Who knows things about US police department hiring procedures, and can tell me what this means?
Persons hired from the lateral entry appointment list shall not be eligible to take a promotional examination for ranks above Police Officer and Firefighter until a person hired from the certification list for original appointment at the same time is or would be eligible to take the same promotional examination or the lateral candidate has been a full-time paid officer in good standing in any jurisdiction for at least five (5) years, with at least three (3) years as an Aurora Police Officer.
You know what really sucks? If you know that something is important and has real consequences if you don't do it or if you do it wrong, but you have no idea how to actually do the thing. It's scary and can make doing the thing very intimidating.
You know what's a really common thing everyone has to do but very few people are taught about?
Income taxes.
This infuriates me. So I sat down to write a brief and basic breakdown of how US federal income taxes work. It ended up being less brief than I originally envisioned, but the headers are in all caps so you can skip ahead to the questions you are interested in. But first here's my disclaimer. Do your own research, talk to a tax professional if you have questions, I'm not speaking on behalf of any tax return preparation company, don't sue me if you screw up your taxes, etc, etc. If you want to dig deeper into anything here, go to irs.gov and search for whatever you're looking for. The IRS website is actually pretty useful.
Alright. Let's go. Here's like, the basic, most over-simplified explanation of federal income taxes.
WHAT IS TAXES?
When a bunch of people get together and decide that they want to operate under the same set of rules, they form a government. That government takes money to run. They use it to hire people and fund programs that do things for their country and sometimes other countries. Sometimes the things the government spends money on are good things. Sometimes they are bad things. Sometimes they are good ideas executed poorly.
We're not going to get into that right now.
The point is, the government gets its money from the people it governs. I mean. Not all of it, probably. But the parts that are important for this conversation it does.
You, if you are a US citizen or someone living in the US, are required to pay a percentage of your income to the federal government. The amount is not a flat percentage. People who make more money get taxed on higher percentages of that money*. Somebody has to add up all the money you made during the year to figure out how much you should have paid in taxes. You do this sometime between January and mid-April (barring national disasters or ill-timed holidays that push back the due date) by filing a tax return. The normal due date is April 15.
*Look. Explaining exactly how tax brackets work requires pictures and/or hand gestures. You don't need to worry about it now.
HOW DOES A TAX RETURN WORK?
If you (and your spouse if you have one) work "normal" jobs, you'll get a form called a W-2 from any employers you worked for during the year. They contain info about how much money you made and how much of it was already sent to the government on your behalf. The most important boxes are box 1 (wages, tips, and other compensation) and box 2 (federal withholding). This shows 1. what you made before taxes were taken out and 2. how much of it was sent to the government for your federal tax payments. Filling out your tax return (Form 1040) will add up all your income, calculate how much you should have paid in taxes (AKA your tax liability), and compare that to what you DID pay. If you overpaid, you get a refund. If you underpaid, you have to make up the difference. If you underpaid by a LOT, there may be an underpayment penalty. (Note: the failure to file penalty, for not filing a tax return, is always more than the failure to pay penalty! If you owe the IRS it's better to go ahead and file on time. If you can't pay what you owe at once there are payment plan options. If you can't file on time you can file an extension which pushes your due date for filling back to October 15, usually. You can send a payment with your extension if required.)
If you're not using a professional, I highly reccommend using some kind of tax software to fill out your tax return. You'll get tax forms from your sources of income, and a few other select places. If it came in the mail or email and says "IMPORTANT TAX DOCUMENT ENCLOSED" you should save it and have it with you when you start preparing your tax return. Your software/tax professional should ask what you have, and then you or they will plug it into the software. You should just have to plug in basic info about yourself (legal name, date of birth, social security number, address, etc) and the data from any tax forms you received, and let the software do the work!
So that's basically it. You use the 1040 to figure out how much income you made, if you're elligible for any credits, and what you should have put into withholding. If you overpaid, you get a refund. If you underpaid, you will owe the IRS. All you really need to do is collect your tax documents and do some data entry. If you don't have any tax credits and you're not self-employed or retired and you don't have any kids or investment money, you can skip to the WHERE DO I FILE section.
WAIT WHAT ARE TAX CREDITS?
Tax credits are money that the government credits to you because you meet certain criteria. They can either be nonrefundable or refundable. Nonrefundable tax credits can reduce your tax liability (tax liability is the money you should have paid in income tax throughout the year, based on your total yearly income). Basically, if you had a tax liability of $3000 and you get a nonrefundable tax credit of $1000 it brings your tax liability down to $2000. But if you had a liability of $3000 and a nonrefundable tax credit of $4000 it can only bring your liability down to $0.
