Your inability to not blame Democrats for all your problems amazes 
"Hey StroudCrowd, what do you think of this steak?"
"It would have been better, but the Democrats!!!!"
"I'm so much fo smarter than everyone!"

More educated people voted for Biden BTW.

Trump: "I love the poorly educated."

As if the educated were exempt from the influences of a biased media and peer pressure. 

I know plenty of degreed people who don’t know their [BLEEP] from a hole in the ground.

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Your inability to not blame Democrats for all your problems amazes 
"Hey StroudCrowd, what do you think of this steak?"
"It would have been better, but the Democrats!!!!"
"I'm so much fo smarter than everyone!"

More educated people voted for Biden BTW.

Does include dead people?

Face it, more uninformed people vote Democrat. That's why they are pandered to.

Oh man.

All those geniuses at the Trump rallies?! Hahaha

Get over yourself. There are extremely intelligent people on both sides. And there are very dumb people on both sides. Trying to claim one side is more uninformed than the other is just ignorant. But I’m not shocked you’re clinging to your schtick.

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You can be smart AND uninformed. Anyone who votes for more government in their lives is uninformed.

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Going back to comments about the stimulus, the second stimulus came for a lot of people today. The first one I invested some of it in the stock market (along with money from paychecks, tax refunds) and was able to generate some extra money. This one I might save or use to pay the IRS, because I believe I will owe them this year, lol. I usually don't get a really big refund, but largely because of the money I made through investments this year, it looks like I will owe the IRS something. I also got a new job which boosted my income from last year, though I also try to make sure I have enough money taken out of my check for federal and state to prevent owing the IRS. I don't want to owe anyone if I can help it. But I don't actually mind owing if it's due to something like investment income and/or having a big increase in income.

Rule of thumb, if you don't owe the IRS money, you are doing it wrong.  The uninformed (usually Democrat) tax payer doesn't understand why they get a big fat check back from Uncle Sam. The celebration of getting your own money back is sad.

I remember learning in college when I was taking some business/financial courses that it was best to try and break even. I had one professor in college who often preached how a "perfect" tax return includes people not owing the IRS and the IRS not owing them anything. She often said if you got a big refund back, that you gave the IRS an interest free loan of your own money. And you could take that money and earn interest on it elsewhere.

I've never really gotten a big refund and one reason is because I don't have kids/dependents. So I want get stuff like the Child Tax Credit, Additional Child Tax Credit Earned Income Credit related to children or EIC period.  I remember in the past working at a job and seeing clients get back like $10,000 and $11,000 largely related to having kids. And how some of those people weren't satisfied with that. They would be like "is that all?" lol. Heck, I've seen situations where someone had kids and actually got back more money than they made for the year. People that don't have kids/dependents will typically not get some of the big refunds that a lot of people with them get. And I definitely understand that.

I'm definitely okay with owing the IRS this year. I would be okay with doing it every year, if I could make at least around the type of investment income I made this year. In March when I thought that my last job was going to be laying people off,  I opened up a robinhood account and started investing money. I took money from paychecks and from my federal, and state refund and started putting money in it. And then that job laid people off and I got my new job. And I just continued investing. I found a penny stock that did very well. I didn't even own a ton of shares, but it still performed well. And I was able to move into a new place and put a nice amount back into my local economy.

I'm not sure how much money I made from investments this past year, but I know I probably spent like at least an extra $7,000 (in additional to paying normal expenses) in my local economy the past few months (like since August). From moving and getting new furniture for my new apartment and paying two rents one month. One rent to my old place and one for my new place because I couldn't move into the new place until later that month. Some of that was money I earned from working and having bonuses but quite a bit of that was from investment income too. Plus I still have some money left in my Robinhood account. (to continue investing and for additional savings, emergency, etc...)

I'm waiting to see what the tax documents look like that Robinhood will send me for this year to see what exactly what I made in total.

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You can be smart AND uninformed. Anyone who votes for more government in their lives is uninformed.

And there are plenty of uniformed people on both sides.

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You can be smart AND uninformed. Anyone who votes for more government in their lives is uninformed.

Anyone who sees complex policy decisions as binary choices between "more" or "less" government is both uncritical and uninformed.
If the government here is bad, then work on making it better. Smaller is not better, it's just smaller.  Let's go for better, whether better is bigger or smaller.

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My fellow southpaw Mark Brunell will probably always be my favorite Jaguar.

Rule of thumb, if you don't owe the IRS money, you are doing it wrong.  The uninformed (usually Democrat) tax payer doesn't understand why they get a big fat check back from Uncle Sam. The celebration of getting your own money back is sad.

