You have my sympathy but hurry up only 7 hours to get it posted. 
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General discussion
4:53PM > 1 pot coffee > 4 Buds > Sched C, SE, and B done > :-\ I have a complaint!
3) Combine lines 1 and 2 . . . .
<so far so good>
4) Net earnings from self-employment. Multiply line 3 by 92.35% (.9235). If less than... (bla bla bla) . . . .
5) Self-employment tax. If... (bla bla bla) $87,000 or less, multiply line 4 by 2.9% (.029). Enter here and . . . .
What is up with that? How un-remind-ful can you be? 15.3% of 92.35% of your net?
I don't know what Raygun showed or told Tipp and Rostenkowski when he had 'em locked in the basement during the first government shut down, but the average Joe has no idea how much of what he pays is General Fund, Medicare or Social Security. "Drr! Lower is better!" Un-unify the brickin' brackin' budget! Not only can we not tell which side our bread is buttered on, it all looks like bread and no butter. We are paying for butter! And they're stealing it right out from under our noses!
TWO SEPARATE PIE CHARTS, PLEASE!
And enough already with all the 15.3% of 92.35% of your net! Clear as mud! I AM NOT A HAPPY CAMPER!
Discussion is locked
30 Posts
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'Knuckle-Down-You-Idiot' is my middle name, Mary Kay. :) or is it Bob 'What?-Me-Worry?' Graham? - (NT)
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But, Bob.... it all depends if one uses schedule A,B,C,D,E, L,G,H,I,J, K, l,mop,
Q,R,S...T.U.V.wxyz (like in the "Alphabet Song" on Sesame Street.
Then you gotta combine the paraplat thumbob with the folclizer, depending if it was on a Tuesday in Denmark. It also relies on if you were in a submarine at the time, and/or were wearing loafers (please include receipt for the loafers). Refer to IRS publication 37580402 for instructions if you were not wearing loafers.
If using a paid preparer, be sure he/she is licensed, bonded, insured, owns a 401K or Roth, and guarantees he/she will schedule regular visits with you in prison.
Need help otherwise? Consult a 5 year old. Everything is fun for them, and will know as much about it all as I do.
Angeline
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com
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...that makes it a lot easier, and all of it becomes untaxed income that pays for your health coverage. You work 2 jobs?
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Would you prefer 31.5% of 95.32%? 
Sounds like you're new to Schedules C and SE. They pissed me off years ago, I'm used to 'em now. Good luck.
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Forget the coffee. Look at you now; slight inebriated, angry, but also wide awake. Were you without the caffeine, you'd be mellower and could happily trot down to the post office...with your extension request! 
Paul
P.S. No chance that any of the commercially available software packages would help?
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Hi, Bob.
Next time use TaxCut or Turbo Tax -- you can deduct the cost from your Schedule C!
-- Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com
The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!
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Latest trick; $20 to get an electronic refund when the IRS will do for free. Without the $20, TT claims you will have to wait for a check. This is a new trick since last year. Last year, they passed the info to the IRS, but they had copy protection which had the potential to mess up your computer.
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Hi, KP.
Actually I use TaxCut, but which program you prefer between the two seems to be entirely a matter of personal taste.
-- Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com
The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!
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Personal tax preparation software or paid preparer fees are only deductible on Schedule A, when you itemize deductions. This is considered a personal expense, not a business expense. A corporation or partnership, however, CAN deduct for business tax software or fees.
Just got rid of my last return yesterday afternoon - and it was one of the clients who has decided that they won't work as much next year because their EIC was reduced due to the fact that they actually WORKED most of the year. Sigh.........
Ruth
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Yep, I miss that EIC.
I also was having a fit over that Child Tax Credit, since one turned 17 in December. I got cheated!!! 11 months she was eligible and then whammo, she wasn't. That should be called the Child Birthday Discrimination Tax Credit since those with children born in January lose less than a month of it when their kid hits age 17. Something just not right there. They need to portionize that one based on birth month.
And college?! No books deduction?!! What a ripoff. Seems any course materials should also be deductable.
Oh well, at least I have Mom now for a dependant. Oh the joy. 
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Hmmm regarding the monthly prorating.
If your kid is officially born at 11:59 PM Dec 31, it's a dependant the entire year on your taxes I believe.