Refundable tax credits can give you money back, though. If you had a tax liability of $2000 and a refundable tax credit of $3000, that's $1000 the IRS owes YOU, baby.
COMMON TAX CREDITS
Child Tax Credit
If you supported a descendant of yours who is under age 17 and lived with you more than half the year, you get a credit for that! The "normal" use of this credit is for your kids, but grandkids, step kids, and young siblings and niblings can count too if you are the one supporting them. If you split custody of your kids with their other parent to whom you are not married, only one of you gets to claim them. If the two of you can't peacefully decide who that is going to be, and you want to claim them, you need to be able to prove that you supported the kid(s) and they lived with you. Notes from the kid's school and/or doctor are often used for this.
As of the time of this writing (2023), the Child Tax Credit is $2000/kid. If you make a ton of money this credit may be phased out. The Child Tax Credit is one of those nonrefundable credits that we talked about. It can only take your tax liability down to $0. BUT if you had some of the credit "left over" after your tax liability was wiped out, you may qualify for the Additional Child Tax Credit, which is a refundable credit, but it maxes out at $1500/kid instead.
Other Dependent Credit
This is a credit you can get if you supported a dependent who doesn't fit the criteria for the Child Tax Credit. This can be a child age 17 or older, a parent who you support, your live-in girlfriend who doesn't work (if she lived with you ALL YEAR), etc. (Please note: your spouse is NOT your dependent. Even if they don't work.) Not sure if someone qualifies as your dependent? The IRS website has a tool for that. The Other Dependent Credit is currently $500/person.
"Daycare Credit" AKA Child and Dependent Care Expenses Credit
If you send your kid or disabled dependent or spouse to daycare so you can work, go to school, or look for work, you can get a percentage of that money back as a credit. The exact percentage depends on your income.
The facility where you send your kid should provide you with an end of year statement showing the expenses you paid that year. You'll also need their EIN (Employer ID Number) and basic info like their name, address, and phone number. If you paid an individual you'll need their social security number instead.
Earned Income Credit
This is a credit for people who have worked during the year but who haven't made what the government considers to be "enough" money. You were trying. But you probably need some help. The amount you can receive depends on how much money you made and how many kids you have. Any tax software should calculate this automatically. It can be a real life-save for some families.
"Solar Panel Credit" AKA Residential Energy Credit
I'm only going to talk about the solar panel part here because it's most common. Basically, if you install solar panels, you can get a credit for up to (currently; it changes year to year) 30% of what you spent/financed. BUT a VERY IMPORTANT thing that the solar salespeople often don't tell you is that this is a NONREFUNDABLE credit. If you only have a tax liability of $2000, this credit will only give you $2000 for this year even if it's a $16,000 credit! Don't count on the whole 30% to go towards your solar loan principal if you don't usually have a big tax liability! The good news is that the unused portion of your credit will "carry forward" to next year, meaning it can help reduce your next year's liability if you don't use it all up this year. And the next, etc. Keep up with your old tax returns so you can put any carryforward credit onto the next year's return!
"Higher Education Credits" AKA American Opportunity Tax Credit and Lifetime Learning Credit
The short version is that if you spent money out of your pocket or if you took out a loan to pay for higher education for you, your spouse, or your dependent (or your kid that their other parent claims), you can get a percentage of that back as a credit. The AOTC is better but you can only take it for a total of 4 years, then you get bumped down to the Lifetime Learning Credit. You'll need to get the 1098-T from the school to see what you paid, and you may be able to also include expenses for things like textbooks.
Other Credits
There's also a credit if you're adopting a kid, but I'm not going to get into it here. Just know to look it up if you ever adopt!
There is a small credit for people who contribute to a retirement plan and have income under a certain amount. This is the Saver's Credit.
I'm not listing every credit that exists, just the ones I see the most. A lot of people don't know about the college credits, which sucks, because they can really help!
HANG ON I'M SELF-EMPLOYED WHAT DO I DO?
Congrats on being your own boss! If you are self-employed/freelance/contract labor, you get a 1099 at the end of the year instead of a W-2. Usually a 1099-NEC (NEC for non-employee compensation). This means that instead of your employer sending money to the government to pay your taxes for you, you have to do it yourself! The parts that go to Social Security and Medicare taxes are called "Self-Employment Taxes" and they get calculated at the end of the year in addition to your Income Taxes.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR ME?
