2011 Income Tax Season

[Texsox]

Tis the season, and the earliest I have ever filed.

[SuperSteve]

I overpay so show me the money!

[bigruss]

I've got to wait for brokerage papers to come through, but Im expecting a nice check from the government.

[dasox24]

This is the first time I'll be filing as an independent. Not sure what to expect, honestly. But I'm definitely going to enlist my Dad's help. He's always done my taxes for me, so now I've got to learn on my own.

[Steve9347]

I overpay, my idiot wife underpays and refuses to alter her payments... so I pay.

[NorthSideSox72]

I've got to wait for brokerage papers to come through, but Im expecting a nice check from the government.

I'm in this boat too. I have all my paperwork now, except one brokerage account. And inexplicably, they are now saying mid-Feb. Which is annoying, because I could be filed by a week from now, instead I have to wait 2-3 more weeks.

 

[bigruss]

I'm in this boat too. I have all my paperwork now, except one brokerage account. And inexplicably, they are now saying mid-Feb. Which is annoying, because I could be filed by a week from now, instead I have to wait 2-3 more weeks.

Yea I was just told by one that they are sending them out Feb 15th, fannnntastic!

[LittleHurt05]

Just started working on TurboTax last week, should get it filed in the next week or two. I always overpay, probably due back around 7 or 8 grand for my refund this year. People say I'm giving the government an "interest-free" loan, but I don't care. If I had gotten that money bi-weekly during the year, I would have spent it all, not invested it. I like suddenly getting a large bonus check in February to buy something nice with and build up some more savings. Bought a hot tub last year, probably buying a vacay to Europe with this money.

[Texsox]

I was surprised how quickly I received statements. The last I was waiting for was the 1098-E for my son.

[lostfan]

I overpay, my idiot wife underpays and refuses to alter her payments... so I pay.

Had this exact problem until last year. I sat her down and explained "YOU ARE f***ING US" in very clear terms. She whined that her check would be smaller, I said tough s***, this is our tax rate, and at the end of the year I end up paying the difference of like $600 that I pull out of my ass. I'm not doing that s*** anymore. She finally got it when I kept the entire refund (Maryland usually gives me a decent chunk of money back regardless of what the feds do). I try to keep her away from financial decisions as much as I can because she ranges from almost-competent to ignorant to destructive... I can barely get her to keep track of s*** she donates to charity, she just says "write in $500. No dumbass, I can't do that! It's all good until we f*** around and get audited and guess which one of us is gonna deal with that?!?

 

Other than that, waiting on a 1099 to arrive from my brokerage account, then gonna go ahead and submit my return that same day.

[lostfan]

Yea I was just told by one that they are sending them out Feb 15th, fannnntastic!

Are you using Schwab too?

 

 

Just started working on TurboTax last week, should get it filed in the next week or two. I always overpay, probably due back around 7 or 8 grand for my refund this year. People say I'm giving the government an "interest-free" loan, but I don't care. If I had gotten that money bi-weekly during the year, I would have spent it all, not invested it. I like suddenly getting a large bonus check in February to buy something nice with and build up some more savings. Bought a hot tub last year, probably buying a vacay to Europe with this money.

I see it the same way... plus... if you had it in a savings account what kind of piss-poor interest rate would it have anyway?

[southsider2k5]

Are you using Schwab too?

 

 

 

I see it the same way... plus... if you had it in a savings account what kind of piss-poor interest rate would it have anyway?

 

Pretty much the same zero percent you are getting now.

[bigruss]

Are you using Schwab too?

 

 

 

I see it the same way... plus... if you had it in a savings account what kind of piss-poor interest rate would it have anyway?

Yup, they are one of 3 brokerages I have accounts with (Optionshouse for my main personal investments, and Vanguard for mutual funds). I bought some stock through my Schwab account since I had some cash in there left over from my Europe trip (tehy offer free ATM usage around the world, best account ever for travelers).

