2023 Taxes

[JEBar]

historically completing our state and federal tax forms is very simple .... 2 statements from NC Public Employees retirement and 2 from Social Security ..... we usually have those forms on or before Feb 1st .... this year our state forms came right on time ..... the Federal 1099's have yet to appear .... last week I started working on getting the Feds to send replacement forms .... I know, I'm old school which is synonymous with being hopelessly antiquated ..... calling the IRS local, state and national offices was an exercise in total futility .... long waits on hold yielded ABSOLUTELY NOTHING .... getting on line I created a personal account with SSA that allowed me to print our a 1099 .. .. I should have known things were going tooooo easy .... to create that account I had to enter our email address and that proved to cause a major issue .... we both use the same email address .... Maureen's name came up first so getting her info was easy .... when I'd enter our email address while trying to get my info, the computer would go to her account and there was no way I could get any closer to setting up an account for me ..... trying to call and get help resulted in not even getting to speak with a person .... to get around it I had to go and create a new email account for me ..... once that was completed, things improved and we've now been able to download my info .... I don't know if we are the only couple on the planet that use a single email address .... if there are any others, I hope this info may help them deal with this governmental idiosyncrasy

[Sir Henry]

I have called, written and visited my Senators in Washington and Wisconsin. It’s amazing what they can do to help.

I just finished my taxes although I use a professional. For me it pays as he will end up with less than $300 and he saved me about $3,000 in federal and state taxes by withdrawing my IRA and having it paid directly to the Church.

[daytime dave]

Jim, when you said you both used the same email address, I thought I would know how that played out. Unlike your physical address, which can reflect numerous persons residing there, for some reason, people's email address seems to be unique to only them.
I'm glad you got it easily taken care of.
I have to make my appointment with my tax man still. Thanks for the reminder.

[Vaquero]

The wife and I used the same e-mail for several years before I did a separate one.

RP

[JEBar]

Unlike your physical address, which can reflect numerous persons residing there, for some reason, people's email address seems to be unique to only them.

it sure seems that the case with the government .... until we hit this situation, I'd never considered a couple to share and email address to be odd .... all of our bank accounts, titles, deeds, contracts and such are in both of our names .... oh well, we can deal with it

[Mags]

Unlike your physical address, which can reflect numerous persons residing there, for some reason, people's email address seems to be unique to only them.

it sure seems that the case with the government .... until we hit this situation, I'd never considered a couple to share and email address to be odd .... all of our bank accounts, titles, deeds, contracts and such are in both of our names .... oh well, we can deal with it

Not just government. Our supplemental medical insurance and Rx require unique email address for each of us.

[JEBar]

Not just government. Our supplemental medical insurance and Rx require unique email address for each of us.

interesting .... that isn't the case with ours

[dave77]

I'm single and I have 4 email accounts. 2 POP3 accounts through my local ISP that I only give out to trusted places, almost never get any spam to them. A Yahoo account that I use quite a bit, some spam but Yahoo is pretty efficient at identifying it and sending it to the spam folder. Also have a gmail account that I very rarely use.

As far as my 2023 taxes, IRS accepted my return on Monday, Jan. 29 and my refund was deposited to my bank the following Tuesday.

The state raised the limit's on our senior citizen property tax discount program, 3 tiers and I was able to qualify for the middle tier so should get a decent saving on my property tax. WA has no state income tax so property taxes can be pretty high. I have to be very careful to not go over the top tier limit 2 years in a row. My property assessment is frozen at it's 2014 level as long as I don't go over the limit. Go over one year and I have to pay taxes at that year's assessment but it goes back down to 2014 level the following year but go over 2 years in a row and it permanently goes up to the newest assessment. Property values here have gone up so much that my assessment has probably doubled since 2014.

[JEBar]

happy to be able to say, we completed our 2023 taxes and it went much smoother than I feared it would be .... I'd completely over thought what it would take ..... in addition to our regular items we have to enter, we sold an investment lot we bought back in the late 90's .... that necessitated dealing with Capital Gains which was completely new to me .... bottom like our H&R Block made it pretty simple .... there is supposed to be an update of the federal forms in 3 days .... we will hold off e-filing until after we can download that update

[BrokenolMarine]

About fifteen years ago, we headed to our accountants office to drop off our taxes only to find a police tape across the door and a note saying his records had been seized by the IRS. There was a number to call. Oops. I called the number and we met the agent at the office. She gave me OUR records. They were only interested in "certain" businesses had had handled for a couple decades.

We had to find a new accountant as I wasn't going to do my own, and didn't want to trust a big box accountant. (H&R Block, etc.) We asked around, and an agency a few towns over was recommended and I gave them a call, they scheduled an interview. An "Interview." They were a Mennonite staffed agency, family owned and run for years. They handled mostly Mennonite farm businesses but we were recommended by a friend of the business we knew from the rescue squad so they accepted our application for the interview. Basically, our gal told us there had Black and White interpretations of the tax code. NO gray areas. If we were looking for Gray areas, we needed to keep looking.

I told her I had a long career in LE and didn't want anyone who looked for gray areas. I'd submit my records, if I wasn't sure about a deduction, I'd highlight it and I'd leave it up to them. She stuck her hand across the desk and said, "Welcome Aboard." When we left Virginia, I emailed them and asked if she could still do our Federal and Oklahoma State Taxes. "Happy to."

Yesterday, I scanned all my documents and emailed them to her. In a few weeks she'll email the results and efile after we send an approval. A week later the efile form will come in the mail and I'll sign and send it back with the check for the services. Since we NEVER dabbled in the gray areas, we have never had to worry about audits.