When you are filing your tax return, you'll have to fill out a Schedule C for each business. Do you drive for Doordash and you also clean your aunt's house every week? Congrats. You have two businesses. One as a delivery driver and one as a housekeeper. But if you drive for Doordash and Uber Eats, you just have one job as a delivery driver.
During the year, you need to do 2 basic things:
1. Save back money to pay your taxes, and send it to the IRS quarterly. These are called Quarterly Estimated Tax Payments and you can do it by mail or online. The IRS has a tool to help you calculate how much you should be sending.
2. Keep track of your expenses and milage! If you spend money on things that you use exclusively for business, you can count those as expenses. (I'll get to expenses in a minute.) If you use something mostly for work, like a cell phone, you can count a fraction of that expense. If you drive your personal vehicle for work (not TO work; commuting doesn't count for this), keep track of the miles you drive! You get to count that as expenses, a certain number of cents/mile. It adds up. If any of this applies to you, please do more research, maybe download an app to keep track of things. This is just to let you know what you need to know so you can look up in depth what applies to you.
HOLD ON GO BACK. WHAT ARE EXPENSES?
Okay. Basically, to calculate what money is taxable if you're self-employed, you add up your income (what you got paid), and then total all your expenses (the money you spent to run your business). Income - Expenses = Profit or Loss. You only get taxed on the profit (called a "gain" on the form). A loss can offset some of your "regular" income, but please do more research if that applies to you.
If you got paid $10,000 for the year in your home bakery business but spent $8000 on things like flour, cake boxes, and renting a catering van, you only made a profit of $2000 and that's all that counts for your income and self-employment taxes. That's why it's important to keep track of your expenses and mileage! Less profit = less taxes. But you know. Don't make crap up. Assuming that you will be audited eventually will help keep you out of trouble!
OKAY, THIS IS ALL NICE, BUT I GET RETIREMENT MONEY
That's cool! If you get social security, you'll get an SSA-1099. If you get money from IRAs or other pensions, you'll get a 1099-R. Just plug 'em into your tax software and it will calculate everything automatically. If you tend to owe money at the end of the year and you don't want to, you can have more withholding taken out of either your social security or your pension by talking to whoever oversees your account.
WHAT IF I HAVE INVESTMENT MONEY?
Look. If you have investment income and you came here for tax advice, you are in the wrong place, buddy. I'm happy for you but we do not have time for that right now. If you get like $20 in interest from your checking account or whatever, fine. Just plug that 1099-INT into your software and you're good to go. If you have, like, dividends, or you trade stock or whatever? You're the kind of person who leaves your documents with your tax pro and they get back to you next week.
WAIT YOU HAVEN'T EVEN TALKED ABOUT SHORT FORM VS LONG FORM
That's because it's not a thing anymore, sweetie. There are only two forms for personal tax returns: the 1040 and the 1040-SR. The only difference is that the 1040-SR, for seniors, has a bigger font. Really. That's it.
What you are thinking of is itemizing vs taking the standard deduction.
Basically, you add up your total income for the year and then subtract either the standard deduction or your itemized deductions. Gross income minus standard or itemized deductions = taxable income. So the more you can deduct here, the less tax liability you have. For this year (tax year 2022 since I'm writing this in 2023), the standard deduction for single is $12,950, $25,900 for married filing jointly, and $19,400 for Head of Household (an unmarried adult who has at least one dependent). If you itemize deductions instead of taking the standard deduction, you can add up various deductions and subtract that from your gross income instead. Common things you can itemize include
* unreimbursed medical expenses that exceed 7.5% percent of your total income
* charitable giving
* interest on your mortgage
* state or local income or sales tax
Itemizing is only useful if the total of all the deductions you can take is higher than the standard deduction. For most people, it isn't, so I'm not going to go any deeper into this and waste everyone's time.
WHERE DO I FILE?
If all of this has made you tired, and you still just want to pay someone else to do it for you, and you can afford that, great! Professionals exist to do hard stuff for you in exchange for money. Ask about the price up front. It may vary depending on how complicated your return is. Some places will let you take your fees out of your refund, if you get one, usually for an additional fee.
I'D REALLY RATHER NOT PAY MONEY TO DO THIS ACTUALLY
Good news! If your total income was $73,000 or less (as of this writing), there are places you can do your taxes online for free! Just go to IRS.gov, click "File Your Taxes for Free," and use their tools to find a program that will work for you. You may have to pay a small fee to file a state return, if you lived or worked in a state that collects state income taxes.
