I had no idea the desktop and online versions had such differences. My son ended up paying over $200 for very simple federal/state, with TT insisting he needed Premium. Constant pushes for hey, do you need this or that (why would he, with simple taxes)?
The scummiest part is at the end, where you must select how you’re going to pay for your taxes. If you want to pay with your credit card, they charge you a fee of 2.49%, which is over 0.6% above what you would pay if you just paid through the IRS website. There’s not an option to select that you’re going to pay through the IRS site, so I’m certain they sucker people into paying TT a bunch of extra money. I selected to pay by check later, and then did what I wanted. So sleazy, but too much of a pain to change systems.
T-Tax does have a feature whereby they/the IRS will withdraw taxes due from your bank account by ACH with no extra charges. You can even enter teh date that you want the funds withdrawn.
Yes, I noticed there were several different options, but the one I wanted (as I’m sure many people do), is to pay by credit card. Trying to get that Delta Amex spend, but paying an additional 0.6% for the privilege? Nope. And of course they don’t mention paying through the IRS as a choice.
Chiming in here on tax software as I see a lot of folks writing about TurboTax lately.
FreeTaxUSA works just as well, and will walk you through your tax prep in a similar way (i.e. with question prompts) as TT, but in my opinion the interface is also cleaner and better than TT.
It’s free for federal taxes, and $15 for state taxes; I switched over to it from TT years ago.
Home sales, cap gains, 1099s, K1s…it’s been simple for me to handle all of it through there.
Sometimes. It depends. In our case, Delta miles are very valuable, particularly since we get a 15% discount using our Delta Amex card. Always refundable and cancellable, usually paying lower for a miles ticket than we would in cash. We fly Delta 95% of the time. In addition, if we rack up the spend on our son’s Reserve card this year, he should make Diamond. I value this status at about 3.5-4K. We play the game, and it is very beneficial for us.
In our area an enclosed porch would count as square footage only if it has finished walls, ceiling and floor, and - most importantly - HVAC. It was the same in our previous community, where I had a discussion with a tax assessor who tried to count our unfinished walk-out basement and I successfully disputed it.
We went from three cars to two last fall. Before that, there were times when we went back and forth between houses (so glad that’s over with) and had just one car at one of them. It was an inconvenience at times, although not often. Mainly, I didn’t like feeling stuck at the house if H was out and lost track of time or was delayed. If we lived someplace with good public transportation, or even readily available rentals, I might consider having just one car again. I doubt that will happen.
Most of the time we don’t need two cars but when you do, you do.
Husband’s car has a mechanical issue so we are driving what we call mine. It’s taking awhile to get into the shop and get the part ordered. Since we have another car, it’s ok with us.
Last month I flew to my daughter’s. Since we have 2 cars, I could drive and park so my husband didn’t have to drop me off for a 6 am flight. It’s nice but we could work around it.
I have a bil who somehow lost both sets of keys to his car. He has a camper van which he can drive in a pinch.
We share one car. We own two, but they live 2500 miles apart. If it’s a problem, we rent one. Renting is a lot cheaper than owning a second car that usually sits unused. Fortunately, the rental agencies are within walking distance of home.
Renting is usually only necessary when we need car repairs. Since both cars are over 10 years old, we also rent if taking a road trip over 3 days.
We absolutely have talked about going down to one car, but not likely for a while.
We had a talk with ds1 today about what we were thinking about aging and the potential need to live near him and his wife. He already had given it some thought, but we added some possible options into the mix, such as financing finishing out their basement for a nice MIL apartment. We shall see about all of it, but it felt good to lay out our finances for him and start the conversation.
The desktop version also allows you to complete 5 tax returns from one purchase. So it’s way better if your kids need to file a tax return. I wasn’t willing to pay the extra for state downloads when that would have consumed all of D’s tax refund. So I did D’s state taxes manually on the state websites (two separate states as she moved mid year).
I think the IRS should develop and provide free software for filing taxes. It’s a ridiculous scandal that this does not exist. I use TurboTax because our taxes are not that complicated and it’s a lot cheaper than a human accountant, even though we have to file in 2 states and my DH has consultant income that complicates things. But I feel the tax prep industry is such a rentier grift.
That’s exactly what the IRS is doing. They’re trying out a test in a number of states this year, with some limitations on eligibility. And boy did they get pushback from the major tax preparation companies.
The X times your expenses doesnt make a lot of sense. Most people’s expenses vary greatly in different stages of their life and they adjust downward if necessary.
A lot of people travel early on in retirement and then dont travel as much as they get older.
I’m sure they did. But when government requires specific forms of filing, it should provide free access. Of course I also believe that the US Postal Service should offer basic checking account services as well (as they do in many other countries). The free postal account is a long-standing and effective public service in many countries. Any required financial interface with the government should be free IMHO.
When the TCJA doubled the standard deduction, taxes became a lot less complicated for millions of people.
If the TCJA expires, many people will itemize and make it more complicated. Also, a lot more people will be subjected to paying the AMT if the exemption is phased out at much lower income levels.
Many think they will benefit when the SALT limitation is lifted but will they really get a lift if the Pease limitation comes back?
Tax software makers are probably hoping TCJA expires at the end of 2025.
I have a philosophical problem with paragovernmental entities profiting off of required legislation because it’s so very, very corrupt. But of course the horse has already bolted in so many instances that closing the barn door is beyond pointless. That’s how things work now and it’s one reason why I am very cynical about government.
Agree that people can spend a lot with travel, etc. when they are in their ‘go-go’ retirement years. But, I’ve also seen many, many people (family included) spend more in their ‘no go’ years between health care costs, health care aides (to help stay at home vs. institution), etc.
I’m wondering if - given all those variables - the 25x figure actually does work…