Are you (or maybe your kids) due a refund from the IRS and your state? I highly recommend getting your taxes done…NOW! I did mine the day the feds opened the door (January 28th) - my state refund hit my bank account this morning, the fed will do the same on the 5th.
For the record, I’m not a fan of “refunds” as you’re basically giving the feds and the state a free loan of your money, for upwards of a year! So my refund isn’t huge, but it’s enough that getting it quickly make me happy!
Any refund I am die invariably just gets applied to reducing my estimated taxes for current year, so it’s not a windfall we ever touch.
I agree it’s a good idea to file early because that seems like the only way to beat the scammers who file fake tax returns and claim your refund before you do. I am still waiting for some tax documents before I can file. And unfortunately I screwed up this year and did a Roth IRA conversion that put me in a higher tax bracket so I will be paying money!
The way to beat the scammers is not to have a refund, so @NJres you got it right this year.
Nice if you’ve got all your documents. As usual we are waiting for brokerage stuff.
For those waiting for documentation @scmom12 & @NJres aren’t you able to pick them up online for various accounts? That’s what I did for my documents - since I was filing online there was no need for the hard copies.
Brokerage statements take forever to get and aren’t available yet. They aren’t required to send them until February 15th. Also, I frequently end up getting amended ones (a couple of years I filed early and then they sent amended ones and I had to amend my return - what a pain). So now I wait patiently and do my returns in March.
DH just did ours on Turbo and looked like we owe 5K. Will wait until April to submit.
I hate owning money, don’t know why they didn’t take out enough tax to begin with. The last 5 years i had to take out additional $500 per paycheck (bi-weekly), hubby does similar thing and we still owe. And apparently having a kid in college paying full tuition got you nothing.
We adjusted our withholding for 2018…and again for 2019. It’s like a moving target. Every time we think we have the right amount withheld for either a minimum refund or a minimum payment, something changes.
And the state taxes are worse than the federal!
We have all our documents and will complete everything this weekend. If we are due a refund, we will file immediately. If we owe, we will file April 14.
I’m still waiting for various orgs who have disbursed sums to me to send me tax docs. No idea when they’ll arrive—hopefully soon.
You can press the Submit button today, and you still have until April 15 to pay. (Can pay by check and snail mail or online by bank debit.)
I am in awe of all of you who are done or nearly done with your taxes. I’m still waiting for paperwork from multiple sources but I DID finally organize nearly a years worth of statements today and pulled together all the docs relevant to our taxes that we’ve received thus far.
I first have to make a spreadsheet of home and business expenses and donations. It takes a long time to do and I dread it every year.
What Refund? Last year and this year have been the most disappointing years since i started filing taxes in the 80’s. We Increased withholdings. I will be waiting until April 15th to pay them what I shouldn’t even owe them.
With the new job and selling the house, we withheld as much as possible. Well, we obviously went overboard b/c we’re getting a ton back. DH filed on the first day possible so hopefully that comes in soon. It’ll be nice to get that money back b/c we’re buying a house and DH’s disability STILL hasn’t started yet even though they’ve had his paperwork since June. But don’t get me started on the VA.
At one point, doing our taxes was a pain because my organization sucked. Had to gather everything I needed in terms of donations, estimated payments, etc. Looking through receipts, bank and credit card statements, etc. Total pain. But about 10 years ago, I started a folder for current tax year in which I put each of those items during the year. So much better. Takes about an hour to file our taxes now (but still waiting for k-1 needed to file it).
You can’t beat the scammers by not having a refund.
You will beat the scammers if you have an IRS Identity Protection PIN:
"Who’s eligible for an IP PIN?
If you are a confirmed victim of identity theft and the IRS has resolved your tax account issues, we will mail you a CP01A Notice with your IP PIN.
If you live in one of 20 locations, you are eligible for the online IP PIN Opt-In Program. To be eligible for 2020, you must have filed a federal return last year as a resident of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas or Washington.
Please note: the IRS is expanding eligibility for the IP PIN Opt-In Program. States are being added in phases until the program moves nationwide. See Publication 5367, the IP PIN Opt-In Program for Taxpayers (PDF, in English and Spanish), for details on the program."
Not having a refund won’t prevent a scammer from filing with your SSN, but it will avoid the problem of being due a refund and having to wait for it because of a scammer. If you owe you can still pay on time.
I filed last week just to be done…and because I don’t trust my Ex at all…but since I get EITC I won’t actually get my refund for awhile since they hold those until mid to late February.
I still have to do both my kids returns and I’ll probably do that this weekend. I want to teach the 17 year old to do his own this year, but the 9 year old probably can wait a few years. 
I finished ours during the Superbowl lol. We do get a refund because our income varies greatly from year to year thanks to my funding structure. We owed one year and it sucked so we increased withholdings.
2019 was apparently a good year for us since we lost almost all of our big state and federal deductions. Which is fine, I’ll never complain about our income going up 