 

Couldn't you just set it up so that every paycheck that "extra" amount is put into a savings account specified to invest, or you can put it into a CD, or something. If you already have a brokerage account you could just send a monthly amount extra to it.

[NorthSideSox72]

Pretty much the same zero percent you are getting now.

I keep savings in an online savings account that beats anything at any normal bank. Paying 1.25% right now, has been as high as 3.5%. Still nothing great, and I still don't keep a ton in there (once I build up enough to do something with, I do something with it), but I like to keep a cushion of cash just in case and 1.25% is better than zero.

 

[Harry Chappas]

Not happy with the Making Work Pay Credit goign away. I kept that out of the equation on what I pay so it was free money....not anymore.

[bigruss]

I keep savings in an online savings account that beats anything at any normal bank. Paying 1.25% right now, has been as high as 3.5%. Still nothing great, and I still don't keep a ton in there (once I build up enough to do something with, I do something with it), but I like to keep a cushion of cash just in case and 1.25% is better than zero.

I know my brother has a credit union account that currently is around 3.5%, but has been as high as 6% in the past few years. He's looking at another credit union that is above 4% right now apparently.

 

There are decent ways to make money of your cash still, it just requires more work and effort to get it.

[lostfan]

Pretty much the same zero percent you are getting now.

Right. If I hypothetically had extra money I'd just put it in the "cash" part of my brokerage account anyway and use it to buy stocks

[Balta1701]

Not happy with the Making Work Pay Credit goign away. I kept that out of the equation on what I pay so it was free money....not anymore.

If you've noticed, although that went away, there was a cut of the social security tax that offset a portion of that. If you have an income below abotu $40k, making work pay was a fair amount better, if you're somewhere in the $60-112k range, then the payroll tax credit has helped you more.

[StrangeSox]

Waiting for my W2 to show up before I dump all my documents on my dad. It's nice having an IRS agent do your taxes.

[Harry Chappas]

If you've noticed, although that went away, there was a cut of the social security tax that offset a portion of that. If you have an income below abotu $40k, making work pay was a fair amount better, if you're somewhere in the $60-112k range, then the payroll tax credit has helped you more.

 

Except the State of Illinois took that back.

 

I figured the FICA in when when calculating my withholding last January.

[Texsox]

Except the State of Illinois took that back.

 

 

I almost forgot about state income taxes. We don't do that in Texas.

[Iwritecode]

I would have clicked already filed but my wife had jury duty last year and I'm waiting to see if we get a 1099 for it. Other than that, they are done and we are getting around $5000 back.

 

People say I'm giving the government an "interest-free" loan, but I don't care. If I had gotten that money bi-weekly during the year, I would have spent it all, not invested it. I like suddenly getting a large bonus check in February to buy something nice with and build up some more savings.

 

Same here. We are using our return to pay off a loan that isn't scheduled to be paid off until 2014. It'll save us a bunch in interest alone.

[bigruss]

Ugh Optionshouse is now pushing their tax data release to March 15th, this is ridiculous.

[NorthSideSox72]

Ugh Optionshouse is now pushing their tax data release to March 15th, this is ridiculous.

The new rules on retention of cost basis data are screwing up everyone. If a large shop like Schwab had to push out to Feb 15, a smaller shop like OH will really have a hard time with those kinds of rules changes. Any other smaller shops are likely in the same boat.

 

That said, pushing out tax data that far is a pretty big screw-up regardless, and you'd think it would be priority #1 (after keeping trading up of course). You lose customers that way.

 

[bigruss]

The new rules on retention of cost basis data are screwing up everyone. If a large shop like Schwab had to push out to Feb 15, a smaller shop like OH will really have a hard time with those kinds of rules changes. Any other smaller shops are likely in the same boat.

 

That said, pushing out tax data that far is a pretty big screw-up regardless, and you'd think it would be priority #1 (after keeping trading up of course). You lose customers that way.

Especially when they had already delayed it once.

 

Fortunately for them they are the cheapest and everything else with them has been pretty great.