I believe my 2014 taxes are correct and complete so I pulled the trigger and filed same. At least on the Federal side.
The hard part of doing my taxes is that part of the DayJob(tm) compensation is in the form of DayJob(tm) company stock. That means tracking "basis" which is anything but trivial. It used to be that we were on our own. Now the brokerage reports a basis, but 's wrong! it's wrong because it only tacks acquisition cost, but doesn't include the part of the basis has already been reported as ordinary income, and the brokerage calculation does not comprehend that. Plus there are additional adjustments. Heck, now that it's done, I think I should take on something easy, like mastering Chess!
What a P.I.T.A.!!! I would argue the most useful class offered by the DayJob(tm) HR team is the class on how to report stock based compensation. Bravo! Ole! I couldn't do my taxes without you!
The fed return was filed electronically for two reasons: First, I paid for it with the program purchase, And 2nd, because THEY OWE ME MONEY! Filing electronically gets me a quick refund.
I'll file the state on paper for two opposite reasons: I OWE THEM MONEY! Thus I'm going to wait until 11PM on the final filing date. Also it costs me an extra Andrew Jackson to save the state the data entry cost of my return. You've set up a system with a negative reward scheme. I'm not in the business of spending money to save the state money. What a broken system.
Don't blame me for playing the game. If you changed the system where I filed electronically free, you wouldn't have to spend money manually inputing my return and you'd get my payment sooner. Fix it and you'll get my money sooner! eFile should be free! It's a a benefit to you!
I know, I'm tilting at windmills.
PS... My Dad (LTC US Army Ret) in retirement is now a tax prep pro. He does taxes for fun! If you need tax help, he's your man! Drop me an email and I'll pass along contact info. Don't worry about his or your locality, he serves clients worldwide. All docs are transferred encrypted and secured.
Tell him I said Hello!
18 March 2015
14 March 2015
driving lesson
The car needed a smog check and there is a light industrial area in the vicinity. Light industrial means wide roads and nothing to hit. Also on the weekend they are deserted. Perfect setup. Plus the BP meds were a tad too effective and I needed to drive up the numbers. NOT!
As per any normal first timer learning how to drive a clutch, he's having trouble with the concept of adding power with the right foot while the left foot adds load. We have to work on that. I only wish I could introduce him to the fully syncro-smash(tm) (e.g. unsynchronized) transmissions I learned with.
In addition to the previously noted anticipated repairs, I'd like to add the following:
1. A new starter. In 15 minutes training, we hit it 22 times.
2. A new battery. The reason we hit it 22 times and not 23 is because the battery was dead! It didn't have enough power to fire the Bendix. The SCSon learned another important lesson: the push start! That ended the lesson while we drove home and put it on the charger.
The SandCastle Queen adds her own prediction: Mucho Hair Dye to cover the grays!*
The good news of the day is the car passed the smog check with flying colors. 25% HC, 20% CO, 56% NOX (percentages of allowable limit, not total). Not bad for a 24YO car with enough miles to drive to the moon!
* Honest to God, her gray hairs do not register on my retina. I simply do not see them. But they bother her so, I'm OK with the colorants. Better living through chemistry! Rah!
As per any normal first timer learning how to drive a clutch, he's having trouble with the concept of adding power with the right foot while the left foot adds load. We have to work on that. I only wish I could introduce him to the fully syncro-smash(tm) (e.g. unsynchronized) transmissions I learned with.
In addition to the previously noted anticipated repairs, I'd like to add the following:
1. A new starter. In 15 minutes training, we hit it 22 times.
2. A new battery. The reason we hit it 22 times and not 23 is because the battery was dead! It didn't have enough power to fire the Bendix. The SCSon learned another important lesson: the push start! That ended the lesson while we drove home and put it on the charger.
The SandCastle Queen adds her own prediction: Mucho Hair Dye to cover the grays!*
The good news of the day is the car passed the smog check with flying colors. 25% HC, 20% CO, 56% NOX (percentages of allowable limit, not total). Not bad for a 24YO car with enough miles to drive to the moon!
* Honest to God, her gray hairs do not register on my retina. I simply do not see them. But they bother her so, I'm OK with the colorants. Better living through chemistry! Rah!
11 March 2015
Attention Arizona Neighbors
Fair Warning!
The SandCastle Son passed the written test for his learner's permit this AM. My Arizona neighbors are advised to stay well clear of the sidewalks.
Given the cars available to drive here at the 'Castle, I have two predictions:
a) he's going to get a fast lesson in learning to drive a manual transmission. And
b) A new clutch in my (near) future.
