Well, lookie there! My blog is back up.
(also, Happy First Day of Spring to you!)
My web host in CA had a power outage last night, which fried the machine that serves my blog AND the backup machine. So, they had to bring in a new server, and shortly after they got everything back up, the power went out again and they had to start the process all over.
So, my blog's been down pretty much since yesterday evening, which means I haven't exactly had the opportunity to write a blog post.
On the upside (you know how I love those!), I used the extra time to finish up my taxes for this year. They're done and filed. Yay!!
(I use Turbo Tax to do mine.)
The bummer is that this year, we ended up owing, but happily, it wasn't enough to cause us to owe any underpayment penalties.
And another fortunate thing is that since I expected to owe something, I set aside money to pay for the taxes, and after paying what we owe, I still have $4000 left.
It's kind of like a homemade refund, I think. 😉
My taxes are a little too complicated to qualify for this, but Turbo Tax does offer a free federal edition for people who just need a 1040 EZ.
Because all of my income is self-employment income, I need to use the deluxe version, but even that is only $29.99. They do offer a Home and Business version for $74.99, but really, the Deluxe has always been fine for me, probably because I don't have employees and such.
I've been using Turbo Tax for 15 years now, and I highly recommend it. It's super easy to use because it changes the confusing IRS language into plain English and I honestly think pretty much anyone can use Turbo Tax unless they've got a really complicated taxing situation.
Getting our taxes finished has been on my to-do list for somewhere around two months now, so I am super-duper happy to have it finally checked off!
Even if it did take a blog outage. 😉
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Do you do your taxes yourself, or do you hire someone?
P.S. Turbo Tax doesn't pay me to write about them, and they don't even give me a complimentary copy of their software. I paid for my federal and state returns out of my own bank account. 😉
Yay for you! Getting taxes done is such a chore. I finished ours this week too. But I do mine long-hand (I'm a bit nerdy that way).
I used to do our taxes. I started having them done 10 years ago when my oldest started college and had income from 3 different states. I may start doing them myself again in a couple more years when my youngest is done with college.
I always paid to have my taxes done -- over 30 years!!! Well our tax guy retired last year and it was the first year I tried Turbo Tax. It took me 4 hours because I wanted to make sure I read every little bit, but well worth it. Ours ended up costing us $66.98 for the state and federal, but that's cheaper than the $175. a tax guy charged us.
And I had my taxes done 4 weeks ago and received my refund check, deposited in my account in 17 days. YEAH!!!
Yay, for getting your taxes done 🙂 I also do my taxes myself but they are pretty simple (I answer 'No' to most of the questions). In Australia there is a government program that you can do your own taxes through for free called etax, which is pretty easy to use. We do our taxes in June and July though.
My PhD scholarship is tax-free so I always end up getting a refund because my other income is so low. It's great because my car insurance is due around that time, so it's kind of enforced savings 🙂
I love productive downtime!! My taxes are on my to-do list still also - Grrr! I used TurboTax too, but was thinking about also taking my form and info to the Y or the library to see if they might see something I missed. Anyone ever use those free services? Is there a wait, and is it worth it?
Also, I usually use the tax refund to pay things down, to save for vacation and one or two summer camp activities for my children. Every other year, I get the carpets spring-cleaned and the vents cleaned out, since we live in a humid area. What do others do with their tax refund? I'm curious.
We use turbo tax too and love it. This year Vanguard investors got $10 off, so that's nice. We got a huuuuge refund this year owing to the fact that I quit my job in 2012 and we are relying on my husband's small business income. A lower income from a small business plus big bills for health insurance means that we pay very little taxes. Thanks all for the national defense and such!
We use turbo tax also. My parents actually buy it for us, in return for my husband "doing" their taxes. He uses turbo tax for theirs as well, they just don't feel comfy doing it themselves. Yes, it is legal to use it on two different computers!
I think Turbo Tax is fine for simple returns, but it did not save us money in the long term. We now use a CPA because he gives us tips about how to save on taxes for the following year. We also found out we were assuming some things about write offs for a new business that were not accurate. It would have been a painful surprise.
I did find I could cut the costs of the CPA by being super organized with what we brought in.
We also use turbo tax and have for 15 years. My husband has a regular job where they take out taxes but we both have small businesses on the side, which can be a little tricky. Lucky for me, my husband has always done our taxes and pretty much always at the last minute. But at least I don't have to do them!
My hubby and I use Turbo Tax. Or, rather, my hubby uses Turbo Tax. I just get mad when I try to do it so I just make him do it! But I do keep up with all of the paperwork. So I help (a little)! 🙂
Uuggghhhh! I've been dreading doing my taxes this year! I made a goal in JANUARY that I would have them done early this year so I wouldn't have to worry about it. ... Here we are March 20th, the first day of spring, and I STILL don't have them done. It seems like the longer I procrastinate the more I get discouraged to even try to get them done early. :(I usually go into one of those walk in services, but this year I have been thinking about using a program like Turbo Tax because it seems so much simpler and (cheaper!) Thanks for posting this!
