Is anyone else scared of doing their taxes for 2012?

[Anonymous]

I prepare my own taxes. Last year we had a bunch of financial changes, including a large bonus (withheld at 25%) and a mortgage refi. We also earned more taxable income than ever before in my career ($280k, thanks in large part to that one-off bonus). I'm worried I was underwithheld after looking at my last few W-2s (before I could really do much about it) and am really worried we're into AMT territority. I guess I"m just really anxious about tax prep this year. Eek.

[Anonymous]

This is the first year I'm not freaked out about it. Just grab a glass of wine and start...maybe it's not as bad as you think it will be.

[Anonymous]

Better to know sooner rather than later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Better to know sooner rather than later.

Agreed. I was stressed because thanks to some one-off bonuses, my husband made more than he's ever made last year. But I just did a mock up (we use an accountant but I couldn't wait that long) because I needed to know how bad it really was. It turns out we look ok. Haven't done DC yet though!

[Anonymous]

Me. I'm convinced we're going to owe money and am avoiding finding out. Not a lot, but I try to keep the withholdings such that we usually get a small amount back and therefore don't budget to have to pay. Between that and the threat of furloughs, we're looking at cleaning out the savings we've managed to eke out over the past few years. Manageable, but still stressful. But I'm going to pour a glass of wine, blame the GOP (for not having a reasonable tax policy, which would address both the manufactured budget crisis and the weirdness in what we will owe this year), and face the music.

[Anonymous]

Just do it OP! Run it through TaxSlayer or something to get a general idea. I was convinced we'd owe but we came in with a $100 refund, just by the hair of our chinny chin chins. It might not be so bad!

[Anonymous]

I'm a little worried about MD taxes as they didn't issue new withholding tables after the tax increase. That didn't sink in until fall when I had my withholding increased to catch up.

[Anonymous]

Turbotax says we owe $100 federal and get back $2800 DC. But our investment income isn't in yet.... I'm guessing that'll change substantially once we put it in.

[Anonymous]

Totally freaked. Lots of new things this year: bought a new house and kept the old one as a rental, started working out of a deductible home office, sold a bunch of stock, etc. I'm hoping everything just sort of cancels one another out but have a feeling I'll owe in the end. I was thinking of having a professional do it but hate the idea of not having the electronic history.

[Anonymous]

I am more concerned about 2013 taxes. We are are so fu$%ed, and the Hill isn't through with us yet.

[Anonymous]

I wish I could do mine - don't have my dividend and interest statements yet. I did my estimated return (I do a mockup every year for planning purposes) and it says I'm due about $114 back from the Feds. While I guess I should feel good about finally getting my withholdings right, I'm going to miss the nice little chunk of change I usually get back. ($1-$2K.) Sigh.

[Anonymous]

We owe 3,500 federal.

Fuck you Uncle Sam. I actually said " if only I hadn't gotten that raise this year"

[Anonymous]

I was totally freaked and ended up only owing $111 to fed. Getting back $900 from VA. Whew. I really did think we'd owe about $3k.

[Anonymous]

Interesting what PP said about MD. I already did my taxes and I'm still getting the same Federal refund but our MD refund of $1000 from last year has changed to a refund of $3. A big change with no changes in income, family structure , etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish I could do mine - don't have my dividend and interest statements yet. I did my estimated return (I do a mockup every year for planning purposes) and it says I'm due about $114 back from the Feds. While I guess I should feel good about finally getting my withholdings right, I'm going to miss the nice little chunk of change I usually get back. ($1-$2K.) Sigh.

See, I feel totally opposite. I was completely pissed last year when we were owed a refund of nearly $6k. That meant our withholding was WAY off. This year, we are due a refund of only $100 or so and I was very pleased. We got the most of our money over the course of the year, which is way more helpful to me than a $6k chunk of a refund that we invariably end up blowing because my DH treats it like free money.