Dang it seems only yesterday he was learning to walk. Time flies!
The SandCastle Son passed the written test for his learner's permit this AM. My Arizona neighbors are advised to stay well clear of the sidewalks.
Given the cars available to drive here at the 'Castle, I have two predictions:
a) he's going to get a fast lesson in learning to drive a manual transmission. And
b) A new clutch in my (near) future.
Dang it seems only yesterday he was learning to walk. Time flies!
09 March 2015
-Payback-
Hope you all had a good weekend. I did, capped off with an 0035 cursing email to OldNFO.
Let me back up... The SCSon had Skeet practice Saturday. I brought "The Grey Man -Payback-" to read as it's kind of 2 hours of downtime for me. The coach is generally good about letting parents participate but they had a lot of kids and they are the priority. I didn't even bring a shotty... Between a run to gas up the car and a snack run, I got to page 21.
I picked it up again Sunday after a few chores. Here's a few things I remember:
Oh look at that, page 118, hmm already 1/3 the way through.
Page 186, dang halfway...
I set it down to watch TV after page 194. less than a minute later, "wait a minute... what was the title of that next chapter" and picked it up again: P195: "The Shot" The science of long range shooting holds a deep interest for me. I wish I knew more about the practical side and experience with same. Note to self, add to bucket list. Ok, I gotta see how this goes... And kept reading...
P322: Wow... well, it's not yet midnight, may as well see how it ends..
And the 0035 email.. So effectively, I read -Payback- in a single sitting. I haven't done that since the last 500 pages of "Sum of All Fears" [Clancy].
Let me back up... The SCSon had Skeet practice Saturday. I brought "The Grey Man -Payback-" to read as it's kind of 2 hours of downtime for me. The coach is generally good about letting parents participate but they had a lot of kids and they are the priority. I didn't even bring a shotty... Between a run to gas up the car and a snack run, I got to page 21.
I picked it up again Sunday after a few chores. Here's a few things I remember:
Oh look at that, page 118, hmm already 1/3 the way through.
Page 186, dang halfway...
I set it down to watch TV after page 194. less than a minute later, "wait a minute... what was the title of that next chapter" and picked it up again: P195: "The Shot" The science of long range shooting holds a deep interest for me. I wish I knew more about the practical side and experience with same. Note to self, add to bucket list. Ok, I gotta see how this goes... And kept reading...
P322: Wow... well, it's not yet midnight, may as well see how it ends..
And the 0035 email.. So effectively, I read -Payback- in a single sitting. I haven't done that since the last 500 pages of "Sum of All Fears" [Clancy].
Nicely done, JC. Put me down for a signed copy of book 3. I know you're good for it and you know I am too. Keep it up!
26 February 2015
Score!
The SCSon is on an 8 hr bus trip today. It's a nice travel bus with video but the trip rules require G & PG movies only.
He dug around the attic and came up with an original copy of Star Wars episode IV on VHS.
Han shot first! Greedo never fired.
He dug around the attic and came up with an original copy of Star Wars episode IV on VHS.
Han shot first! Greedo never fired.
20 February 2015
Doin' my Taxes
I mean,what else would I be doing on a Friday night?
Here is theoutrageconfusion of the day: I'm entering a 1099-B manually. Here's the question posed:
Box 3 makes sense: Was the basis reported to the IRS? I can reasonably infer a checked box means Yes. But what about "Box 2 Type of gain or loss". The possible answers are "Short Term" and "Long Term". Which one does a checked box mean?
The more I use HRBDeluxe, the more I like Glenn Reeves' spreadsheets! They have already given me the answer. I'm still trying to figure out how to get my data into HRBD :-(
Update 20Feb2015 2140: I had to experiment to learn how it works. If box 2 is not checked, it doesn't ask any further questions. But if box 2 is checked, it takes us to another page where it asks the short/long term question.
Com'on guys.... a) you could have put these two questions on the same line of the first page and b) if not, for any reason, at least throw me a bone and give me a hint on how I should check the original box.
Here is the
The more I use HRBDeluxe, the more I like Glenn Reeves' spreadsheets! They have already given me the answer. I'm still trying to figure out how to get my data into HRBD :-(
Update 20Feb2015 2140: I had to experiment to learn how it works. If box 2 is not checked, it doesn't ask any further questions. But if box 2 is checked, it takes us to another page where it asks the short/long term question.
