Filing your 2018 tax return? How's it going?

Agree! I have to reference instructions/worksheets when I’m using the free fillable forms. I find it quite easy to switch to another tab in my browser. It’s quite easy to print out the relevant pages/worksheets.

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Sorry for the way you feel. You are entitled to your opinion and to your way of doing things. I wish you well.

Wow! Lots of hate on this thread.

I don’t find it objectionable to call the IRS to get paper forms/instructions.

I guess I am old when I am still annoyed that I don’t get them unasked for every year.

People go out of their way to make life hard for IRS agents just to extract some sort of “revenge”. Calling to request a service that they publicly provide just isn’t abuse, shutdown or no IMHO.

Why are you replying to me? I don’t think I said anything about “revenge” or “abuse”.

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I appreciate the support very much and you are most kind. Thank you.

gwraigty is entitled to her ways of thinking and doing things. I’m an older person, too, so you and I share some of the same history, and expectations, where the IRS is concerned. Younger folks have a different experience base than we have. It’s not surprising they approach certain matters in a new way or with a different perspective. And that is OK.

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Here some considerations for New York filers. But these likely also apply to persons in other high tax states filing their 2018 Federal and state taxes. Key here is the notion some people will want to take the standard deduction on their Federal return for 2018, while simultaneously itemizing on their 2018 state return. It is quite a lengthy and detailed piece:

Linky

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The biggest downside of paper instructions is that they’re not easily searchable. The online instructions (the HTML ones) are even better than the PDFs, with clickable links to all the sub-sections and to other related forms and instructions. Personally I’ve never read 1040 instructions just to read them, but only parts of it for some specific items, which are easier and quicker to find in digital form than on paper.

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Don’t forget the Excel 1040 has been updated - www.excel1040.com

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Just started mine, decided to do the forms myself this year for the first time in many years rather than use a software program. This is primarily because I have to file in two states and it didn’t seem to be worth the cost for relatively straightforward returns. So far I like the new 1040 and the free fillable forms are working well. Still waiting on a couple of 1099s to finish it all up.

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I feel your pain.

Let’s be candid, counsel is everywhere that, more than in prior years, it is important this year to file early . . . as we both are seeking to do. Reasons given are two.

First, the new forms could delay things a good bit both for the average taxpayer and for the IRS as they seek to deal with a circumstance quite new and changed. Second, there remains possibility of yet another government shutdown which could interfere with processing of filed returns. Taken together these things are potentially a disruptive “one-two” punch best avoided.

Anyway, I’m right there with you. Out of a total of twenty-seven 1099 forms, I currently am in possession of twenty-six. Obviously this is an “all or nothing” situation, and I honestly cannot (as a practical matter) arrive at the critical number from that twenty-seventh 1099 on my own.

Of course I called the credit union. Those clowns are waiting until tomorrow, the thirty-first and the drop dead day, to publish their members’ 1099 numbers!

You run into people, as you go through life, who leave stuff until the last gun fires. Such folks are, generally speaking, losers. But regardless, such an individual is apparently making decisions at this one, solitary, credit union. It’s annoying beyond words. Most of my other 1099 data was available between one and two weeks ago, or even earlier than that! But it only takes one clown show to inhibit early filing . . . . . . . unless you relish filing a 1040X down the line. I do not like that alternative.

Year end is a difficult time for companies. These people have other regular duties. To be honest, I had the same feelings as you do (“IT IS JUST FILLING OUT A FORM, SHOULDN’T YOU JUST HAVE TO PRESS A BUTTON BY NOW”) before I understood everything that was going on after the books closed, and I’m much more sympathetic. I have no experience with banks specifically (outside of sales tax), but I would imagine the year end stuff is even more complicated and time pressured for them.

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TD Bank apparently just pressed a button, and sent me a 1099 that included both 2018 and 2017 amounts.

I think the implication that the bank is intentionally waiting until the last possible day to mail the form is a little extreme too. That answer is straight out of the training manual, to provide a fast catch-all response without wasting anyone else’s time, and there’s a decent chance they’re already in the mail. I mean you couldn’t have serious expected to be told anything else?

I used to be a January filer, but one of my 1099’s now routinely isn’t available until mid-February. Nothing to do about it but wait.

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The 1099 I’m missing is received electronically. I log into my credit union account and there is a special page for tax reports. I must have logged in ten times in the last several days. All I’m seeing is the 1099 for 2017. They still have not posted members’ 2018 data. I also telephoned the credit union yesterday. The rep told me they anticipate having the 2018 1099 data posted by tomorrow, 1/31/2019, the absolute last allowed day.

Mail? I do still receive some 1099 forms via USPS. They arrived many days ago. But your point is nevertheless well taken. Any financial institution that provides 1099 numbers ONLY by USPS, and does so by mailing the letters on January thirty-first, is engaging in even more egregious behavior than that which I’m currently experiencing. At least I should be enabled to file tomorrow. If I had to await arrival of a letter, several more days of delay would be involved. No financial institution should be pulling that stunt.

Understood. And as I wrote above, this year especially you would be well advised to file ASAP, for the reasons I gave.

One thing I can suggest, especially if it’s only a single 1099 you are needing, is to telephone the institution and request the number. That works sometimes, but not in every instance. It did not work for me.

You could also simply look at your 12 statements from 2018 and do a little math. 1099 numbers don’t magically appear out of nowhere. Unless the bank made a mistake, in which case you don’t want to use to 1099 number anyways.

Unless you have a brokerage account holding certain kinds of assets; those can be less-than-straightforward with qualified/unqualified dividends, recharacterizing dividends as return of capital, etc. That’s the only 1099 I actually use the numbers off, everything else is totaled long before anything gets mailed.

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I used free fillable forms as well (waiting on a brokerage 1099 to swap in exact numbers). There were a couple amounts I thought should auto-fill from a sub form but didn’t, otherwise I agree it is working well. It takes some getting used to when going between schedules. But I think this design does make more sense than maintaining multiple versions of the 1040. We just need to become familiar with what’s on each schedule.

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That can work in some instances. It would not work for me with the 1099 I’m missing.

In the past when I have used that approach I ran into a problem. Problem was: I make mistakes, or else I overlook a small amount of interest earned in a subordinate account . . . which is a mistake of a different nature.

My experience over the years mitigates in favor of using the bank or credit union’s 1099 number. Life is better that way, and I absolutely detest having to file 1040X returns. I write that having had to file a few.:stuck_out_tongue:

Until, as reported above, the bank sends a 1099 with 2 years worth of income reported…

I didn’t ask for a suggestion. I was not complaining. Just pointing out a perfectly valid reason why some can’t file by January 31, which you appear to think is an abnormality. It doesn’t kill me to wait another few weeks. I will not annoy a customer service person to provide information that is routinely provided when the paperwork/electronic version is ready. I wouldn’t expect they are required to do that.

It’s not just a single number. I have individual municipal bonds, some in-state. I have to manually determine the interest received on the out-of-state bonds to add that number to my state tax return. I also have individual corporate bonds. That may involve determining numbers for deductible accrued interest paid and amortizable bond premiums.

You’re accusing financial institutions of “egregious behavior” and “pulling that stunt” because they won’t give you what you want when you want it. That’s a little-over-the-top, IMO.

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