The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Call for Tax Questions
and Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread

Posted on | January 15, 2015 | 15 Comments

— by Wombat-socho


I have the day off from the tax mines, mostly so I could go see the doctors at the VA about the holes in my legs (they’re better, thanks) and since I’ve been spending a lot of time lately reading about taxes and practicing with the new software the Lords of the Green Square want their minions using this year, I haven’t had much time for recreational reading. However, I did see this amusing item during my daily scan of Instapundit, which explains why my bosses are handing out free copies of our software to angry Turbotax users. Anyhow, since there probably won’t be a decent book post this week, I’m offering to field your tax questions so long as you keep them short and to the point; I am not going to walk you through your return in the comments.

Also, open thread. Behave yourselves.


H&R Block Tax Software Deluxe + State 2014 Win [Download]

Category: Taxes

Comments

15 Responses to “Call for Tax Questions
and Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread”

  1. Southern Air Pirate
    January 15th, 2015 @ 6:16 pm

    http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=123978
    FYI. For those who live under TriCare, you have to state which version you have otherwise you pay the penalty on your taxes. Oh and only certain versions of TriCare are fully ACA compliant and the open season is closing at the end of the month for other health care plans.

    For those that don’t know TriCare is the military hearth care plan for families and retired military.

  2. CPAguy
    January 15th, 2015 @ 7:08 pm

    LOL…..the tax game seems to be all about software these days.

    Trying to move my business away from it as soon as possible.

    Small accounting firms are dying off at a rapid clip.

    Dying because there are not enough small businesses. All my clients are old….where are the young business owners, Obama? Why have you killed them?

  3. Wombat_socho
    January 15th, 2015 @ 8:08 pm

    Interesting. Our instructions just say that Tricare is acceptable as coverage for ACA purposes; they don’t differentiate between the different flavors of Tricare.

  4. Wombat_socho
    January 15th, 2015 @ 8:08 pm

    I think anyone who tries to do anything more complicated than a 1040A on paper is looking for trouble, but that’s probably just me.

  5. Southern Air Pirate
    January 15th, 2015 @ 8:11 pm

    They also said that doctor can be kept and that if the computers said you had subsidies then you were cool.

    My folks and my godfather are being hosed because they have TriCare for Life (the retiree version ) and are being told that may not be compliant with ACA tax laws but they need to check with a tax pro or the IRS. Shall we talk a out the left media kvetching about how the evil Rethugilicans have hurt the IRS so that people will be harmed if they can’t find a tax pro for cheap.

  6. Wombat_socho
    January 16th, 2015 @ 8:00 am

    Point taken, but nobody at H&R Block ever said those things.

    Also, we give advice for free, so as usual the media is wrong.

  7. CPAguy
    January 16th, 2015 @ 12:21 pm

    Software is pretty advanced these days.

    And the economy is so bad, most people don’t need anything but the basics.

  8. Captain Obvious
    January 16th, 2015 @ 7:42 pm

    So I am one of those lucky few who has health coverage provided entirely by my employer, and that coverage survived the ACA’s rejiggering with no changes. Someone mentioned to me though that we were going to have some changes to how the employer’s contribution is now counted as gross income on our 1040’s… any truth to that? What’s the broad strokes?

  9. CPAguy
    January 17th, 2015 @ 12:22 am

    No. But is something that folks on both sides of the aisle have pushed for a variety of good, and bad reasons.

  10. Wombat_socho
    January 17th, 2015 @ 11:00 am

    You’re probably right. My impressions are probably distorted by our customers, who are largely Federal workers and contractors living in a first-ring DC suburb.

  11. RS
    January 17th, 2015 @ 1:01 pm

    We just inherited a foreign, non interest bearing account. What form is used to declare that?

  12. Matthew W
    January 17th, 2015 @ 3:33 pm

    I’ve used T-Tax for almost 20 years and love it. I don’t have any of the conditions that require the added upgrade so it won’t be an issue for me.

  13. Matthew W
    January 17th, 2015 @ 3:35 pm

    “who are largely Federal workers and contractors living in a first-ring DC suburb”

    Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, so you are getting sloppy seconds on the gov-ment teat !!!

  14. Wombat_socho
    January 18th, 2015 @ 4:32 pm

    Even the Feds need somebody to flip their burgers, clean their clothes and do their taxes.

  15. Wombat_socho
    January 18th, 2015 @ 4:34 pm

    If it’s under $10 K, you don’t have to mention it on your return. Perversely, if it is, the form needed to report it isn’t an IRS form, it’s from a different arm of the Treasury Department completely.