I remember learning in college when I was taking some business/financial courses that it was best to try and break even. I had one professor in college who often preached how a "perfect" tax return includes people not owing the IRS and the IRS not owing them anything. She often said if you got a big refund back, that you gave the IRS an interest free loan of your own money. And you could take that money and earn interest on it elsewhere.

I've never really gotten a big refund and one reason is because I don't have kids/dependents. So I want get stuff like the Child Tax Credit, Additional Child Tax Credit Earned Income Credit related to children or EIC period.  I remember in the past working at a job and seeing clients get back like $10,000 and $11,000 largely related to having kids. And how some of those people weren't satisfied with that. They would be like "is that all?" lol. Heck, I've seen situations where someone had kids and actually got back more money than they made for the year. People that don't have kids/dependents will typically not get some of the big refunds that a lot of people with them get. And I definitely understand that.

I'm definitely okay with owing the IRS this year. I would be okay with doing it every year, if I could make at least around the type of investment income I made this year. In March when I thought that my last job was going to be laying people off,  I opened up a robinhood account and started investing money. I took money from paychecks and from my federal, and state refund and started putting money in it. And then that job laid people off and I got my new job. And I just continued investing. I found a penny stock that did very well. I didn't even own a ton of shares, but it still performed well. And I was able to move into a new place and put a nice amount back into my local economy.

I'm not sure how much money I made from investments this past year, but I know I probably spent like at least an extra $7,000 (in additional to paying normal expenses) in my local economy the past few months (like since August). From moving and getting new furniture for my new apartment and paying two rents one month. One rent to my old place and one for my new place because I couldn't move into the new place until later that month. Some of that was money I earned from working and having bonuses but quite a bit of that was from investment income too. Plus I still have some money left in my Robinhood account. (to continue investing and for additional savings, emergency, etc...)

I'm waiting to see what the tax documents look like that Robinhood will send me for this year to see what exactly what I made in total.

For the most part your professor is correct.  For the longest time I was +/- around $200 or so on my taxes until life changed.  Kids grew up, no more dependents and my home being paid off eliminated many of my deductions.  I usually have to write a hefty check to the treasury every year for taxes.

Regarding your taxes on gains you made by investing, it's going to possibly be a good chunk depending on what you invested in, how much you bought/sold and how well it did.  Keep in mind, capital gains applies to how much a stock appreciated from the time that you bought it to the time that you sell it.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

Going back to comments about the stimulus, the second stimulus came for a lot of people today. The first one I invested some of it in the stock market (along with money from paychecks, tax refunds) and was able to generate some extra money. This one I might save or use to pay the IRS, because I believe I will owe them this year, lol. I usually don't get a really big refund, but largely because of the money I made through investments this year, it looks like I will owe the IRS something. I also got a new job which boosted my income from last year, though I also try to make sure I have enough money taken out of my check for federal and state to prevent owing the IRS. I don't want to owe anyone if I can help it. But I don't actually mind owing if it's due to something like investment income and/or having a big increase in income.

Rule of thumb, if you don't owe the IRS money, you are doing it wrong.  The uninformed (usually Democrat) tax payer doesn't understand why they get a big fat check back from Uncle Sam. The celebration of getting your own money back is sad.

You mean you don't like giving Uncle Sam an interest-free loan throughout the course of the year?

I shoot for a refund of $200-300. Enough to avoid surprises, not so much as to lend large sums to Congress.

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Going back to comments about the stimulus, the second stimulus came for a lot of people today. The first one I invested some of it in the stock market (along with money from paychecks, tax refunds) and was able to generate some extra money. This one I might save or use to pay the IRS, because I believe I will owe them this year, lol. I usually don't get a really big refund, but largely because of the money I made through investments this year, it looks like I will owe the IRS something. I also got a new job which boosted my income from last year, though I also try to make sure I have enough money taken out of my check for federal and state to prevent owing the IRS. I don't want to owe anyone if I can help it. But I don't actually mind owing if it's due to something like investment income and/or having a big increase in income.

Wow, I didn't even know it was going to happen with everything still being hashed out but Trump did sign the Bill so I guess it makes sense the money would be coming. I just checked our account and it shows a deposit with yesterday's date but the 'effective date' is January 4, 2021. Thanks for mentioning it. We would have been so confused in a week or so when checks for bills started clearing and we were still $1200 ahead and logging into the account to figure out what the heck is going on. Lol.

Like one of our last checks, one of these will go into savings to be held for the tax man. The other will go toward a non-profit we support that was unable to do any fundraising in 2020 due to Covid and into the local economy somehow. I need some new work boots and now I can buy some nice ones that actually fit instead of settling on a men's boot. Women's work boots are a joke unless you spend some money on them.

