Did you pay your taxes?

[Jaga]

The president and vice-president did...

Bush Pays Taxes, Cheney Awaits Refund

Bush and the first lady paid $187,768 in federal taxes this year on income of $735,180, the White House said. Cheney and his wife made more than 10 times as much.

...
After subtracting the charitable contributions, the Cheneys' income was $1.95 million on which they owed $529,636 in taxes, according to a statement released by Cheney's office.

Since the Cheneys paid $2.46 million in withholding and estimated taxes over the year, they were entitled to a refund of about $1.93 million.

The Cheneys' income included the vice president's $205,031 government salary and $211,465 in deferred compensation from Halliburton Co., the Dallas energy services firm he headed until Aug. 16, 2000.

www.latimes.com/business/taxes/la-na-bushtaxes15apr15,1,5903129.story?coll=la-headlines-business-taxes

[suzanne]

Oh yes, I paid, and paid, and then paid some more!

[Jaga]

Susanne,

maybe now you would receive a huge refund!

[kaima]

Well, I did not procrastinate and I finished my taxes 25 hours before the deadline!

I know it is unpatriotic, but I am paying taxes this year. I hope it doen't miff the Prezident that I am not supporting his program of running this country into debt! I would hate to have Homeland Secutiry investigate the few of us who pay.

Kai

[bescheid]

Money buys money: I paid H&R Block, and they figured out the sum that IRS is to refund to my account. It was a good bargain.

Anne and I always split the refunds for what ever each has contributed. My part paid for the 120.000 mile VW service and some left over for my beer money and exhaust muffler replacement for the Jetta (Bora).

Charles

[bescheid]

For what ever. Mr. Richard Cheny (Dick Cheny) is in our part of the world (Everett Washington) for a fund raising trip, then to Spokane for the same. I would only suppose it was a good excuse to get out of Washington (DC) as it is presently very hot there! (political not seasonal).

Charles

[suzanne]

admin said:

Susanne,

maybe now you would receive a huge refund!

Ha! Nope, we mailed off two huge checks, one to the federal govt. and one to the state of Taxachusetts. This happens every year.

I'm self-employed, and because I'm careful to not overpay (and hence not give the government an interest-free loan), we always end up owing. But we budget for it, so at least these checks aren't unexpected.

[leslie]

Suzanne
Boy, am I glad I live in UK! Soon after 4 April, the start of the tax year, I receive a form to complete stating my income in the previous year as a self-employed person, and any bank interest etc. Also the acceptable expenses I claim in the performance of that self-employment. I send it to the tax authority and from the income less expenses and my tax-free allowance, they calculate how much tax I have to pay over the tax year. That's what we pay our taxes for, not to do all their work for them!
The only possible 'fraud' is not to declare some income, but as the payers of your income are also making statements to the authority, to do that is VERY risky.
Leslie

[suzanne]

Hi Leslie,
Your system sounds much less complicated than ours. As a matter of fact, a poll was done recently, which revealed that more people are upset about the complexity of tax forms than the taxes themselves!

If you're curious, this is the basic form that Americans must fill out each year by April 15:
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf?portlet=3
and there are additional forms to be filled out if you own a business, etc.

You can buy tax software to do the work for you, but it's still a time-consuming hassle. The only people who have an easy time doing taxes each year are unmarried, childless, non-handicapped people with only one full-time job and no mortgage, investment income, or so-called "dependents." It's a pain for everyone else.

[leslie]

Suzanne
With an IRS form of that complexity, and as you say it's even worse if you have a business, I am even more pleased that I am in the UK for that alone. I can imagine people going around at the beginning of April each year with puzzled looks on their faces!

If you want to see a copy of our Return, go to

www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/sa100.pdf

but remember we just fill this in and the Tax people do the calculations (you can do it yourself with almost a year to do it in!). I just let them have my figures and let them calculate.

Leslie

[Yanc]

In Poland you can download a tax software free from internet, and print a filled tax form based on documents received from your employer. Of course it get harder when you own a business. When filling a form by hand it is quite hard to keep all the rules, but with using a software it's piece of cake.

Our basic form look like this:

www.mf.gov.pl/_files_/podatki/od_osob_fizycznych/pit_2005/rozliczenie_roczne/pit37.pdf?PHPSESSID=3c957e1c4c8e15ebcd67205cd9e30654

Yanc

[zooba]

Yanc, i can't agree with you. This year I have to do thetax report instead of my husband. Since he has his own micro-business I need to fill one form, then there are my regular job and his regular job, my remuneration for translating jobs, deduction for Internet and home renovation, plus we moved last year so there are two different ways of calculating the cost of income....and I'm really confused and dread doing it.
My only consolation is that you can correct the tax statement when you do something wrong, what I hope my husband will do when he gets back.

[kaima]

The US system seems to be quite deliberately complicated and will remain that way to support the industry that has developed to calculate taxes for Americans. They have the political power and the majority of our legislators were trained as lawyers, so there is no incentive to simplify. They have, however, talked about it forever.

Even the new electronic filing costs an extra $15 for the taxpayer to use, even though it sves the government substantial money!

Kai

[Jaga]

zooba said:

Yanc, i can't agree with you. This year I have to do thetax report instead of my husband. Since he has his own micro-business I need to fill one form, then there are my regular job and his regular job, my remuneration for translating jobs, deduction for Internet and home renovation, plus we moved last year so there are two different ways of calculating the cost of income....and I'm really confused and dread doing it.
My only consolation is that you can correct the tax statement when you do something wrong, what I hope my husband will do when he gets back.

Zobba,

if you are self-employed it gets much more complex to fill the taxes. I know this pain, although it was my husband in teh past who had to do so. I told him, he needs to survive me (live much longer than me) otherwise I would not know how to fill the taxes

[zooba]

The funny thing is that my Mun brought me today her documents for the tax report expecting me to fill it for her instead of my husband - I now in marriage we've become one body but it does not apply to brain, unfortunately.