/ presumably higher balance. Seems somewhat similar to the idea of not using debit cards since the w/d could be hard to reverse.

I guess if you preschedule all payments you save some time logging in but the time to schedule each payment is the same as if you did them individually.

[scrabbler1]

Taking a second or third look at my tax forms sometimes exposes something I had not realized before. Yesterday, for example, I discovered that I didn't have to include one page of a form once I read a note buried in the text printed on the form. The numbers changed a few cents, so the ripple effect had me changing some other forms a little.

[Gumby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scrabbler1 Taking a second or third look at my tax forms sometimes exposes something I had not realized before. Yesterday, for example, I discovered that I didn't have to include one page of a form once I read a note buried in the text printed on the form. The numbers changed a few cents, so the ripple effect had me changing some other forms a little.

I've seen that too. Like many things, it is often wise to put something aside for a few days and return to it with a fresh mind. It worked well for me with legal briefs. I may not have been consciously thinking about it during the pause, but my subconscious was churning away and I often had a new perspective when I returned to the task. That's why I never put writing (or doing taxes) off to the last minute.

[audreyh1]

I missed a chunk of interest paid from maturing CDs in Jan 2019 because I had mis-categorized them as “interest earned” instead of “*int income” in Quicken. So I have to go back and recalculate my annualized income. At least I pad my quarterly estimated tax payments.

DH is doing the taxes, and we noticed a discrepancy in total interest income, so I had to go track it down.

I do the estimated taxes and DH does the tax return.

[RobbieB]

I enter each 1099 as it arrives into TT, same for estimated payments and the SS and health insurance stuff, mark it as such and file. So never a long session for the taxes at the end as all the input has been done as it arrives in the mail.

[Chicago_FIRE]

It's my first year of tIRA to Roth conversions. I'm just going to rip off the band-aid and get the pain over sooner rather than waiting until April.

[Souschef]

I cannot file until I get one last 1099 from FIDO. I inputted the "Preliminary" I got from them, and would rather wait instead of having to file an amended return
+1 for W2R's suggestion about EFTPS. I use part of my RMD to pay my taxes. I have scheduled the withdrawals for the 4 quarter payments in a spreadsheet along with where the balance of the RMD goes.

[jimbee]

I filed my taxes today. H&R Block finally fixed the bug that was blocking my efile attempt.

[Leroy Jones]

Instead of paying taxes quarterly, I just go on Vanguard at the beginning of the year and set it up to have the Federal and State taxes withdrawn from my monthly payment. I use a spread sheet to guesstimate taxes due and ride it out for the year. Covers pensions, SS and monthly withdrawals. Simple.
Leroy Jones

[lem1955]

I'll have to wait until mid to late March for K-1's. But I also made a number of mistakes last year and had to file 1040X for 2018. I haven't yet received the additional refund from the Feds but I did from CA and VT. I won't make these mistakes again:
No need to input the 1099-G Refund of State Taxes if you take the Standard Deduction rather than itemize.
Be sure to claim Health/Dental Insurance Premium payments for self and spouse as business deduction.
Put estimated tax payments and withholdings from tIRA in the correct places in TT.
I didn't pay enough estimated tax in each quarter last year but found the annualized method and only owe $2 for late payment. In addition to tIRA withdrawals (automatic withholdings), I have part-time consulting income and private REIT income that I need to pay taxes on too. This year, I increased the tIRA withholding to cover but will need to verify it is adequate soon!

[jollystomper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski Is there a reason that you do estimated payments rather than withholdings from tIRA withdrawals/RMDs? I find it a lot more convenient.

I tried the tIRA/401K withdrawal method and it last year for the first time, and it worked well for my situation. I track my income over the year and was able a few (less that quarterly) withdrawals. It worked out well, I hit the state tax amount almost exactly. I would have been close on the federal, but the end of year change that lowered the medical expenses deduction percent helped us, so we'll be getting a refund (which I am not complaining about ).

[Shardo]

Got my last 1099 Friday so the whole pile goes to the accountant Monday.
I like to get it out of the way, refund or not.

[RetMD21]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski OMG... just shoot me. What gets me is that it is almost scary how easy tax prep is getting. 99+% of our income is imports from Vanguard, Fidelity and my pension provider and with the higher standard deduction we no longer itemize. Then it is just a matter of reviewing to see if the imports are correct.... less than an hour soup to nuts.

I looked at my TT return for 2018 including all the worksheets etc it was 215 pages! A lot of it was bs like worksheets for each charitable donation. I streamlined prep this year by not entering stuff that won't matter with the standard deduction.

[rayinpenn]

Even though I have a masters in tax I do our return the last possible minute. Why I hate doing it. The Mrs bugs me to get it done as well.