GEE, THANKS FOR THE EXPLANATION. IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANTED TO TELL US?
Why, yes, there is! Thanks for asking!
A TAX RETURN IS NOT A TAX REFUND.
Please stop saying "return" when you mean "refund." Yes, I know, that they are kind of synonyms in regular English but a tax return is the form you file when you file your taxes. If you get money back, that is a refund. Thank you.
JUST BECAUSE YOU WORKED HARD DOESN'T MEAN YOU GET A BIG REFUND
That's like... not how it works at all. Did I include this just because one man stormed out of my office because he was mad that he was getting only a couple hundred dollars back instead of the several thousand dollars that his underemployed girlfriend with two kids got? Maybe. Credits are for people who the government decided need help (like people with kids or low incomes) OR for things the government is bribing you to do (like install solar panels). If none of these things apply to you and you still want a big refund, you could have your employer hold more withholding out of your paychecks, but that means you'll get smaller paychecks and that the government is just using your money interest free until they give it back to you when you file your tax return. Some people like to do that, though. They treat the IRS like a savings account they're not allowed to tap into except once a year.
LET'S TALK ABOUT FILING STATUSES FOR A SECOND
There are five filing statuses:
Married Filing Jointly. This is for two people who are legally married. If you live in a state that allows for common law marriage, you can be common law married and file jointly. But if you ever decide you don't want to be married anymore you are supposed to get a divorce if you want to go back to filing single. MFJ has the highest standard deduction. One spouse will be listed as "taxpayer" and the other as "spouse." It doesn't matter which is which. Sex doesn't matter. Income doesn't matter. The IRS just wants you to do it the same every year for record-keeping purposes.
Married Filing Separately. This is for two people who are married but don't want to file jointly. It is usually the worst way to file because several credits are not available to MFS people, but sometimes your spouse won't cooperate with you or maybe they have weird financial crap going on and you don't want it tied up with your financial crap. Approach with caution. It's half the standard deduction, but if your spouse itemized, you must itemize too.
Single. This is for people who aren't married and don't have any dependents. It's half of what the MFJ standard deduction is.
Head of Household. Forget whatever you think you know about how normal people use this phrase normally. Head of Household, for tax purposes, is for an unmarried adult with one or more dependents (if you're married and your spouse has abandoned you and you have kids you can use this status though! As long as the spouse didn't live with you for the last half of the year). It's one and a half times the single standard deduction.
Qualifying Widow(er). This is an uncommon filing status. If someone was married with kids and their spouse died, they get to file as MFJ with that spouse the year that their spouse died, as long as they don't remarry that same year. For the next two years, the surviving spouse can file QW. The Qualifying Widow(er) deduction is the same as MFJ. After that, providing they still have dependents, they get bumped back down to Head of Household.
WOW, THANKS. TAXES DON'T SEEM SO SCARY ANYMORE.
I'm glad to hear it! Go forth with more knowledge.
Gynecologists who will perform a tubal sterilization - Google Drive
I asked my doctor mere minutes after having my first daughter if I could tie my tubes and got laughed at…I’m not the first to have the same experience and I surely won’t be the last.
I’ll never get sick of reading 42nd moon. It must be the fifth time I’m reading it and it still hurts just as much as the first time. I can’t believe it’s been so long since I first discovered this series… it really makes me feel emotions, the kinds that are really hard to bring out. Pain, sadness, agony and this weirdly hollow feeling… like I’m empty on the inside. Oh and I’m also crying 😭
But all that being said, it’s these emotions that are really hard to being out imo so the fact that I’m sobbing here (again) just proves how amazing of a series it is.
Thank you for writing it ❤️ it made me fall in love with jisung all over again…
Five times? Wow, thank you for liking it so much. It's my first (and so far only) big project that I published, so it holds a special place in my heart, so I'm really happy to hear it has one in yours too. I had a lot of fun (and pain) writing it. It really fulfilled a lot of my writing bucket list.
Excuse the shameless promo, but in case you haven't heard, there's actually a longer (but maybe not better HAHA) version of it on Amazon Kindle by the same name! It's free with kindleunlimited. If you don't have unlimited and want to dm me a junk email account, I can send you a copy ;). The names are changed, but it's pretty easy to figure out who's who, I think (except maybe IN).
