Taxes Made Simple

Looking for tax advice? Have questions regarding income and deductions? Want to know how to understand your financial life? This is the place to ask your questions!

[taxes-made-simple]

This feels like a really silly question, but I still want to ask and make sure. I needed to have my taxes from a couple of years ago amended and it resulted in a bigger refund than I initially received. Will they be mailing me a check for the difference? I checked on the irs website and it said the process was complete and resulted in a refund but said nothing about sending it to me.

Depends. If you had a balance due to them then they would keep it as a credit against your balance due. If you're all good, then they should have sent you money or directly deposited into your account if they have your info from previous years. However, depending on when you filed the amended, you could be waiting a while. Given everything with covid, the IRS had to furlough most of its workforce and they have only recently started working at a higher capacity. If it's a paper check, it could take a while.

[taxes-made-simple]

So, there's a typo on my W2. My SSN is wrong. I've already informed my employer. Do I have to wait until I get the corrected w2 or can I go ahead and file and say that it was corrected?

You should be able to still file since the numbers are still correct. I would say that it’s corrected when you plug it in.

[taxes-made-simple]

Hey I'm the anon who had to amend their taxes for school credit! I was wondering if it's ok for me to go ahead and deposit the original return check before I hear anything about the amended one?

As long as the amended showed that you received the refund, then yes.

[aim-e-la]

Finance classes update

Im turning Taxes Made Simple into a discord server which also provides classes. Times and dates are to be determined but they will most likely be weekends or evenings EST times.

The discord server itself will be free but in order to join the live stream classes, it will be a small fee (I'm thinking $5 for each class). The classes will each focus on a specific topic - to be shared beforehand so people can choose if they want to attend - and will include a Q&A time as well.

I'm just getting it started and I'm going to wait to see if I can get a good sized group going. I'm also open to suggestions for the server as well as topics for the classes.

If you're interested, send me a pm and I'll send you a link to the server.

[aim-e-la]

Finance classes update

Im turning Taxes Made Simple into a discord server which also provides classes. Times and dates are to be determined but they will most likely be weekends or evenings EST times.

The discord server itself will be free but in order to join the live stream classes, it will be a small fee (I'm thinking $5 for each class). The classes will each focus on a specific topic - to be shared beforehand so people can choose if they want to attend - and will include a Q&A time as well.

I'm just getting it started and I'm going to wait to see if I can get a good sized group going. I'm also open to suggestions for the server as well as topics for the classes.

If you're interested, send me a pm and I'll send you a link to the server.

[taxes-made-simple]

Thank you, I think your explanation made sense. But I'll ask more questions if I get confused again when actually looking at the forms (and if the internet doesn't help). And I ABSOLUTELY am annoyed enough to write that they messed up instead of me. I'm only now getting a copy of the filed docs. That alone irritated me. Then to see it was wrong?

Oy, I’m sorry. The biggest piece of advice I give every client is to check over their return before they okay me to e-file it. It happens a lot that a client will forget to send me a document so when they realize something is missing, the return doesn’t get sent to the IRS.

[taxes-made-simple]

If my tax preparer didn't include my education credit when filing the returns, do I need to file the original 1040 along with the 1040x and the new 1040? And do I need to include a copy of my 1098t? I feel like this got way more complicated.

Well if your preparer forgot it and you sent him the papers, then it’s their job to amend it. If you’d rather do it on your own, here’s what to do:

So for the IRS you need to mail in any amended returns. Prepare a 1040x showing the education credit included. If you’re talking about student loan interest, then also include the new Schedule 1 (write Amended in red at the top) or if you’re talking about the tuition credit, do the same process but with Form 8863. 

You don’t need to include your 1098T since the IRS already has that in their records. What you should do is on the 1040x, there’s an explanation box so write something along the lines of “taxpayer (or tax preparer if you’re annoyed enough) mistakenly left off the [insert credit].”

Hope this helps. If you’re still confused or have more questions let me know. =)

[taxes-made-simple]

Ahh, studying for the EA exam has officially begun and I feel like I’m just getting it compared to the CPA exam.

[taxes-made-simple]

Hi! A baby adult here with a financial question. I recently opened a savings account and was curious how the interest accumulated will factor into my taxes? I mean, currently it's just cents but I'd like to know before it grows. Thank you!

Since most savings accounts have really small interest rates, chances are good that unless you have a significant amount of money in the account, you'll make a few dollars of interest.

That being said, should you receive $10 or more of interest from the bank, then you will receive a 1099-INT and it will be taxable.

[taxes-made-simple]

Now that tax season is over, studying for the EA exam can finally begin!

[taxes-made-simple]

Thank you. They did finally send it 30min ago (wow). But I feel like the taxes are wrong? Would box 1 (wages, tips, other) be before or after the taxes are taken out? If it’s after, they said I made more than I did.

Box 1 is the total wages earned and box 2 are the taxes withheld on those wages. So what you would have received in actual pay is box 1 minus box 2 (for both federal and state).

[taxes-made-simple]

Hi, I’d previously asked about a job I’d got laid off from (that since closed -at least no store front but apparently he’s working out of home) not sending a W-2. I emailed them again today to send the W-2 via email... if they still don’t send it by tonight, what should I do? Should I just submit what I have? Ask for extension? I’m sorry this is last minute. 😓 But I appreciate your insight!

I would file for an extension for now just to cover yourself for the day. Then I'd contact whatever program you do your taxes through and ask them how you would go about creating a w2 when an employer refuses to send you one.

[taxes-made-simple]

I can't believe it's all over tomorrow. The stress and anxiety will finally go to bed for the next 9 months and I can take that time to study for and hopefully pass the EA exam.

Another tax season under my belt, another year of proving that I can do this.

[taxes-made-simple]

California has a form called CACA and it never fails to make us laugh when we say it out loud.

[taxes-made-simple]

Only 2 weeks of tax season left!

And that’s no joke.

[taxes-made-simple]

Only two more weeks!

Have you gotten your taxes done yet?

[taxes-made-simple]

I’ve attempted this before but I was wondering if anyone would be interested in a tax/finance podcast. I know there’s a lot of money based podcasts out there in terms of investing and saving but I was thinking something more like taxes or accounting 101 for people who just want to learn without having to take a class or something.

Thoughts?