Com'on guys.... a) you could have put these two questions on the same line of the first page and b) if not, for any reason, at least throw me a bone and give me a hint on how I should check the original box.
19 February 2015
Tax Software Update
Last rant noted how Turbo Tax screwed the pooch by changing support levels without making it plainly obvious, enraging the user base in the process. Meself included.
HR Block came recommended by people I respect and the third seemed to have it's own issues.
Strike one came when HRB wouldn't (past tense) import my 2013 return, The program just crashed, no exceptions, no nothing, Just bang, you're dead.
I "solved" that problem by upgrading my windows computer from XP to 7. Yeah, MSFT dropped XP support last year so is it reasonable to expect another company to support XP? Maybe not. Table the question for now. The Win7 upgrade was in the plans, the CD & new hard drive were on site, I just needed to take the time to do the build. 2 hrs install + 6 hrs baby sitting win7 updates later + another week of daily updates, now Win7 is finally up to date. Oh and the old hardware that ran XP just fine is crawling running Win7. I see an upgrade in my future.
HRBDeluxe Strike 2: It won't (present tense) import my DayJob(tm) W2. Importing data is more than just the time savings. Manually entry risks a data entry error. Easy to do and hard to detect. Keeping the data in the digital domain reduces these errors. Apparently my S&P500 listed DayJob(tm) uses a payroll processor not supported by HRB. GAH!!
HRBD Strike 3: it also won't (also present tense) import 1099's from my bank. The error code 2000 suggests the login information is incorrect. But it is correct and several others have reported the same error so it seems the problem is in the software. I need a fix this week, not "mebbe next month!"
I'm also not crazy about having to enter the 1099 details in line by line.
HRB - Dudes... Intuit did a full on face plant giving you a free shot. Don't blow it! You need to react quickly and fix these problems post haste!
Is this Whiffle ball? How many strikes are they allowed? Intuit-don't get cocky.. That little de-support sleight of hand cost you 527,692 strikes. There is no coming back from that. Get back to your corner of shame. But HRB isn't really making the grade either. Mebbe I should take another look at TaxAct.
Another option just popped up on the radar: I was about to start recreating a spreadsheet. But a cursory internet search showed someone else has already done the work: Glenn Reeves has posted Free taxform spreadsheets. I used to create my own spreadsheets to do my taxes but decided the time involved wasn't worth the $40 savings. So far, they look great! I'm going to give them a try.
The download is free but if they are useful I'll contribute.
HR Block came recommended by people I respect and the third seemed to have it's own issues.
Strike one came when HRB wouldn't (past tense) import my 2013 return, The program just crashed, no exceptions, no nothing, Just bang, you're dead.
I "solved" that problem by upgrading my windows computer from XP to 7. Yeah, MSFT dropped XP support last year so is it reasonable to expect another company to support XP? Maybe not. Table the question for now. The Win7 upgrade was in the plans, the CD & new hard drive were on site, I just needed to take the time to do the build. 2 hrs install + 6 hrs baby sitting win7 updates later + another week of daily updates, now Win7 is finally up to date. Oh and the old hardware that ran XP just fine is crawling running Win7. I see an upgrade in my future.
HRBDeluxe Strike 2: It won't (present tense) import my DayJob(tm) W2. Importing data is more than just the time savings. Manually entry risks a data entry error. Easy to do and hard to detect. Keeping the data in the digital domain reduces these errors. Apparently my S&P500 listed DayJob(tm) uses a payroll processor not supported by HRB. GAH!!
HRBD Strike 3: it also won't (also present tense) import 1099's from my bank. The error code 2000 suggests the login information is incorrect. But it is correct and several others have reported the same error so it seems the problem is in the software. I need a fix this week, not "mebbe next month!"
I'm also not crazy about having to enter the 1099 details in line by line.
HRB - Dudes... Intuit did a full on face plant giving you a free shot. Don't blow it! You need to react quickly and fix these problems post haste!
Is this Whiffle ball? How many strikes are they allowed? Intuit-don't get cocky.. That little de-support sleight of hand cost you 527,692 strikes. There is no coming back from that. Get back to your corner of shame. But HRB isn't really making the grade either. Mebbe I should take another look at TaxAct.
Another option just popped up on the radar: I was about to start recreating a spreadsheet. But a cursory internet search showed someone else has already done the work: Glenn Reeves has posted Free taxform spreadsheets. I used to create my own spreadsheets to do my taxes but decided the time involved wasn't worth the $40 savings. So far, they look great! I'm going to give them a try.
The download is free but if they are useful I'll contribute.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
