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offcntrGot a letter from the Oregon Department of Revenue Thursday. I messed up my taxes again.
I've done my own taxes for years, even with the business(es. At one point we had three of them). I long ago set up an Excel spreadsheet to sort all my expenses into the correct columns for a Federal Schedule C as they come in, and add all the columns at the end of the year. Add to this Basic level tax software (I started with MacinTax/Turbo, but switched over to HR Block one year when the former required new system software and the latter didn't) and I can knock out my Federal taxes in less than a week, usually sometime between firings in February.
Oregon taxes used to be easy, too. Copy this number from this line on your 1040, that number from that one. They used to not even have their form for itemized deductions; you just attached a copy of your federal Schedule A. So I didn't bother paying extra for the state software; it didn't seem necessary. I'd finish the Federal form, put it aside while I did another pottery production run, then review it in late March, fill out my state form, and send them both off before I started preparing for Saturday Market in April.
The last couple of years have gotten complicated, though. The Oregon form has a whole series of extra worksheets, examples, and sections for additions and subtractions, and I get lost. Well, this year, I got lost; last year, I did something differently stupid. Filling in forms late at night, I put in the numbers for my Fed estimated tax payments, not State. I didn't owe money, in the end, but I had lots less carry-over than I thought.
This year, I seem to have made three mistakes. The first was in the section where you can take off excess medical expenses from your income; I read my maximum off the wrong part of the table, and deducted $400 too much.
The second was a simple addition error. I ended up with a number $30 too low, but it was on the deduction that was already $400 high. So, $370?
The third one was in figuring taxes--we fell off the top of the tax table, so I had to do the [base number] + 9% of [your income over x amount]. I did the math perfectly. I just used the numbers from the Single table, not the Married.
So I got an extra $200 back.
Next year, I'm gonna buy the state package.
Update: Today, I got a letter in the mail from the IRS. Heart sinks immediately; What did I do wrong now? It was a form letter from Trump saying, Did you get your stimulus money? Aren't you grateful?
Feh.
I've done my own taxes for years, even with the business(es. At one point we had three of them). I long ago set up an Excel spreadsheet to sort all my expenses into the correct columns for a Federal Schedule C as they come in, and add all the columns at the end of the year. Add to this Basic level tax software (I started with MacinTax/Turbo, but switched over to HR Block one year when the former required new system software and the latter didn't) and I can knock out my Federal taxes in less than a week, usually sometime between firings in February.
Oregon taxes used to be easy, too. Copy this number from this line on your 1040, that number from that one. They used to not even have their form for itemized deductions; you just attached a copy of your federal Schedule A. So I didn't bother paying extra for the state software; it didn't seem necessary. I'd finish the Federal form, put it aside while I did another pottery production run, then review it in late March, fill out my state form, and send them both off before I started preparing for Saturday Market in April.
The last couple of years have gotten complicated, though. The Oregon form has a whole series of extra worksheets, examples, and sections for additions and subtractions, and I get lost. Well, this year, I got lost; last year, I did something differently stupid. Filling in forms late at night, I put in the numbers for my Fed estimated tax payments, not State. I didn't owe money, in the end, but I had lots less carry-over than I thought.
This year, I seem to have made three mistakes. The first was in the section where you can take off excess medical expenses from your income; I read my maximum off the wrong part of the table, and deducted $400 too much.
The second was a simple addition error. I ended up with a number $30 too low, but it was on the deduction that was already $400 high. So, $370?
The third one was in figuring taxes--we fell off the top of the tax table, so I had to do the [base number] + 9% of [your income over x amount]. I did the math perfectly. I just used the numbers from the Single table, not the Married.
So I got an extra $200 back.
Next year, I'm gonna buy the state package.
Update: Today, I got a letter in the mail from the IRS. Heart sinks immediately; What did I do wrong now? It was a form letter from Trump saying, Did you get your stimulus money? Aren't you grateful?
Feh.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-26 04:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-26 04:27 pm (UTC)Huh, I just realized. If all my Washington shows get cancelled, I won't have to file sales tax this year.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-26 05:24 pm (UTC)On the upside, by the time we get a vaccine, everyone will be really ready to leave the house.