Stupid Tax Question
 

Can I, in fact, claim myself as my own dependent ? I had a co-worker claim this was viable, and I tend to lack.. faith, as it were.

Thanks in advance.

No.

Don't believe your co-worker.

I'm not sure I even understand the question.

No, but one of my co-workers told me that about 10 years ago. He ended up going to jail for tax evasion.

Thanks - I thought it was fairly absurd, but that's what you get for hanging around a bunch of econ/finance majors where loopholes are the goal. :D

Head of household maybe?

No, you dont have to pay the stupid tax.

Just checkin' .... I'm assuming your co-worker isn't talking about the exemption you claim for yourself as long as no one else can claim you as a dependent.

You get a standard exemption for yourself already, you cannot claim yourself on top of that and get 2 deductions for yorself. Your coworker is an idiot.

There are plenty of times when this difference of philosophy -- that between wonk types who approach taxes as an instrument of public policy, and "practicioners" who approach taxes as a challenge to see how much money they can keep away from the government -- is absolutely relevant to differences of opinion.

This is not one of them. This is just your coworker being an idiot.

You know, income tax is illegal because the 16th Amendment was not properly ratified. Feel free not to send in your return this year.

My uncle thought he could get away with it because of that argument. He didn't paid his income taxes for 15+ years. When the government filed charges of tax evasion, he didn't hired an attorney, but instead brought with him some pages of a website citing how the 16th Amendment was not properly ratified. Lets just say that the federal judge was not interested in hearing such an argument.

Yes, my uncle is an idiot.

I'm somewhat saddened to discover that I actually owe Uncle Sam funds this year - an accountant would be proud, since I got an interest free loan from the government,but its mildly depressing to write a check to the government.

Last year I owed 1k, and waiting until April 10th to find this fact out. I was worried I owed 1.5k this year until I noticed I get a 1.7k credit for paying RI and CT state taxes. So I get a couple hundred back. I'm so miserable with this stuff.

Itemized deductions ? My rough understanding of the matter is that if you itemize, your deductions are the sum of max (state income taxes, state sales taxes), charitable contributions, interest payments on a home - you deduct the itemized or standard total, whichever is higher. I don't own a home, and the state + charity number comes to less than the $5,000 standard deduction for me- thus I'm taking the standard deduction. Does that make any sort of sense ? :D

No doubt you understand it better than me. I take the standard as well. But there was a credit on the state taxes I could apply for since I was filing returns for CT and RI, which in the end is really a requirement.

So along the with the tax thread here, i have a question regarding with tax software everyone uses. I used Tax Cut Deluxe last year, but my situation is a bit different (sold a house, stock options, employee stock purchase plan) - any one with advice on which program (Tax Cut / Turbo Tax) and which version (Deluxe, Premium) I should use?

I know Turbo Tax Deluxe has all these as I just filed my taxes and mailed them today, so I do recall the questions.

Manny: "Mang, it can't be that bad you know, its not like Cuva you know?"

Tony: "Hey what the f**k you talkin..."

Manny: "Man, the jails are like f**king hotels here."

Tony: "The f**k you kidding me? you f**king high or what?"

Sheffield: "I'll delay the trial, a year and a half, two years; you won't even start doing time..."

Tony: "F**k you, f**k you mang, I'm not going back into the cage, OK? No way! I've been there..."

I've used Turbo Tax for 10 years when I have been from a dependent, to a college student, to a new home owner... It has worked great for me...

I was wondering, what happens if you just decide to not file your taxes one random year.... Not to avoid paying thousands of dollars or anything like that, just "forgetting" to do them in a year when you are even with the feds moneywise.

Different situation:

My wife's family annually goes to a local guy to do the taxes. As such, our taxes have been done by this guy for the past three, maybe four years.

Two years ago, I officially changed my home of record in my military service record from Missouri to Illinois. During last year's taxes, it apparently didn't come up. The guy who did our taxes just assumed my home of record was MO and filed the paperwork.

This year, not paying any MO state tax, he tells my wife we owe over 1300 dollars to MO. He gave my wife some paperwork stating that since she lived in MO that my income was taxable, regardless of where I lived.

The heading on the paper? Military personnel with Missouri Home of Record.

When I went home this weekend, I noticed the paper, and told her the guy assumes I have MO as my home of record. We called him and told him about it, and he casually remarked that I'd just owe Illinois about the same amount.

I might be wrong, but I'm fairly certain I moved my home of record to Illinois so I wouldn't pay state tax. I seem to recall being told military personnel don't pay state tax on their military pay in Illinois.

Guess we'll find out.