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Rule of thumb, if you don't owe the IRS money, you are doing it wrong.  The uninformed (usually Democrat) tax payer doesn't understand why they get a big fat check back from Uncle Sam. The celebration of getting your own money back is sad.

You mean you don't like giving Uncle Sam an interest-free loan throughout the course of the year?

I shoot for a refund of $200-300. Enough to avoid surprises, not so much as to lend large sums to Congress.

This is what frustrated me about Trump tax reform. It helped nearly everybody, but the Democrats did a good job selling that it benefited only the top 1% and then drove that point home when people's tax refunds weren't as much as usual. What they failed to realize was without modifying your W-4, your take home pay was more, therefore resulting in a lower refund (if any).

This is one of the things I mean about low information voters.

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You mean you don't like giving Uncle Sam an interest-free loan throughout the course of the year?

I shoot for a refund of $200-300. Enough to avoid surprises, not so much as to lend large sums to Congress.

This is what frustrated me about Trump tax reform. It helped nearly everybody, but the Democrats did a good job selling that it benefited only the top 1% and then drove that point home when people's tax refunds weren't as much as usual. What they failed to realize was without modifying your W-4, your take home pay was more, therefore resulting in a lower refund (if any).

This is one of the things I mean about low information voters.

Not all people who didn't 'get' this are low information voters. Many just don't understand how taxes work anyway, then you throw in changes and you don't have a tax person to tell you how it all shakes out and it can cause confusion. Myself and math do not coexist well as it is, and we own a small business which throws a wrench into things. I am forever confused as to how our income from his job, the side business, and federal and state income tax all works out. It does not compute. Ten years on and I'm still surprised when we get a bill for state tax because no matter how my husband or our tax guy works it out, we always owe state.

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Your inability to not blame Democrats for all your problems amazes 
"Hey StroudCrowd, what do you think of this steak?"
"It would have been better, but the Democrats!!!!"
"I'm so much fo smarter than everyone!"

More educated people voted for Biden BTW.

Does include dead people?

Face it, more uninformed people vote Democrat. That's why they are pandered to.

It might include 1 or 2.  No way enough to sway an election.

Face it.   More educated people voted Democrat.   Regardless if you you think they're uninformed. 

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s
;

;

Not all people who didn't 'get' this are low information voters. Many just don't understand how taxes work anyway, then you throw in changes and you don't have a tax person to tell you how it all shakes out and it can cause confusion. Myself and math do not coexist well as it is, and we own a small business which throws a wrench into things. I am forever confused as to how our income from his job, the side business, and federal and state income tax all works out. It does not compute. Ten years on and I'm still surprised when we get a bill for state tax because no matter how my husband or our tax guy works it out, we always owe state.

It's not just you, it's also easier if you don't have state income tax. I usually travel for work, so I generally have to pay at least 2 states. I cannot get federal and states to break even. I either get a good amount from federal and mostly break even with states or pay states a lot and they don't like that and will try to fine or make you prepay quarterly (even if you no longer are working there). I deduct 2 dependents that don't exist from my w4 so I break even on states and don't have to deal with their prepayment crap. I'd have to claim at least 4 and probably more to get the federal to ever break even.

Sent from my SM-T970 using Tapatalk

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Does include dead people?

Face it, more uninformed people vote Democrat. That's why they are pandered to.

It might include 1 or 2.  No way enough to sway an election.

Face it.   More educated people voted Democrat.   Regardless if you you think they're uninformed. 

Education and intelligence are not the same thing.

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Original Season Ticket Holder - Retired  1995 - 2020


At some point you just have to let go of what you thought should happen and live in what is happening.
 

As an uninformed Brit. May I ask, do you have to all individually do your own taxes?

Over here my company just pays my taxes for me at source, I’m able to claim small rebates IE if I’ve been overcharged due to being on the wrong tax code, or for dry cleaning on suits and working from expenses. But that literally takes a minute.

How does it work over there?

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As an uninformed Brit. May I ask, do you have to all individually do your own taxes?

Over here my company just pays my taxes for me at source, I’m able to claim small rebates IE if I’ve been overcharged due to being on the wrong tax code, or for dry cleaning on suits and working from expenses. But that literally takes a minute.

How does it work over there?

If your taxes are simple, you can use an online service like turbotax, and a million others that will file for free, or charge a small fee (under $100) for more "complicated " tax situations.

