The Taxman Cometh

[Halo]

Time to ante up for Uncle Sam and his legions who keep the fruited plains blooming.  Always seems a shame the U.S. income tax has gotten so complicated that many of us have to pay extra for tax help or programs.

Remember when the Lasser tax book was like a pamphlet instead of a phone book?  Remember when on-line filing was free?  Remember when tax filing software was not so expensive?

How do you file your federal and state income taxes?  Pay someone else to do them?  Tax software?  With only your own calculator?  Electronic or mail?

I do fed and state with TurboTax and electronic filing.  Great program and fast results, but pricier and pricier.  

Costs me about $100 every year now to file fed and state taxes.  That's bad, but many people tell me it costs them hundreds of bucks to file using tax consultants.  

I resent having to pay one nickel to determine how much taxes I owe.  Sure, could do taxes almost free manually.  I don't think so.  Too complicated and too many opportunities for typos, faulty interpretation, or other errors.

My taxes gradually grew more intricate when I needed to add Schedule C for some self employment and later some stock and mutual fund investments.  But one way or the other, there always seem to be some fine print considerations somewhere that make tax filing anything but simple.

Just seems something wrong with a system that spawns an entire industry to sort out the complicated structure that now squats over the simple idea of everyone paying their fair share and nothing more for the costs of government.  

Taxes getting politicized into all sorts of aid, welfare, incentive, and pork barrel programs seems to be a lot of the dilemma.  I've always fantasized about a simple x percentage for x income, period.  More for the rich, less for the poor, but only simple percentages that everyone with a grade school diploma could quickly and easily understand, accomplish, and feel good about.

Of course that would be the end of the entire sprawling tax preparation industry.

How about you?  How do you do your taxes and do you have any insights to share about doing taxes faster, easier, and cheaper?

How about you from other nations?  Are you content with your country's income tax policies and procedures?

[Ripsnort]

We have an accountant and AMT sucks!

[moneyguy]

<=== used H&R Block website for state and fed taxes. cost me $40 and my return came within a week.

[Rolex]

"How about you from other nations? Are you content with your country's income tax policies and procedures?"

I have to file in two countries - Japan and the US.

The US is the only nation that double taxes on income earned outside the country. Not only do I pay taxes in Japan, I must file and pay tax on the amount above about $85,000. The problem is the exchange rate and cost of living, since $85,000 worth of yen isn't a huge amount in Japan, and is easily exceeded by ex-pats and those temporarily transfered to Japan. It is an issue that is becoming an aggravation to many businesses here. It's getting to the point where people take a financial hit to be transferred here, even with a salary in the $180,000+ range, plus housing and other compensation because the company sponsored items are taxable in the US.

My personal Japanese taxes are simple to do and don't even require an accountant. It can be done in a day. The only inconvenient part is having physically go to somewhere to turn it in. But, the place is staffed with friendly people who will sit down with you and answer any questions, even help you complete a form and calculate everything, if necessary. Painless.

My business taxes are complicated, but still less burdensome than in the US. We handle it in-house and don't need an outside accountant.

My US taxes are royal pain in the arse in comparison.

And, by the way, my tax rate in Japan is substantially less than in the US...

There are not many lawyers in Japan, and I don't think I've ever met a "tax lawyer," so there are no lawyers passing laws to create an industry for lawyers.

[Halo]

(quote) My personal Japanese taxes are simple to do and don't even require an accountant. It can be done in a day. The only inconvenient part is having physically go to somewhere to turn it in. But, the place is staffed with friendly people who will sit down with you and answer any questions, even help you complete a form and calculate everything, if necessary. Painless.

My business taxes are complicated, but still less burdensome than in the US. We handle it in-house and don't need an outside accountant.

My US taxes are royal pain in the arse in comparison.

And, by the way, my tax rate in Japan is substantially less than in the US...

There are not many lawyers in Japan, and I don't think I've ever met a "tax lawyer," so there are no lawyers passing laws to create an industry for lawyers.  (unquote)

Simply amazing.  I never expected to hear anything that ideal.  If a bastion of capitalism can do that, why can't the United States?  Thanks for that insight, Rolex.

[lazs2]

so rolex.. you would say that lower taxes cause increased prosperity in a country based on your lower taxes in japan and your fawning adoration of that country?

lazs

[Sixpence]

lol, you'll like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc3ttAOaK1c

[wooley]

The double taxation of income earned outside the US is a squealing scandal. As a Brit living and working (legally) in the US, this really hits hard.

In terms of how the US system compares with the UK, I'd guess they are pretty similar if you are self employed or have significant non-wage income. Under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, the UK tax system has become hugely more complicated.

The only redeeming factor for most people in the UK is that, as employees, they usually are not required to do a tax return. The PAYE (pay as you earn) system deducts at source (in a similar manner to US withholdings), but it goes directly to the Inland Revenue rather than get held in escrow. Each person gets taxed individually (rather than as a married couple filling jointly for example), so the the rates are the same for everyone and there's no need for an equivalent of a W4. Its only once you get into the upper earning brackets or are self-employed that you really need to do a tax-return. Something major - like you lost your job or were abroad for several months - would need to occur before you applied for a refund - its pretty rare.

In short, in the UK its simpler for most people, but there's less opportunity to play the system.

[Sabre]

Support the Fair Tax Bill (http://www.fairtax.org).

[lasersailor184]

Support the repeal of the 16th amendment.



Btw, that fair tax thing is a crock of ****.

Read here: http://www.fairtax.org/fairtax/about.htm and it's very easy to see how poorly thought through it is.

[DREDIOCK]

I have a nephew that doubles as my accountant.

Or is that an accountant that doubles as my nephew?
I forget which

In any event he takes care of both my business and our personal income tax returns

I just have to provide him with the info
Which usually means me going over every single receipt  for everything I've bought for the business in the last 12 months in Jan. to get it all ready for him by hand.

yea yea I know it would be alot easier if I just did it on the computer whenI actually bought the stuff but I have yet to find a program that works exactly the way I want it to

[Curval]

Originally posted by Halo
How about you from other nations?  Are you content with your country's income tax policies and procedures?

Couldn't be happier thanks!

[kamilyun]

I recently got a notice from my employer that my health benefits may or may not be considered taxable income... Thanks for clearing that up...

I am considered somehow a "consultant" or temporary worker, so I have to file quarterly taxes.  We tried a tax consultant, but wasn't really any simpler than TurboTax and required setting up meetings and what not to sort everything out.

[Banzzai]

Couldn't be easier
here in Holland the taxman supplies a free computer program to do your taxes with
(takes about half an hour to fill in)

then there's about 3 good company's that publish books that help you find any loophole there is
ive alway's seemed to get between 25-35% of my income tax back.


A 72 year old just got told he an keep 3,2 mln euro's after he made a
mistake on his tax return from 2001 (added a few too many "0's" by accident!!!!!)

[LePaul]

Just had the CPA do mine.  I've really gotta either get married or get social security numbers for the cats