any accountants out there that i can ask a question?

[gozalim]

Regarding the EITC and ... the $3400 investment income cap?

on that topic:
1) Does bank interest count towards the cap?
2) How about investments in Roth-IRA account and such?

[ckmk47]

on that topic:
1) Does bank interest count towards the cap?
2) How about investments in Roth-IRA account and such?

My guess:
1) yes. It's unearned, investment income.
2) no. Anything in a retirement account is not counted toward current income.


Now, accountants?

[googwallet]

My guess:
1) yes. It's unearned, investment income.
2) no. Anything in a retirement account is not counted toward current income.


Now, accountants?

Well said. No accountant needed, this information can be easily found online.

[Dawie]

Well said. No accountant needed, this information can be easily found online.

that can be applied to 99% of the things on DDF

[Amusch]

Can some of the money I pay someone for a car be a "gift" not counted toward the payment and tax for the car? (The equivalent of a signing bonus in sports)

[ExGingi]

Can some of the money I pay someone for a car be a "gift" not counted toward the payment and tax for the car? (The equivalent of a signing bonus in sports)

I am guessing that if someone sells you a car for less than Fair Market Value, the difference between the sales price and FMV is a gift. So if for example the car is worth $10,000 and it is sold to you for $5,000. The seller gave you a $5,000 gift.

See https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/frequently-asked-questions-on-gift-taxes for some information about gifts.

[A3]

Can some of the money I pay someone for a car be a "gift" not counted toward the payment and tax for the car? (The equivalent of a signing bonus in sports)

Would you give the gift other wise?

[yitzf]

Can some of the money I pay someone for a car be a "gift" not counted toward the payment and tax for the car? (The equivalent of a signing bonus in sports)

Can you lie on your taxes? Are you asking if you are allowed to or if you can get away with it?

[yitzf]

I am guessing that if someone sells you a car for less than Fair Market Value, the difference between the sales price and FMV is a gift. So if for example the car is worth $10,000 and it is sold to you for $5,000. The seller gave you a $5,000 gift.

See https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/frequently-asked-questions-on-gift-taxes for some information about gifts.

Not necessarily true. If he was in a rush to get it off his hands and gave you a great deal, then you got a discount not a gift. However in this case his promise to give you the car was in exchange for the total consideration.

[Amusch]

Can you lie on your taxes? Are you asking if you are allowed to or if you can get away with it?

I'm asking if that's called lying. When a team signs a player for $15 million, but then calls $5 million of it a "bonus" for signing the contract, so they can get around CBA rules, are they lying? Does the commish not notice or care?

[yitzf]

I'm asking if that's called lying. When a team signs a player for $15 million, but then calls $5 million of it a "bonus" for signing the contract, so they can get around CBA rules, are they lying? Does the commish not notice or care?

The $5 is still considered income for the IRS. So yes, it would be lying tax purposes but perhaps not for any fees due to MLB .

The CBA is a negotiated agreement between the sides so they can decide to count what they want, and they decided (explicitly or implicitly) not to count bonuses. You don't get to negotiate with the government.

[aryeh1]

Got federal refund 2 weeks ago via dd but state have not,  I usually remember them come one after the other..am i wrong?

[churnbabychurn]

Got federal refund 2 weeks ago via dd but state have not,  I usually remember them come one after the other..am i wrong?

Yeah.. it can be a couple of weeks apart.

With federal you can track it online. Might be able to track state also but I doubt it.

[Jack out of the box]

Got federal refund 2 weeks ago via dd but state have not,  I usually remember them come one after the other..am i wrong?

What state? (I see you're located in DDF. I don't think that state give tax refunds. )

[hachover]

Got federal refund 2 weeks ago via dd but state have not,  I usually remember them come one after the other..am i wrong?

My experience has been state refunds come a few weeks after federal. You can check the status on the state's website, but unless it says something bad I wouldn't worry and just be patient.

Here are some links. If you need any other state, GIYF

NY: https://www8.tax.ny.gov/PRIS/prisStart
NJ: https://www16.state.nj.us/TYTR_TGI_INQ/jsp/prompt.jsp

[yitzf]

Track Federal refunds here

[emak]

Best & cheapest Site to do taxes myself? Fairly simple household income. Turbotax? Credit Karma?

[yitzf]

Best & cheapest Site to do taxes myself? Fairly simple household income. Turbotax? Credit Karma?

I would stay far away from Credit Karma, they are there to sell your info.
I've been really happy with Freetaxusa.com (Federal free, State 12.95)

[hachover]

Best & cheapest Site to do taxes myself? Fairly simple household income. Turbotax? Credit Karma?

You can't get cheaper than free (credit karma). The only downside I can think of is if you're paranoid about missing a deduction or credit that you think a different software would have prompted you about. I don't think that's likely for a simple tax return. If you want to spend the time, you can fill out the information in both softwares and make sure you get the same result- you only pay for (online) TurboTax when you file.

[yitzf]

You can't get cheaper than free (credit karma). The only downside I can think of is if you're paranoid about missing a deduction or credit that you think a different software would have prompted you about. I don't think that's likely for a simple tax return. If you want to spend the time, you can fill out the information in both softwares and make sure you get the same result- you only pay for (online) TurboTax when you file.

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-tax-software/

This year we were excited to try Credit Karma’s new tax service, which promises free filing for nearly every form that individual filers might need. Considering all the prompts and upsells in other software suites, we thought the idea of a program with no upgrades and no feature offers was quite alluring. Unfortunately, the Wirecutter staffers who tried the Credit Karma tax service didn’t have great things to say. One muddled through but wasn’t sure what he was signing up for in exchange for the free software access. Many screens were confusing, interview questions were hard to parse, and even basic interface elements started to annoy our testers. After navigating opaque questions and fields for retirement funds, taxable refund options, and charitable giving, one tester remarked, “When you click in a field with a set format [like an EIN], it doesn’t automatically put the cursor at the start. If you clicked in the box but the middle or end, it won’t fill in properly and you have to start it again.” After getting a result over $6,000 different than TurboTax on his first attempt, this tester put Credit Karma aside, and we did too.