Just because some of your information may be out there does not mean you should give up trying to protect it.
And credit monitoring is already free for everyone.
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Agreed. In this particular case, I just thought that CK already had a lot of my information (certainly anything related to my credit report) from me using their credit monitoring service. And I had used TT before to prepare and efile taxes so TT may already have most of my information as well. And if they did not, I think they are likely way more diligent about data safety since their entire businesses depends on your trust in them handling your data securely. So I didn’t think I was risking much more exposure by using either services online.
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The only thing common between taxes and credit report is your PII – name, address, SSN, DOB. You gave them a whole lot more for taxes.
I thought the same about Equifax. And Anthem. And OPM. These entities should not exist if they can’t secure our data.
Thought the 2018 return was really smooth – easy to collect all the relevant documents, amount owed matched almost exactly the spreadsheet I prepared throughout the year with expected income/tax, e-filing went fine and all seemed to go fine.
Then I discovered that I own a paper Series EE savings bond which reached final maturity in December 2018 and is no longer earning interest. Triple-checked Publication 550 on this and per IRS rules I owe tax as though income were accrued when the savings bond reached final maturity, i.e. I have extra income for the 2018 tax year.
So now I need to
- mail in a paper 2018 Form 1040X amended federal return along with about a $20 check
- mail in a paper state tax form with the new total income (savings bond interest does not change my tax owed at the state level)
- cash the paper savings bond at a bank, who will mail me a 2019 Form 1099-INT, then when filing taxes for the 2019 year, follow the special IRS rules about “U.S. savings bond interest previously reported” (which I can do by hand on Schedule B or which e.g. TurboTax will do fine)
Fun times.
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I am thinking about IRA contribution for spouse ($5500). Is it still possible to contribute for 2018 IRA. What is the income limit and quick way to check if we are exceeding this limit?
Thanks
Yes, it is still possible. Your other post included more info about your situation, so I will just link to my reply on that post.
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Now we are getting standard deduction of 24k. Itemized deduction seems to be redundant even with 10k+ property tax and $7k mortgage interest. If i am not going to do itemize, I can just file it online without going to tax expert. Is there any one in similar situation.
Thanks
Am very happy camper.
Looking up thread it appears I filed about a month ago, perhaps a day or two short of that. And everything was paper and USPS, twentieth century style. Anyway, I was hoping my refund check (yes, a paper check) might arrive by snail mail next month, in May.
Imagine my surprise when a sweet check for the full amount of my refund was in yesterday’s mail. I could scarcely believe it. The IRS is really taking wonderful care of us fossilized filers. Perhaps with everyone else filing electronically, and there being so few of us fossils remaining, they have an overage of workers processing our paper returns. Whatever it is, boy, I surely have no complaints!
I want to thank the people of Ogden, UT and the wonderful USPS. Kudos to you all!
Oh, and the check itself? Scanned and deposited instantly, using the net, at Alliant. There comes a point when I no longer seek to cultivate an old-fashioned image.
I save the old-fashioned stuff for the IRS.
Can we send paper file on Monday which is last date of tax filing deadline. Or do we need to send them in time for IRS to receive by 15th April.
A Monday postmark will work just fine.
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You’re saying that you only needed to see a “tax expert” just for Schedule A?
I’d guess there are a few million tax payers whose itemized deduction used to exceed the standard deduction before the change. I doubt many of them would stop getting help simply because of this one change.
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Just completed my April estimated tax payment and . . .
Q: Discussion of estimated tax is off topic here. No?
It’s my thread. I’ll allow it. 
Anyway, no change in service. Used Pay1040 because it remains the least expensive option. So now all my April Federal tax obligations have finally been met. Whew!
My quarterly estimated payment went down by hundreds of dollars compared with last year. So sweet. 
I used to go tax expert to help with itemized expenses (property tax, mortgage interest etc…,). Now standard deduction is 24k, looks like there is no need of tax expert help to account all my itemized expenses.
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Well, I could have mentioned earlier the tax reduction was in spite of much larger income than in the prior year. But that would have been an expression of bragging instead of what I was intending: gratitude.
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Agreed. Perhaps this post could be looked upon as yet another expression of gratitude.
And yet, you’re still filing the old-fashion style. I think I know why. “You are saving money by doing it yourself instead of the charge for using Turbo Tax” Right!! 
shinobi… You know I’m just joking.
telemachus,
just now saw this post, what a pain!
I skimmed over Pub 550 and saw the statements you mention. If I was a tax advisor, I’d recommend you do everything per Pub 550. But, you may want to consider just claiming it as 2019 income. On the slim chance you get audited, you can just go and pay them whatever penalty they would assess due to this regulation that pretty much nobody knows about.
No worries, pattyb53. It’s all good! 
I’m a believer in plausible deniability, but of course not trying to convert others to this way of thinking. Believe whatever you want, with my blessing.
I did not overtly cheat on this year’s taxes. But there are forum participants who would assert I did. There are any number of us here who are involved with one or another variety of MS (manufactured spending). The IRS, so far at least, has left us MSers alone, an approach by the IRS which is most lucrative for me and surely appreciated. But in future the IRS might reach a different conclusion where we MSers are concerned. That surely would be their prerogative and they would have a strong argument. Should that day ever arrive I do not want their records to indicate I have the tech savvy to file electronically, or very much other savvy for that matter. Just want to appear a fossilized old-timer, hopelessly rooted in the twentieth century, who really cannot keep up and who does not understand at all what is going on. 
So it’s not the cost of Turbo Tax that is on my mind. It is, instead, the cost to me if the IRS ever were to go back three years and force me to pay tax on all of my side hustle profits.
Tax consultant filed extension for me today. Can I still go ahead file my taxes using software on my own.