As far as a company "paying your taxes", if you work for an employer, taxes, social security, and Medicare are deducted automatically from each paycheck, but that doesn't guarantee you will have paid what you actually owe in taxes, especially if you have other forms of income outside of your employer.

Personally, I use an accountant

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As an uninformed Brit. May I ask, do you have to all individually do your own taxes?

Over here my company just pays my taxes for me at source, I’m able to claim small rebates IE if I’ve been overcharged due to being on the wrong tax code, or for dry cleaning on suits and working from expenses. But that literally takes a minute.

How does it work over there?

If your taxes are simple, you can use an online service like turbotax, and a million others that will file for free, or charge a small fee (under $100) for more "complicated " tax situations.

As far as a company "paying your taxes", if you work for an employer,  taxes, social security,  and Medicare are deducted automatically from each paycheck, but that doesn't guarantee you will have paid what you actually owe in taxes, especially if you have other forms of income outside of your employer.

Personally, I use an accountant

Ah ok, the last part makes sense. I was getting confused then. Still secondary work income for us is just automatically taxed at 40% unless you’re a higher rate tax payer.

It’s very hard to Underpay here though, usually we find we overpay but even with that the HMRC do calculations every year and automatically refund us for simple things. Except the above things which I mentioned which are minimal.

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If your taxes are simple, you can use an online service like turbotax, and a million others that will file for free, or charge a small fee (under $100) for more "complicated " tax situations.

As far as a company "paying your taxes", if you work for an employer,  taxes, social security,  and Medicare are deducted automatically from each paycheck, but that doesn't guarantee you will have paid what you actually owe in taxes, especially if you have other forms of income outside of your employer.

Personally, I use an accountant

Ah ok, the last part makes sense. I was getting confused then. Still secondary work income for us is just automatically taxed at 40% unless you’re a higher rate tax payer.

It’s very hard to Underpay here though, usually we find we overpay but even with that the HMRC do calculations every year and automatically refund us for simple things. Except the above things which I mentioned which are minimal.

In the US, your employer pre-pays an estimate of what you will owe over the course of the year.
But you are still obligated to fill the forms out and do the real calculation yourself at the end of the year.  Private services like TurboTax and TaxAct step in the gap and fill out the forms for you, but, in my opinion those guys are making money for nothing.  The IRS already knows what your forms should look like; they should just send them to you, and you can review them, and decide whether to agree and sign or whether to dispute something on them.

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My fellow southpaw Mark Brunell will probably always be my favorite Jaguar.

Ah ok, the last part makes sense. I was getting confused then. Still secondary work income for us is just automatically taxed at 40% unless you’re a higher rate tax payer.

It’s very hard to Underpay here though, usually we find we overpay but even with that the HMRC do calculations every year and automatically refund us for simple things. Except the above things which I mentioned which are minimal.

In the US, you employer pre-pays an estimate of what you will owe over the course of the year.
But you are still obligated to fill the forms out and do the real calculation yourself at the end of the year.  Private services like TurboTax and TaxAct step in the gap and fill out the forms for you, but, in my opinion those guys are making money for nothing.  The IRS already knows what your forms should look like; they should just send them to you, and you can review them, and decide whether to agree and sign or whether to dispute something on them.

For standard or simple filing yes it makes sense to just prepopulate and ask you to review dependants and a few other things. For people who can still claim itemized deductions, it is never going to be that simple.

TurboTax and others are simple to use and even for my complicated taxes it works. Maybe I could find an advance cpa to help find a few more deductions, but most of the loop holes are closed unless you have a bunch of money.

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

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Ah ok, the last part makes sense. I was getting confused then. Still secondary work income for us is just automatically taxed at 40% unless you’re a higher rate tax payer.

It’s very hard to Underpay here though, usually we find we overpay but even with that the HMRC do calculations every year and automatically refund us for simple things. Except the above things which I mentioned which are minimal.

In the US, your employer pre-pays an estimate of what you will owe over the course of the year.
But you are still obligated to fill the forms out and do the real calculation yourself at the end of the year.  Private services like TurboTax and TaxAct step in the gap and fill out the forms for you, but, in my opinion those guys are making money for nothing.  The IRS already knows what your forms should look like; they should just send them to you, and you can review them, and decide whether to agree and sign or whether to dispute something on them.

Mike, how is the IRS expected to know if you bought a house, had a child born, donated money to charities, etc. if all they had was your payroll info?  It's more than just filling out the forms with all the info the IRS has on you, it's filling out the forms AND providing the info that they don't have.

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Back on topic.

Yep, this guy's in possession of all his marbles

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"We believe in victory!"   - Gus Bradley
"I don't want to believe.  I want to know."   - Carl Sagan