now, if you fuXors only had money i could make a mint representing yer asses come audit time :-)
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 15 April 2005 03:08 (nineteen years ago) link
― the krza (krza), Friday, 15 April 2005 03:13 (nineteen years ago) link
that said, yeah if you are self-employed and have business expenses you stand a better chance than if you are just self-employed and have no expenses. also, anything having to do w/ "flow-through entities" (basically, partnerships, limited liability companies, and S corporations) get a closer look (b/c of well-publicized instances of outright fraud wr2 such entities).
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 15 April 2005 03:17 (nineteen years ago) link
Audit-wise: I decided (about sixteen hours ago) that unless you're actively trying to scam the IRS, they're not worth getting paranoid about -- not unless you're dealing with really significant sums of money. Which isn't to say that I don't believe they'll audit you, or that it won't suck. But I started thinking about it, and the worst-case audit scenario I can imagine is that I'm unable to back up a couple small claims, which ... well, if you're in the student/freelance range that I am, the worst this could possibly mean is that you do wind up having to pay that $1500 you shaved off of your bill, plus penalties. Which would suck in countless ways, but it's not exactly life-ruining.
(This will be hilarious in fall when I start the thread that goes "they audited me! oh shit! I have to pay $62,000 in penalties or go to jail! I was wrong, I was wrong, I was wrong!")
― nabiscothingy (nory), Friday, 15 April 2005 04:18 (nineteen years ago) link
not to needlessly scare the shit outta anyone (b/c nabisco is basically correct) -- but (a) the IRS has been underfunded for a while now [thankee dubya!] -- there are abusers and scammers who are quite well-known to the IRS and defrauding the government of MILLIONS of dollars, but they don't go after them simply because they don't have the resources to do so; and (b) the IRS HAS recently been going after small-fry "cheaters" esp wr2 the earned-income credit -- not that there isn't fraud and abuse there, but going after them is a political decision by Treasury [thankee again, dubya].
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 15 April 2005 04:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― Mary (Mary), Friday, 15 April 2005 04:29 (nineteen years ago) link
Actually, Tad, it's funny -- you can practically see in the IRS documentation that they're trying to keep people from claiming the EIC. It took me hours to sort through vague, discouraging documentation to see if the dollar limit applied to adjusted gross income or flat earnings, and every other page seemed to be "DO NOT CLAIM THIS, SERIOUSLY, IT'S NOT FOR YOU, DON'T EVEN DO THE WORKSHEET."
― nabiscothingy (nory), Friday, 15 April 2005 04:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 15 April 2005 04:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 15 April 2005 04:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― nabiscothingy (nory), Friday, 15 April 2005 05:07 (nineteen years ago) link
What if that same person, flush from her recent successes, tried the same strategy in VA circa '96 and when a letter was sent to her, her mom sent them a letter back saying she was in Japan, and the taxman was not heard from again?
― Mary (Mary), Friday, 15 April 2005 06:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― Mary (Mary), Friday, 15 April 2005 06:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― nabiscothingy (nory), Friday, 15 April 2005 13:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― h0t h0t h0rsey (Carey), Friday, 15 April 2005 14:01 (nineteen years ago) link
― Allyzay Subservient 50s-Type (allyzay), Friday, 15 April 2005 14:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 15 April 2005 15:18 (nineteen years ago) link
Overheard five minutes later at a different booth: Do you think I should get my blood pressure checked on tax day?! Haha!
Ahh, corporate humor!
Taxes fucking sucked it this year. Bad witholding = I owes .. uh ... LOT. But for the first time ever, I don't owe the city anything.
― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 15 April 2005 15:31 (nineteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 15 April 2005 15:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 15 April 2005 16:03 (nineteen years ago) link
I'm annoyed at the paltry tuition deductions they allow, too; a $4000/year cap doesn't come anywhere close to reflecting the cost of higher education; it'd barely cover tuition and fees at a community college! (And lord, if there's anything people should be able to spend money on tax-free, it's education that will theoretically lead to their paying a hell of a lot more taxes in the future.)
― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 15 April 2005 17:32 (nineteen years ago) link
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:04 (nineteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 9 May 2005 21:19 (nineteen years ago) link
hey assuming everything goes okay and I have my kid in december, I get to claim it as a deduction for the whole year, right? right?
― teeny (teeny), Monday, 9 May 2005 21:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 9 May 2005 21:24 (nineteen years ago) link
Thanks for the $5 check I recieved int he mail today. Thanks for spending my tax money and everyone else's on the bookkeeping/paperwork neccesary to send out $5 checks. Really.
xoxo,mouse
― mouse (mouse), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 00:29 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 00:30 (nineteen years ago) link
― mouse (mouse), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 00:33 (nineteen years ago) link
― ai lien (kold_krush), Friday, 27 January 2006 17:27 (eighteen years ago) link
― Markelby (Mark C), Friday, 27 January 2006 17:46 (eighteen years ago) link
Anyway, I carry all of my delicate financial information to a woman who has an office off of MacArthur down by Starlite, next door to a liquor store. She's got me hundreds of dollars back from the IRS and the state, and she charges me like a hundred bucks to do it.
― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 27 January 2006 18:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― Serge Protecteur (nordicskilla), Friday, 27 January 2006 18:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 27 January 2006 18:43 (eighteen years ago) link
Are job-hunting expenses also allowed to deducted?
― kingfish kuribo's shoe (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 27 January 2006 19:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― TOMBOT, Friday, 27 January 2006 19:41 (eighteen years ago) link
― kingfish kuribo's shoe (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 27 January 2006 19:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― ai lien (kold_krush), Friday, 27 January 2006 22:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 27 January 2006 22:39 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 27 January 2006 22:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 12 April 2007 16:52 (seventeen years ago) link
― kenan, Thursday, 12 April 2007 16:53 (seventeen years ago) link
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 12 April 2007 16:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― Pleasant Plains, Thursday, 12 April 2007 17:37 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ms Misery, Thursday, 12 April 2007 17:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― the schef (adam schefter ha ha), Thursday, 12 April 2007 17:41 (seventeen years ago) link
― the schef (adam schefter ha ha), Thursday, 12 April 2007 17:42 (seventeen years ago) link
Who brought their 1040 to work today, just in case ILX gets dull?
― sleep, Thursday, 12 April 2007 17:42 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ms Misery, Thursday, 12 April 2007 17:45 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 12 April 2007 17:46 (seventeen years ago) link
― Rock Hardy, Thursday, 12 April 2007 17:59 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ms Misery, Thursday, 12 April 2007 18:01 (seventeen years ago) link