Petty Vents

[Addie]

If they have retirement income and nest eggs, that's a whole 'nuther story then. I thought you were referring to strictly SS income.

What really gets me is that I am the last person you want to ask for financial information. Even with a calculator, I am so mathematically impaired, I try to give the exact change all the time so I won't have to make sure I got the right amount back from a one dollar bill. But I keep the book we get every year from SS just so I can show it to someone when they have a question. I think I have read that book forward and backward. PF, I feel sorry for you having to deal with Medicare every day. I only go through this March and April. But at least I can rest my head easily at night.

 

[Cheryl J]

I have been trained to do taxes for low income and the elderly people through an AARP/IRS program.
In the chart for who must file,if your gross income EXCLUDING Social Security is less than $11,700 and you are over 65, you do not have to file.
As an example, if your income from other sources is $10,000, and your SS is $25,000, your total income may be $35,000, but you do not have to file.
BUT, if your income is $15,000 from other sources and $20000 from SS, you have to file for the same $35000 income
Confusing???

Thank you so much, Souschef!

 

[PrincessFiona60]

What really gets me is that I am the last person you want to ask for financial information. Even with a calculator, I am so mathematically impaired, I try to give the exact change all the time so I won't have to make sure I got the right amount back from a one dollar bill. But I keep the book we get every year from SS just so I can show it to someone when they have a question. I think I have read that book forward and backward. PF, I feel sorry for you having to deal with Medicare every day. I only go through this March and April. But at least I can rest my head easily at night.

Heh! My Medicare Book at work is over 1200 pages. The PDF file for it is here towards the bottom of the page: MDS 3.0 RAI Manual - Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Over 1000 Kb on the PDF file.

 

[Kayelle]

Addie, in our little town of 29,000 taxes for the elderly and low income are done here for free, thanks to good people who volunteer like the SousChef during tax season.

Surely Boston has a program? You would do well with your neighbors to direct them to experts with their taxes.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Garbage, taxes, and checks - oh my!

~ We live more rural, in a town just over 11,000 residents. Each household is responsible for "hiring" their own trash hauler. We've always had our trash picked up every-other week since we moved here because it costs less. Even then we barely generate half a wheel cart (about 95 gallons big) of trash. Most times our separate recycling cart, same size, goes out once a month or every six weeks. We pay around $55 a quarter for our service. Our recycling earns us points for a program called "Recycle Bank", which we can redeem for goods, services, coupons and magazine subscriptions. When we have used it toward a restaurant reward we laugh about eating our garbage.

~ We've never had the bank hold money for our real estate taxes because we have always paid on our own. When we build our first house we put 30% down (we aren't rich, just really hard workers who save money because we are cheap thrifty) and so were deemed responsible enough to pay taxes and insurance on our own. It's always been that way for us. And like many of you, I write checks out for any business that charges me a fee for the privilege of paying online. Our credit union charges a monthly fee for enabling online payments, so we use the utility/retail business/etc's in-house auto-pay, charging everything to our Discover card...which we pay in full every month online directly to them. We basically write checks for National Grid (those people want to know everything before you can set up auto-pay...too danged invasive for their own needs) and any bills the town sends (water/sewer, real estate taxes, annual personal property tax). Since town hall is right on my way to the library, which I'm at several times a month, it's not a big deal to pull into their parking lot on my way to the library.

~ Himself is in charge of filing income tax around here. Always waits till the last couple of weeks. I wish he'd get on it for this year though. Since we paid for my health insurance all year but our only income was one month of his social security in December, and a couple hundred dollars of interest from savings/checking accounts, I'm expecting a nice refund. Our shiny, new ACA* promised assistance based on income. We'll see.

*Affordable Care Act

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Kayelle, my Aunt had been a bookkeeper all her life. When she retired she became active in AARP and did that too. That was in suburban Cleveland. Our suburb probably had about 25,000 residents then, but I know some of the members would go elsewhere - probably also to neighborhoods in Cleveland, since we were contiguous to it.

 

[Addie]

I have been trained to do taxes for low income and the elderly people through an AARP/IRS program.
In the chart for who must file,if your gross income EXCLUDING Social Security is less than $11,700 and you are over 65, you do not have to file.
As an example, if your income from other sources is $10,000, and your SS is $25,000, your total income may be $35,000, but you do not have to file.
BUT, if your income is $15,000 from other sources and $20000 from SS, you have to file for the same $35000 income
Confusing???

Thank you. And these residents think I have all the answers. "Calgon, take me away!"

 

[Addie]

CG, in Massachusetts, if your financial institution has a Massachusetts Charter, they cannot by law charge those who are 65 and older or under 18 any fees.

A number of years ago a young boy was putting his money in the bank to save up for a bike. He delivered newspapers. When he had enough he went to withdraw it and the account was empty. The bank had eaten it all up with stupid fees. His plight made the news and there was a very loud cry of foul everywhere. The bank was getting some very bad publicity and people and businesses were closing their accounts. That bank had a run on it. They decided to return all of the money to the boys account. Beacon Hill wasn't to happy either and passed the law unanimously.

I have my account with a Federal CU. But they don't charge me any fees. And never have. If I make a withdrawal at a foreign bank, they take that charge off and put the fee back into my account.

