Because of my impending trip and the winter storm I'm currently hunkering down for, I finished my taxes earlier than I have ever done them. It feels good to get it out of the way; after lining up for more than an hour just to get a goddamn stamp, I have since never filed on Tax Day. It is good to get it out of the way, even though it was by necessity. Still, it really sucks -- not just taxes in general, but these taxes, this year, specifically as well.
I will be honest: I have heard that Trump and the Republicans really did screw over those who have regularly expected a refund around this time of year, but I don't think that has affected me. For one thing (and I hope this doesn't make me sound like a fucking Republican) you would rather owe than be owed come Tax Day. When you get a refund, that means that the country has been borrowing your money tax-free; if you owe, you are essentially giving back to the country money that belongs to them, and hopefully all this time you've been using it wisely instead of spending it on hookers and blow, like me. But I think the more important reason I still am owed by the country this year is because I still don't itemize deductions. In their sleight-of-hand tax break for millionaires, the Republicans slashed the number of deductions people (mostly middle-class people) can take. Sure, that eventually meant that ordinary people got to take home more money each payday. (Oligarchs that Republicans whore for got to take home a hell of a lot more.) But payback comes when you realize that that mortgage or Earned Income Tax Credit isn't going as far as you thought it would. So people who expected big refunds will get smaller ones, and those who expected any money back from the federal will instead pay them. This is what Republicans do: Fuck the common person over.
I'm still taking it in the shorts, however. While the country owes me, I still have to pay the state. Minnesota did not resolve their tax tables to coincide with the new tax laws from the federal so that the tax bills for Minnesotans would roughly be as much as a resident would have expected the year before ... or something like that. Anyway, if the new Republican laws gave me a break, the state, using its old tax tables, did not. Overall, I owe more than $330, I believe. And while that sucks -- I have no money now; remember, hookers and blow -- I truly think that taxes are the literal price we pay for a civilized society and functioning government. Maybe I would be getting more money back this year if Republicans hadn't taken it and given it to the rich.
But that is assuming I did my taxes correctly. For the first time ever, I got a 1099-MISC, basically a "contracted worker" tax statement. It stems from the guy who hired me for the Super Bowl and a Vikings exhibition game. I did not fill out a W-4 Form for him. Instead, as I found out when I started doing my taxes, in the law's eyes, I am not "working" for him so much as I am an independent contractor. That means that instead of him (what would be my employer) sending me a W-2 for the year, I get this 1099-MISC. And since I am only a contractor, he did not pull out the taxes from the wages he paid me. Instead, the MISC shows me the total amount of money he paid me for those two gigs -- and it's up to me to figure out the tax.
That was the biggest obstacle I had to overcome in doing my taxes this year. With a 1099-MISC I would have had to fill out both a Schedule C and a Schedule SE; after doing that, I would add the Self-Employment Tax to the 1040, and I certainly would be paying a hell of a lot more than I am now. On top of that, I don't have the brain power to figure it out. Now I understand what a pain-in-the-ass contractors -- construction subcontractors, freelance writers, and, most notably, strippers -- have to go through this time every year. My only saving grace is the requirement, on the IRS page itself, that my wages through my freelance work is "regular and continuous." I have no idea if this guy is going to hire me again for a different job. I really don't. And so, if these gigs are one-offs -- that my work for him is not regular and continuous -- then I don't have to fill out those two schedules but instead can just shove them into Schedule 1. That would make things a lot simpler. I just don't know if this will fly with the IRS, as provable as it is.
Other than that, I have to note the radical changes to the federal tax forms. I haven't been able to use either the 1040A or 1040EZ for a long time, but when I started doing my taxes last week and saw that they have been phased out, I truly bugged my eyes out. And then I went apeshit when I saw the 1040 was only half a page long (albeit on both sides). This was the Republicans' enticement to us common folk in order to pass this tax giveaway to the billionaires: You could do your taxes on a postcard, former House Speaker Paul Ryan said. But doing your taxes simply doesn't mean you save more, as many people have found out so rudely.
Moreover, these tax forms are not more simple. I am not being backwards when I say this: The 1040 was a lot less complicated last year when it had more spaces. There are a lot of spaces missing in the new 1040. I don't know where they all went, but some of them went to these new "Schedules," two of which I had to do. I see no fucking reason they couldn't have stayed on the old 1040; if they didn't pertain to you, skip over them. And another thing: There were a couple of spaces on the 1040 where I had to do the math before putting in the number for that space. There are additions and subtractions you have to make throughout the tax form, and in the old 1040 you would have the spaces to do it, you know? Like, "Add up Lines x through x"; followed by "Write in amount on Line x from Schedule y"; followed by "Subtract Line z from a" -- stuff like that, you know? But on the "simpler" 1040, there are no spaces for step-by-step computations. I had to do the math before putting in the final answer. That is an open invitation to mistakes, and I know these fucking dirty Republicans are hoping for mistakes because then the IRS will have to audit them, them being mostly the middle class and poor. This cutting through bureaucracy actually is a trick to shake down the proletariat for more money.