So doesn't that balence out the other end you're talking about? The first year of eligibility and the last?
RogerNC
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com
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Hi, Roger.
In theory you're right of course -- but there was no tax credit (though there was an exemption) when she was born.
-- Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com
The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!
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Of course for those having children now, they will be able to use it.
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Did it go into effect the next calendar year? or the year they passed it?
If the year they passed it, still had piece of year, no?
OK OK, quit throwing stuff at my head.
Chuckling, I don't have kids so should stay out of such discussions anyway.
RogerNC
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com
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Most people filling out an SE have also underpaid on estimated taxes usually NOT having a refund due. If you have a refund due, then you can file late with no penalty for up to 3 years from when the return is due. I ran a preliminary check on my figures without all my itemized deductions for the 1040A, just using the standard deduction so I could get a preliminary "worst case scenario" and discovered even before itemized deductions I have a refund due, which means no postal run tonight to get that April 15 midnite stamp. Publication 17 explains it more.
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Even if you owe no tax/are due a refund, you still have to file a request for an automatic extension. If you don't, they start nibbling at the refund for the failure to file timely penalties.
dw
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I've done it numerous times. I'll be doing it this year too.
You must first have tax due or a penalty, such as from a previous year for them to "nibble" it from a refund. If you carefully read you will discover the penalties are all based on "unpaid tax" or "tax due".
If what you have is a refund due you have 3 years to redeem it, but you won't get any interest on it for that time period. If you filed an extension, then you also have that added time also to file for the refund. You will get interest on it after filing for it if they take more than 45 days from filing to send it to you.
I've never had a refund reduced and I've had a couple of tax returns filed 3 years minus one or two days after they were first due.
Obviously the IRS doesn't want to be too upfront and open with this, they certainly don't encourage it, and they do an interesting sleight of reading trick by stuffing several pages stressing you about late returns, extensions available, and penalties you can be charged in Publication 17, and a lot of similar in the instruction booklets for the tax forms, which of course manages to get many to not notice or misunderstand the part concerning returns that will have refunds.
I've done some screen captures from the Publication 17 PDF file, the links are below. It's not everything that has to do with late filing for refunds or when a refund is due, but covers the most common scenarios.
Of course one should always do a preliminary run through at least on the 1040 EZ, or the 1040A using the standard deduction amounts just to insure that would give a refund.
It's also best to download forms and booklets directly from the internet (www.irs.gov) since they are changed first if a change in the law affects that year's tax forms.
http://pages.prodigy.net/gbhs/RefundInterest_Pub17_page21.jpg
http://pages.prodigy.net/gbhs/RefundOffsets_Pub17_page19.jpg
http://pages.prodigy.net/gbhs/FileLate_Pub17_page14.jpg
http://pages.prodigy.net/gbhs/RefundOffsets_Pub17_page13.jpg
http://pages.prodigy.net/gbhs/refunddue_Pub17_Page3.jpg
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If you are absolutely sure you will not owe any additional tax, you can skip the filing date and get it all back whenever you get around to it within 3 years. But you need to be very sure that you are in refund territory, because if you have miscalculated, the penalties suddenly come alive - including the failure to file penalty which could have been avoided by simply filing the automatic extension form on which you estimate no additional tax due. A $0.37 insurance policy.
Also, if you have externally reported income such as W2 wages or 1099s, the IRS will start matching that data against the filed returns in the middle of the second year (they have to wait for the W2 data which actually is sent by employers to the Social Security Administration, not the IRS, and it takes up to 2 years for SSA to process it all and send the taxable income and w/h tax data to the IRS) and the IRS may or may not start sending you letters about assumed taxes they calculate as due from the wage information.
However, the federal policy may not be the same at the state level. Some states will stick you for a non-filing penalty for not requesting the extension even if you are due a refund.
IMO, it's better to keep up with the filing dates.
cheers,
dw
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Hi, ****.
Nope -- you're not legally required to file a return if no tax is due. The resident tax expert on Nightly Business Report discussed that last night (his name is Roger McCormley, but I forget what magazine he's with -- maybe Kiplinger?)
-- Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com
The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!
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Nothing but a giant shell game - and we are the suckers. They don't WANT people to know where the money actually goes.
Glad you managed to finish your return though.
Ruth
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