 

[bakechef]

I just did our taxes two nights ago, I procrastinate every year, I hate doing them. We always get money back, but I still hate it.

 

[roadfix]

I usually file extensions for filing our taxes simply because I'm so darn lazy. That gives me up to 6 months to file the returns. But this year I've been on the ball and have so far filed one return, and will file our 1040 and State by 4-15. I use TurboTax and I've been using it for several years now.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I gave up and went to HR Block after my MIL died and there was those monies to think about and I hate the Social Security rules for Montana, nothing makes sense to someone who still counts on her fingers.

I got snazzy new glasses with my portion of the return and we paid off Shrek's lift chair with his portion.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I gave up and went to HR Block after my MIL died and there was those monies to think about and I hate the Social Security rules for Montana, nothing makes sense to someone who still counts on her fingers.

I got snazzy new glasses with my portion of the return and we paid off Shrek's lift chair with his portion.

Why am I picturing a trebuchet!

 

[Addie]

I gave up and went to HR Block after my MIL died and there was those monies to think about and I hate the Social Security rules for Montana, nothing makes sense to someone who still counts on her fingers.

I got snazzy new glasses with my portion of the return and we paid off Shrek's lift chair with his portion.

I hate HR Block. My neighbor upstairs married a woman with five children. One belonged to the husband. HRB told him year after year that he could not claim her children. Even though the father was in prison and not contributing to the expense of the children. I finally read to him from the instruction book exactly who he could claim. I did his taxes that year and put down the children. I also helped him with the IRS in filing for changes on his previous years that HRB told him he couldn't claim the kids. He got a nice refund. And they went after the HRB office that had been dispensing wrong information. Then they had twins so now they had seven kids to claim each year.

When his parents needed around the clock care, he brought them into his home. Eddie was paying for all their needs. Their SS checks went into the parents bank account until their death. Once the funds were cleared by the bank, they helped pay for the funerals along with the $55 SS paid.

 

[taxlady]

I worked for H&R Block for about nine years. It's really the luck of the draw. Some tax preparers love doing income tax and take the time to do a good job. Others are looking more at their commission and rush through it. I found that out when I worked in the verification department. I wasn't allowed to reject a tax return because there were obviously missing deductions/credits. It had to be an absolute error. I also got to see the work that some of the tax prepares who made the highest commissions. I was kinda shocked.

 

[Addie]

I worked for H&R Block for about nine years. It's really the luck of the draw. Some tax preparers love doing income tax and take the time to do a good job. Others are looking more at their commission and rush through it. I found that out when I worked in the verification department. I wasn't allowed to reject a tax return because there were obviously missing deductions/credits. It had to be an absolute error. I also got to see the work that some of the tax prepares who made the highest commissions. I was kinda shocked.

And now you know why I try to tell folks to stay away from them. For the elderly and those on welfare or low income, there are plenty of places that will help you with your tax return free. The Bunker Hill CC have their students that are studying finance, go to the public library every Friday and Saturday to help with filing taxes for free. The City of Boston have a slew of folks who will help the elderly and folks who live in the projects for free. There are so many places that help for free. No need to go to HRB.

 

[roadfix]

I would assume with the tax softwares preparers use these days errors are limited to clients' information they enter into the system

 

[taxlady]

I tell people only to go to H&R Block if they have recommendation for a good tax preparer or as a last resort. I also tell a lot of people to see how they like filing online. We have a few sites that let you file online. All of them allow people below certain income thresholds (varies by product) to file for free. It's usually around $18,000 - 20,000 per year of family income.

 

[Addie]

I would assume with the tax softwares preparers use these days errors are limited to clients' information they enter into the system

Not necessarily. Sometimes they will tell the client that they can't claim that deduction. And when the information they give the client is wrong, then wrong information is entered. Every year there are changes in the tax code. You have to read that instruction booklet from front to back completely. It does point out what the changes are. Not all preparers are willing to study the updates and changes. Your best bet is to go to a CPA. Certified Public Accountant. They take a four year intensive course in all aspects of finances. Then another two years of the area they intend to specialize in. It is not an easy course. A lot fail and quit without getting their degree. Going to a CPA may be a bit more expensive, but it is worth it to protect your money.

 

[taxlady]

I would assume with the tax softwares preparers use these days errors are limited to clients' information they enter into the system

I was talking about before tax prep software was common.

With tax prep software there are a number of ways to go wrong. There are typos, of course. There is being unaware of deductions/credits. There is putting info on the wrong line of a form. There are times that some income usually goes on a specific line, but there are exceptions. I have professional software, so I can override in the cases of exceptions. Often, the software available for non-professionals won't allow those overrides.

 

[Addie]

I tell people only to go to H&R Block if they have recommendation for a good tax preparer or as a last resort. I also tell a lot of people to see how they like filing online. We have a few sites that let you file online. All of them allow people below certain income thresholds (varies by product) to file for free. It's usually around $18,000 - 20,000 per year of family income.

If you are low income, filing on line is the only way to go. IRS now has a Spanish version for those whose English is not quite ready for it. Even IRS has folks available to give you free help. In English or any other language. You can sit down with a human.