I should be a tax planner!

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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:39 am

Expecting more than $19,000 USD back from the IRS! Wooo wooo!

Of course, it took me about five days of work to get the return together.

Western Union · Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:43 am

Who�d have thunk it? A lawyer somehow manages to wrangle himself a tax rebate. Everybody! Drinks are on Sam! Razz

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:48 am

You're obviously earning too much at the clinic NN Wink

Edit: You deleted your post dammit!

419Eater Admin Joined: 30 Sep 2003 Posts: 7469

Sam, the donations addy is [email protected] We accept any amount from $1,000 upwards Smile

Seriously, nice one. I got a rebate from a tax screw-up about 10 months ago; the huge amount of UK �107 Sad

419Eater is my life Joined: 11 Apr 2005 Posts: 365

And I thought I was doing good getting back about $4000. this year. I'm going to send my paperwork to you and see if you can increase that.

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:54 am

Not to rain on anyone's parade but you lost 10% by letting the government use your money for free for a year. If you had put that money in some kind of investment and either broke even or owed a little tax you could have paid the amount due with the interest from the money that was yours to being with. It is better to reduce your deductions to break even.

But it is nice to get money you didn't think you would get.

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:04 am

Yea yeah I know. It's complicated. I'm self employed, and I had a deal last year that I made $60k USD on for just that one deal, which was very nice. But, I COULD have made $300k USD or more on that deal. Because I didn't know what would happen, I paid taxes based on what I made the year before (which included a 4 month period when I was drawing a severence from my old employer AND making self employment income at the same time).

So, I used the "safe harbor" of the taxes for the year before last, just in case I was to end up making a huge amount last year (which I didn't end up making). If you pay in that amount, you don't have to pay interest and penalties if you wound up underpaying. Taxes were a lot higher year before last than last year because of that 4 month period of double income, and because I didn't have as many deductions (such as paying for my entire family's health insurance all year).

This year's quarterly payments, which will be based on the "safe harbor" of LAST years taxes, will be less than half the payments last year.

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:19 am

You lost me after 'it's complicated' [eyes glaze over] This is why we employ an accountant to do our taxes. What he saves us easily exceeds what he charges. Left to our own devices I dread to think what would happen Confused

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:22 am

Programs like turbo tax and tax cut (which I use) are amazing. I actually thing they're more reliable than an accountant, unless you have a REALLY good one.

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:41 am

Being self employed makes predicting harder I know. And with the quarterly filing and all. I worked with people, a long time ago, who all went to a certain tax accountant, and one day they were telling me all the deductions he was getting for them. They were all things that I was already doing so I didn't see any reason to use one. Now with Turbotax it is even easier. Except every year they claim they make it easier to use and it gets more difficult for me to find all the deductions. They seem to hide the details and you have to search for them.

One thing I have read about accountants is that you should use one who has been audited at least once. It means he is willing to work for you. If he has never been audited, it means he is not working the law to your advantage.

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 4:43 am

I guess it boils down to your personal circumstances and how complicated things are likely to be. We've been in a state of 'transition' for the last 3-4 years regarding employment, income, tax status, pensions, etc etc and moving to a new country with a different tax system didn't help either. Through a personal recommendation we found a VERY enthuisastic/exhausting young chartered accountant who understands and loves the Aussie tax system so we just send him quarterly spreadsheets and he does the rest. Frankly it would have been madness to try and unravel it all for ourselves. However, now things are more or less running on traintracks I guess we could do it ourselves......... nah, life is too short - let the boy genius do it Laughing

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 5:53 am

Oh, that's right tax time. I should find my thingy with the income stuff on it and do those. Got a spare 5 days Sam? I could use 19k.....hell who am I kidding, I could use 19 bucks Laughing

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 7:54 am

I never thought I'd be grateful for PAYE and a 10-page tax return until I heard about the US tax system. Laughing

I have enough trouble hanging on to receipts for an expense claim every few weeks, so I'd be stuffed. Rolling Eyes

Congrats on the rebate, Sammy. Very Happy

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 8:07 am

I got back 1200� from tax in january Smile

But that was from 2001-2005 (was too lazy to do it before). For the year 2002 I had paid 70� too less. The good thing is though: If they find out, that you didn�t pay enough taxes, you can recall your "Arbeitnehmerveranlagung" (tax refund or whatever you may call it) and you don�t have to pay it. Unless of course for some reason your tax refund is mandatory (like when being self employed). Very Happy

I simply recalled mine and didn�t have to pay the 70� Very Happy

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 9:14 pm

To all those who are getting these huge tax rebates - You can send me donations via WU money transfer to Dr Usman Bello in Lagos, Nigeria. The test question should be Who's your daddy? The answer is The Axeman.

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 9:19 pm

Cut your accountant a deal: instead of paying him a static fee, tell him you will pay him a percentage of what he is able to get back from the IRS for you. Seems to work well for people around me. Me, I just do it myself. Got 11,000 euro back last year, because I changed jobs and wasn't able to make a decent prediction on my future wages for the rest of the year Very Happy

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