brownmonster
Man of Great Wisdom
How did you make out after your near fatal withholding error?
Help with my taxes please!!!!
- Thread starter HotPepper
- Start date
How did you make out after your near fatal withholding error?
UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)
Well-Known Member
Getting back just under $3K combined.
brownmonster
Man of Great Wisdom
I write them off also. Im not the picture of style, but trust me, my work shoes are only work shoes. I do not and will not wear them elsewhere.
And that would be because of your 401k contributions, and your charity contributions? Correct?
brownmonster
Man of Great Wisdom
That or he paid in too much.
Ha That.
Bagels
Family Leave Fridays!!!
... which makes you a tax cheat. As I wrote earlier, enforced tax laws clearly stipulate that in order for workwear to be deducted, they must not be suitable for everyday wear, even if they're dedicated for work. Even white collar employees cannot deduct suits, ties, shoes, etc. that they do not wear outside the office. I'm not writing this for toonertoo's benefit, but for the benefit of people who read BrownCafe and wrongly receive re-assurance that these items are deductible. I even had one driver tell me he drives a dedicated car to work because his CPA advised him it makes it a write off. Wrong.
All but a few UPSers have straight-forward taxes and should consider purchasing a program like TurboTax or HR Block at Home -- I've seen them advertised as low as $20, and most PTers / some drivers with lesser incomes qualify for free editions (many credit unions and small banks also offer free versions, or steeply discounted ones). CPAs and tax services have created a popular fallacy that they can create refunds. This is simply not true, and these programs will walk you through every possible deduction, ensuring your maximum refund. Even the most complicated taxes can be completed (with these programs) in less than a few hours -- and after you've done it once or twice, less than an hour. You should only seek the services of a CPA when you have really complicated taxes -- you commute out-of-state, on a jet, for work; you earn foreign income; you own 6 homes; etc. Few UPSers qualify
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UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)
Well-Known Member
... which makes you a tax cheat. As I wrote earlier, enforced tax laws clearly stipulate that in order for workwear to be deducted, they must not be suitable for everyday wear, even if they're dedicated for work. Even white collar employees cannot deduct suits, ties, shoes, etc. that they do not wear outside the office. I'm not writing this for toonertoo's benefit, but for the benefit of people who read BrownCafe and wrongly receive re-assurance that these items are deductible. I even had one driver tell me he drives a dedicated car to work because his CPA advised him it makes it a write off. Wrong.
My Rocky's are only for work which is why I wrote off the $90 purchase price last year. I also write off my $60 New Balance sneakers as they are also only for work. I write off $10/week for uniform maintenance, $1080 for union dues and the money I spend on uniform accessories.
All but a few UPSers have straight-forward taxes and should consider purchasing a program like TurboTax or HR Block at Home -- I've seen them advertised as low as $20, and most PTers / some drivers with lesser incomes qualify for free editions (many credit unions and small banks also offer free versions, or steeply discounted ones). CPAs and tax services have created a popular fallacy that they can create refunds. This is simply not true, and these programs will walk you through every possible deduction, ensuring your maximum refund. Even the most complicated taxes can be completed (with these programs) in less than a few hours -- and after you've done it once or twice, less than an hour. You should only seek the services of a CPA when you have really complicated taxes -- you commute out-of-state, on a jet, for work; you earn foreign income; you own 6 homes; etc. Few UPSers qualify.
I am glad that you mentioned this. I deliver to a Liberty Tax office and always walk out shaking my head in frustration----they are ripping people off. Most of the people who have their taxes done there can easily do them at home, most times for free. I used to use Turbo Tax but switched to H&R Block when TT started adding fees for printing multiple returns. Mine is a fairly straightforward return---it took me less than an hour to do mine and 15 minutes to do my son's return--and the tax software is (almost) idiot-proof.
My Rocky's are only for work which is why I wrote off the $90 purchase price last year. I also write off my $60 New Balance sneakers as they are also only for work. I write off $10/week for uniform maintenance, $1080 for union dues and the money I spend on uniform accessories.
All but a few UPSers have straight-forward taxes and should consider purchasing a program like TurboTax or HR Block at Home -- I've seen them advertised as low as $20, and most PTers / some drivers with lesser incomes qualify for free editions (many credit unions and small banks also offer free versions, or steeply discounted ones). CPAs and tax services have created a popular fallacy that they can create refunds. This is simply not true, and these programs will walk you through every possible deduction, ensuring your maximum refund. Even the most complicated taxes can be completed (with these programs) in less than a few hours -- and after you've done it once or twice, less than an hour. You should only seek the services of a CPA when you have really complicated taxes -- you commute out-of-state, on a jet, for work; you earn foreign income; you own 6 homes; etc. Few UPSers qualify
.I am glad that you mentioned this. I deliver to a Liberty Tax office and always walk out shaking my head in frustration----they are ripping people off. Most of the people who have their taxes done there can easily do them at home, most times for free. I used to use Turbo Tax but switched to H&R Block when TT started adding fees for printing multiple returns. Mine is a fairly straightforward return---it took me less than an hour to do mine and 15 minutes to do my son's return--and the tax software is (almost) idiot-proof.
