Well, this is discouraging/getting assistance when filing taxes

[Bill]

As you all know, Congress decided to simplify and streamline filing taxes by eliminating Form 1040EZ form that most people use, and rearranging Form 1040 by adding so many schedules that most of us don't need to even think about because we used 1040EZ in years past. You can't even figure out where to enter unemployment income now without referring to the instructions which tell you something about using Schedule 1, then do this, then subtract that, etc. Anyway, I have a few questions about the processes. I go to the IRS website, see a title Ithin is relevant to what I need to know and a massive webpage with forms about corparatations, partnerships, etc shows up. Nothing on that page is easy reading. It's all writting in tax lingo that most of us have no clue about.

On my local representative's website there is a paragraph all about, "if you have questions or need assistance with a Federal agency, contact us." So, I thought I could get an answer from them. After two weeks of phone calls and leaving voicemails and several emails sent with no response I did a search on Google to find out why representatives don't reply. Immediately after I typed, "Why don't, representatives" Google autofilled the rest of the search field with, "answer their phone during tax season." It looks like I'm not the only one having this problem. And forget about trying to ocntact the IRS directly. The IRS states only 10% of calls are answered. Their goal is to answer only 60%. Other sources are claiming less than 1% of calls to the IRS are answered.

At this point I'm not going to get an answer and I really don't know what to do. I think I'm just going to file the taxes with what I have and do specifically what the IRS doesn't want me to do. That is, I'm going to include a note with my filing instead of the form they want because I'm unable to determine what form use because everything on the IRS website is full of If, then, but if, except when, but now when, and so on.

And make no mistake about it. This is intentionally designed this way. Nobody can make things as difficult as this without putting a lot of effort in it. It's so bad that representatives don't answer their phones during tax season for fear of the public overwhelming them with questions.

 

[sgtsandman]

I use Taxcut or TurboTax and let the program figure out the form and which one to use. I just answer the questions. I can do Federal and State that way. Local, I have to go to their contractor’s website and do it there.

 

[dvdswan]

Did you really think the representative would tell you or other constituents how to scam the government of taxes like they do?

 

[Bill]

I use Taxcut or TurboTax and let the program figure out the form and which one to use. I just answer the questions. I can do Federal and State that way. Local, I have to go to their contractor’s website and do it there.

I started out with H&R Block online, then Turbo Tax. Both to them are confusing the 1099 from unemployment as self-employment income, so I'm sending in a paper filing.

Did you really think the representative would tell you or other constituents how to scam the government of taxes like they do?

Who said anything about scamming the government? The problem I have is what form(s) to use. It has nothing to do with scamming the government. If you took the time to actually comprehend what I posted you would understand that.

 

[sgtsandman]

I’ve never had to deal with the 1099 stuff. So, I have no clue on that other than I know what they are and there are about four different types, depending on what generates them.

 

[fastpakr]

Who said anything about scamming the government? The problem I have is what form(s) to use. It has nothing to do with scamming the government. If you took the time to actually comprehend what I posted you would understand that.

I don't think the point was that you were trying to scam. More of a joke about government officials scamming the system themselves and not wanting to share their secrets with commoners like us.

 

[Bill]

I’ve never had to deal with the 1099 stuff. So, I have no clue on that other than I know what they are and there are about four different types, depending on what generates them.

For unemployment it's a 1099G which are payments from the government. Since I owe the software appears to think I didn't make quarterly payments like you would if you are self employed, and it wants to add penalties.

 

[Bill]

I don't think the point was that you were trying to scam. More of a joke about government officials scamming the system themselves and not wanting to share their secrets with commoners like us.

Ok.

I think the whole thing is a scam. Not the paying taxes part, but the part about making it unnecessarily difficult because tax preparation companies want it that way and it the tax code is written to favor the ultra wealthy.

 

[dvdswan]

Who said anything about scamming the government? The problem I have is what form(s) to use. It has nothing to do with scamming the government. If you took the time to actually comprehend what I posted you would understand that.

Wow! Don't take everything so seriously. If you can't make life fun, what's the point. Take two steps back, chug a beer and say, "This sh*t is whack". No go have some fun.

 

[Bill]

Wow! Don't take everything so seriously. If you can't make life fun, what's the point. Take two steps back, chug a beer and say, "This sh*t is whack". No go have some fun.

You will have to pardon me. I'm annoyed at this. It shouldn't be this confusing.

 

[rumblecloud]

I'm with Sandman. I use an online company recommended and approved by the IRS --- don't choke
Here's the link to Online Taxes at OLT.com

Been using them since I retired in 2016 and have not had any issues. This is the first year I actually had to pay for the preparation service. It's pretty robust for both Fed and state. You can efile or send in a paper copy. Obviously with efile, returns are much quicker - less than a week, but I file as soon as I get my last piece of paper - early February.

I do empathize with your "annoyance" though.

 

[Bill]

I'm with Sandman. I use an online company recommended and approved by the IRS --- don't choke
Here's the link to Online Taxes at OLT.com

Been using them since I retired in 2016 and have not had any issues. This is the first year I actually had to pay for the preparation service. It's pretty robust for both Fed and state. You can efile or send in a paper copy. Obviously with efile, returns are much quicker - less than a week, but I file as soon as I get my last piece of paper - early February.

I do empathize with your "annoyance" though.

I'm running into a problem wherein a penalty keeps coming up for not paying self-employment taxes when attempting to file online. I wasn't self employed. Something things the 1099 from unemployment is a 1099 as a contractor. Otherwise, I would just file online because it's easier.

 

[Shran]

I was absolutely irate when I did my taxes in February. Not only did TurboTax discontinue their free e-filing service, I got several 1099s from my employer including one for a Christmas bonus. I always expect a 1099-INT but not all the others and the explanation was that they are just blasting out 1099s for every little piddly expense now because the Dims keep moving the goal posts with this $600 reporting rule clusterfuk.

I was pissed and I didn't even have to deal with the IRS. The government is just such a total shit show these days... I think Americans should collectively decide to file our taxes on paper next year in protest. Who's with me?

 

[Jazzer]

TurboTax gave me a free federal efile this year, wanted like $24.95 for state so I paper filed state.

-Jazzer

 

[Bill]

I was absolutely irate when I did my taxes in February. Not only did TurboTax discontinue their free e-filing service, I got several 1099s from my employer including one for a Christmas bonus. I always expect a 1099-INT but not all the others and the explanation was that they are just blasting out 1099s for every little piddly expense now because the Dims keep moving the goal posts with this $600 reporting rule clusterfuk.

I was pissed and I didn't even have to deal with the IRS. The government is just such a total shit show these days... I think Americans should collectively decide to file our taxes on paper next year in protest. Who's with me?

The $600 rule has been around ever since I can remember. With the exception of cash we didn't have all these 1099s because there were limited methods of payments that all went through financial institutions that took care of the reporting to the IRS. Now we have Paypal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and others, as well as people making a living online who receive income from these sources, and I think there should be some way to make sure they pay taxes like the rest of us. It's a bit of a nuisance, but I don't know how else you can enforce tax compliance when payments are now received through so many different sources.