I've vented.
I will be honest: I have heard that Trump and the Republicans really did screw over those who have regularly expected a refund around this time of year, but I don't think that has affected me. For one thing (and I hope this doesn't make me sound like a fucking Republican) you would rather owe than be owed come Tax Day. When you get a refund, that means that the country has been borrowing your money tax-free; if you owe, you are essentially giving back to the country money that belongs to them, and hopefully all this time you've been using it wisely instead of spending it on hookers and blow, like me. But I think the more important reason I still am owed by the country this year is because I still don't itemize deductions. In their sleight-of-hand tax break for millionaires, the Republicans slashed the number of deductions people (mostly middle-class people) can take. Sure, that eventually meant that ordinary people got to take home more money each payday. (Oligarchs that Republicans whore for got to take home a hell of a lot more.) But payback comes when you realize that that mortgage or Earned Income Tax Credit isn't going as far as you thought it would. So people who expected big refunds will get smaller ones, and those who expected any money back from the federal will instead pay them. This is what Republicans do: Fuck the common person over.
I'm still taking it in the shorts, however. While the country owes me, I still have to pay the state. Minnesota did not resolve their tax tables to coincide with the new tax laws from the federal so that the tax bills for Minnesotans would roughly be as much as a resident would have expected the year before ... or something like that. Anyway, if the new Republican laws gave me a break, the state, using its old tax tables, did not. Overall, I owe more than $330, I believe. And while that sucks -- I have no money now; remember, hookers and blow -- I truly think that taxes are the literal price we pay for a civilized society and functioning government. Maybe I would be getting more money back this year if Republicans hadn't taken it and given it to the rich.
But that is assuming I did my taxes correctly. For the first time ever, I got a 1099-MISC, basically a "contracted worker" tax statement. It stems from the guy who hired me for the Super Bowl and a Vikings exhibition game. I did not fill out a W-4 Form for him. Instead, as I found out when I started doing my taxes, in the law's eyes, I am not "working" for him so much as I am an independent contractor. That means that instead of him (what would be my employer) sending me a W-2 for the year, I get this 1099-MISC. And since I am only a contractor, he did not pull out the taxes from the wages he paid me. Instead, the MISC shows me the total amount of money he paid me for those two gigs -- and it's up to me to figure out the tax.
That was the biggest obstacle I had to overcome in doing my taxes this year. With a 1099-MISC I would have had to fill out both a Schedule C and a Schedule SE; after doing that, I would add the Self-Employment Tax to the 1040, and I certainly would be paying a hell of a lot more than I am now. On top of that, I don't have the brain power to figure it out. Now I understand what a pain-in-the-ass contractors -- construction subcontractors, freelance writers, and, most notably, strippers -- have to go through this time every year. My only saving grace is the requirement, on the IRS page itself, that my wages through my freelance work is "regular and continuous." I have no idea if this guy is going to hire me again for a different job. I really don't. And so, if these gigs are one-offs -- that my work for him is not regular and continuous -- then I don't have to fill out those two schedules but instead can just shove them into Schedule 1. That would make things a lot simpler. I just don't know if this will fly with the IRS, as provable as it is.
Other than that, I have to note the radical changes to the federal tax forms. I haven't been able to use either the 1040A or 1040EZ for a long time, but when I started doing my taxes last week and saw that they have been phased out, I truly bugged my eyes out. And then I went apeshit when I saw the 1040 was only half a page long (albeit on both sides). This was the Republicans' enticement to us common folk in order to pass this tax giveaway to the billionaires: You could do your taxes on a postcard, former House Speaker Paul Ryan said. But doing your taxes simply doesn't mean you save more, as many people have found out so rudely.
Moreover, these tax forms are not more simple. I am not being backwards when I say this: The 1040 was a lot less complicated last year when it had more spaces. There are a lot of spaces missing in the new 1040. I don't know where they all went, but some of them went to these new "Schedules," two of which I had to do. I see no fucking reason they couldn't have stayed on the old 1040; if they didn't pertain to you, skip over them. And another thing: There were a couple of spaces on the 1040 where I had to do the math before putting in the number for that space. There are additions and subtractions you have to make throughout the tax form, and in the old 1040 you would have the spaces to do it, you know? Like, "Add up Lines x through x"; followed by "Write in amount on Line x from Schedule y"; followed by "Subtract Line z from a" -- stuff like that, you know? But on the "simpler" 1040, there are no spaces for step-by-step computations. I had to do the math before putting in the final answer. That is an open invitation to mistakes, and I know these fucking dirty Republicans are hoping for mistakes because then the IRS will have to audit them, them being mostly the middle class and poor. This cutting through bureaucracy actually is a trick to shake down the proletariat for more money.
I've vented.
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