I've been trying to do my taxes since the 8th. One of the reasons it has been taking so long is deductions for things I've never had before, like health care. I keep having to go back and dig up information.
I started doing the free Turbo Tax online, but when I tried plugging in my extra petsitting income, it said that I would need to purchase the $49.99 version of their program. I was already looking at the total it said I owed (somewhere around $600) and didn't feel like spending any more.
Mum lent me her TurboTax CD. Plugged in the petsitting numbers. . And I was now looking at the number in the corner. I owe Uncle Sam over $1,000??
And those supposed deductions like health benefits...I didn't spend enough out of my own pocket for them to count for squat. Actually, everything I researched and plugged in didn't move that number one bit, except for
I keep trying to look up rules about extra income, but every time I find something it either doesn't quite apply to me and/or brings up more questions. The tax help places - for some reason no one likes to work after 10pm, when I have time to get there. What's up with that?
Anybody know enough about the tax law or refer me to REALLY good websites (I've visited a lot of websites already) that give advice ?
I usually have to replace the word "petsitting" with the word "babysitting."
Here is a few of my dilemma's.
- In 2007 I had a full time job that gave me a W-2. I had a part time job that gave me a W-2. Then I also had the petsitting. The magic number is if you made over $400 of extra income, it has to be reported. Yes, over $400 petsitting (4 digit figure). When I try to look up about how to correctly report this, yet not get dinged so much, I keep finding information on self-employment. The kind where that is your ONLY employment, not a third job.
- My petsitting services is not a registered business. And there isn't a category number in Section C for what I do. And not sure if I can take any deductions for self employment jobs.
And if I can take deductions, such as miles driven, that brings up a whole other set of questions.
Any advice?
Putting this out in the blogosphere, I guess that means I really shouldn't skip reporting it. Although the comment I had when thinking about not reporting the earnings:
"Why can't I lie to the government? They've been lying to me for years!"
2 comments:
I say go to HR block (office or online) and pay the $70-100 bucks. Or even use the $100 option from turbotax. Even if you pay $1,000 in taxes you need someone to do this for you correctly or it could come back and bite you later. I think you would be elligible to make somesort of payment plan as well so you don't get hit all at once. For next year I suggest putting away $50-$100 a month through automatic withdrawal into a high yield savings account like Capital one or ING Direct. You can set up $12/week or $50/month whichever works for your cash flow and it will be there next April. This is the first year I've had to pay and the only way it did not get me was having that savings account. I hope some or all of this helps you out. Hopefully your $600 stimulus check comes quickly this summer and you'll be able to sign it back to them as one of your payment arrangements.
Hang in there. - Tab
To let people know I wasn't ignoring your advice: Tab and I chatted via e-mails. I'll be looking into a high yield savings account, too.
My plan now is pay the over $1000 - and see if I can find someone to help me go through my taxes again and if need be, file an ammended or corrected form as well as make a plan for 2008.
I tried starting my taxes over two more times. On the one I put in as many deductions as I could think of or find, I ended up owing $200 MORE!
I did find a great book called, "How to pay Zero Taxes" and it help answer a lot of my questions. I just had problems with transferring the info it gave me to plugging it in to the TurboTax. And my records aren't that great.
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