S
serenity now
Guest
It will not be long before UpState checks in for today.
please stop, you're killing me, ok this is hurting
oldngray
nowhere special
I use H&R Block software to do my own taxes and unless you have something really unusual its all you need. I have tried Turbotax and its OK but I like H&R Block better. If you go to one of those tax preparing places they mostly use those same programs. I do itemize and have deductions and investment income but its still easy to do your own taxes. The only hard part is keeping your own records of everything and when you do your taxes you just plug in the numbers.
UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)
Well-Known Member
The Internet and online banking/financial services have made record keeping so much easier. I had my W-2 and 1099's downloaded long before I got them in the mail.
pretender
Well-Known Member
... which makes you a tax cheat. As I wrote earlier, enforced tax laws clearly stipulate that in order for workwear to be deducted, they must not be suitable for everyday wear, even if they're dedicated for work. Even white collar employees cannot deduct suits, ties, shoes, etc. that they do not wear outside the office. I'm not writing this for toonertoo's benefit, but for the benefit of people who read BrownCafe and wrongly receive re-assurance that these items are deductible. I even had one driver tell me he drives a dedicated car to work because his CPA advised him it makes it a write off. Wrong.
All but a few UPSers have straight-forward taxes and should consider purchasing a program like TurboTax or HR Block at Home -- I've seen them advertised as low as $20, and most PTers / some drivers with lesser incomes qualify for free editions (many credit unions and small banks also offer free versions, or steeply discounted ones). CPAs and tax services have created a popular fallacy that they can create refunds. This is simply not true, and these programs will walk you through every possible deduction, ensuring your maximum refund. Even the most complicated taxes can be completed (with these programs) in less than a few hours -- and after you've done it once or twice, less than an hour. You should only seek the services of a CPA when you have really complicated taxes -- you commute out-of-state, on a jet, for work; you earn foreign income; you own 6 homes; etc. Few UPSers qualify
Almost everyone I know takes the deduction. I do not however, because I just can't see where the risk is worth the return. For example, just using conservative figures, and rounding off, a driver making $80K, has to exclude the first $1600 (2%). Estimating union dues at $1000, uniform maintenance at $500, and a good pair of work boots at $200, you end up with a $100 deduction ($1700-$1600), which puts an extra $25 in your pocket.
I know this is a VERY simplistic example. There are other miscellaneous deductions that can be used to meet the 2% threshold, which would throw off the above figures. However, there are also many spouses who work, which could raise the 2% to well above $2000. The bottom line is, the risk of being audited for the above items is probably very low, but what happens if your return is audited for something else--perhaps an incorrect entry? I got a notice one year because the bank's 1098 was incorrect. I don't know how it works, but it would seem that once you are on their radar, they would take a look at the entire return to see if they could find anything else??
I like Turbo Tax just because I have been using it for so long. I imagine HR Block is the same in that after the first time you use it, you can import a lot of information from your previous year's return. Also, using their IT'S DEDUCTABLE feature, you can can log your charitable contributions as you make them throughout the year. It will also log your Goodwill or Salvation Army army items and assign a value to them.
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Bagels
Family Leave Fridays!!!
Although the amounts are going to be higher for most people, you brought up a fantastic point: ultimately, faux deductions equate into a minimal amount of cash placed back into your pocket. I agree, we should be able to deduct things like our work shoes, but my opinion's irrelevant and enforceable tax laws reign. If claiming work shoes as a deduction was your sole hiccup, I wouldn't worry -- but typically, that's not the case. If you do get audited -- and things like cell phone deductions will heavily increase your chances -- the penalties you pay & headache you'll endure will make you realize that the extra dinner out your ill-informed deductions bought simply wasn't worth it. And before anybody says "it won't happen to me..." I'll reiterate: my brother is a tax attorney and most of his clients aren't rich people scamming caught scamming the system, or deadbeats who refuse to pay. This is just an FYI, honestly, I don't care what anybody does/does not do.
This has always bothered me, too. Most services like Liberty & Jackson-Hewitt are located in improvised areas, mainly because these people are the most vulnerable to buy into the marketing that tax return services can create refunds. The average person preparing these returns has, at most, a few hours of classroom training (no college education or anything). Then they charge $35 to complete the EZ form, which takes them 5 minutes to complete -- and anybody with a middle school education could figure out in under an hour. For many years I've volunteered for a local organization and have prepared probably thousands of returns for low-income people. These people always get upset that I can't create money for them -- most of them have never worked, and receive their income from the gvt.
542thruNthru
Well-Known Member
@UpstateNYUPSer can help you. He now worka for HR Block!
MyTripisCut
Never bought my own handtruck
I thought I saw him filling out an application at Dick Noses R Us.
No1 Special
Long time listener, first time caller.
He hasn't been on here for nearly 2 years, possibly in prison for tax evasion.
PASinterference
Yes, I know I'm working late.
No doubt he still lurks here, he left twice and probably changed his user name to challenger, the old pvd that conquered a Subaru full of Amazon packages EVERY DAMN DAY and needs to feel necessary for ups to exist.