Yey for having taxes done! We've been using TaxAct for the last few years and LOVE it! They have a free federal version but you have to pay for state if you want them to do that as well (about $15). Before that I did them myself (the 1040 long form). In a way I'm glad I understand the long form and how to do it so I can more fully understand how the online program works. But I'm glad that we use TaxAct now as it saves me some headache!
My sister does mine. She has a degree in accounting, and she also uses turbo tax...She does them, and her benifit is free haircuts for her, her husband and son for life for free......from me...
I do our taxes. Probably the last 4-5 years, H&R Block would send us a CD & it was free to file, but this year it cost us $9.99, which I happily paid for since I haven't had to pay for the last several years! It's really easy to use also. Our taxes are pretty simple and it stores your information year to year so unless things change during the year, it's all there when I go back. It's crazy what H&R Block charges to have their people do it, even for simple returns. It's really not that intimidating b/c if you do something wrong, it stops you and explains your error and how to correct it.
Good to see your blog up on track!
I'm ex-military so I get my taxes done with the company that provides financial services to the CF. The bonus is that I get investment advice, financial counselling, estate planning help, insurance advice, etc. when ever I want it for a flat rate of $10 dollars a month. (And no they don't earn commissions on any of the advice that they give so I know they suggest what they honestly thing is the best.)
I do my own taxes. The only complication to mine is interest on savings accts. and sometimes dividends. Otherwise, with not owning a home, nor children, it makes it easy just to take the standard deductions. Last year, I got $1.00 back from federal and $7.00 from state. I'm a little fearful this year will be different.
I am so jealous of your maple blossoms! After getting a foot of snow yesterday, those days seem too far away right now... The picture helps assure me that spring is indeed working it's way up the country. (I wish it would scoot along a little faster!)
We've used the free version of TaxAct online for the last few years. It's worked well for us, and isn't too slow for our archaic dial up internet. Years ago we used the TurboTax for home and business. We liked that, too, but it's more than we need right now. If it works for you, free is good.
I had my 4th child two weeks ago today and I didn't get my twos done before he was born so that's on my list of things to do this week/weekend! Congrats on having "extra" money left for your "refund."
Well, I am impressed that you're ready to do that after having a baby two weeks ago!
I did our taxes the first thirty years - then I made a little mistake. The next year - I made a huge mistake. So off to the accountant to fix the huge mistake - and wow - it was a HUGE, complicated mistake. But he fixed it - and we got most of our money back - about 85% - penalties are never returned. I have used Turbo tax a few times - but our taxes got really complicated when our sons went to college and we had to cash in the money we had saved for college. So now our hero, the accountant, does them - it was hard to let go the first year, but it is wonderful to hand them off now!
Yes, we use Turbo Tax also. My husband owns his business too and we use the deluxe version. This year was the first in a long time we didn't owe anything, we got a fat refund! Woohoo! But Hubby decided to put it towards our first quarterly payment. 🙁 Haha
We started using Turbo Tax a couple of years ago and love it. Actually, I love it, but my husband still checks everything by hand.
We have an accountant. This was after way too many years of honest mistakes, penalties, and nasty letters from the IRS. We weren't trying to cheat, but the tax code is really confusing. Our accountant takes care of these problems for us now. Whew.
I also use Turbo Tax, and have for quite a few years. Prior to that I did them myself. This year I kept hearing that H & R Block would get you more, so I did them both side by side. Turbo Tax got me quite a bit more, but not only that, I was more impressed by the in depth questions that are asked when filling out your refund. I did not find H & R Block to be as in depth.
We got back on our federal, but state showed we would owe $800, so I didn't file them thru Turbo Tax, I am going to file them the old fashioned way after I see if I can save a little money with some other deductions.
My hubby and I did our own taxes up until they became way to complicated and painful. We now go to H&R block where our tax dude (as we call him) is and have him prepare them for us. It's worth an hour of our time and the $$$ to us to watch as they get prepared then sent off. Especially this years tax return it was pretty nasty and we thought for sure we'd owe, after it was all said and done though, we got a nice little return. =D As for what we are going to do with said return, we put the majority of it in savings, put aside some money into the baby fund (first child is due in July and we are waiting until after the baby shower to purchase stuff) and then my husband I each picked an item to purchase. Hubby bought a small surround sound for the living room and I bought myself a gas grill, no more charcoal and lighter fluid for this girl!
I have used Turbo tax for 3 years now and I LOVE it!!! It is easy. I pay the extra to get the state taxes done too.
I pay for corporate taxes however, I like to do my own. I enjoy the process of being thorough when it comes to my money and paying close attention throughout the year. Saving copies of anything and everything I may need. Strong organizational skills can make this tedious process quite easy!