Tax Gripe

D

Damaged Goods

Member
Location
Maryland
Despite all the advances in electronic technology, we still need to wait until Jan. 31 to get 1099s and W2s, and even then some are delayed further.

I don't mind not getting the formal documents until Jan. 31, but we should at least be able to get the required info earlier online so that we can fill-out the IRS and State forms before then. I mean, if I go to the grocer and forget to get the receipt, I can access my credit card information right away to see how much I spent just a few minutes earlier, so why not be able to access the previous year's info ahead of time?
 

Damaged Goods said:
Despite all the advances in electronic technology, we still need to wait until Jan. 31 to get 1099s and W2s, and even then some are delayed further.

I don't mind not getting the formal documents until Jan. 31, but we should at least be able to get the required info earlier online so that we can fill-out the IRS and State forms before then. I mean, if I go to the grocer and forget to get the receipt, I can access my credit card information right away to see how much I spent just a few minutes earlier, so why not be able to access the previous year's info ahead of time?
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I don't know what the law is in the U.S. but in Canada, firms have to provide receipts by the end of February and individuals have to file their taxes by the end of April.
Government information for Social Security and Pensions is available online. In fact if you do your own taxes, you can have the information brought up and pasted into your return. But there's not much point when you have to wait for other income.
 
Damaged Goods said:
Despite all the advances in electronic technology, we still need to wait until Jan. 31 to get 1099s and W2s, and even then some are delayed further.
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Now, c'mon. Think about this. My wife was in accounting and I was in IT. Do you really have no idea how much work and processing time it is to provide W2's and 1099's and all the tax info needed for state and federal government?.
Tax info changes all the time. It's not done in 'real time' as your credit card info. And, there is absolutely no comparison to showing what was put on a credit card to calculating taxes at year end. Please talk to someone who works in a corporate environment. End-of-year processing is simply awful with a lot of overtime.
 
retiredtraveler said:
Now, c'mon. Think about this. My wife was in accounting and I was in IT. Do you really have no idea how much work and processing time it is to provide W2's and 1099's and all the tax info needed for state and federal government?.
Tax info changes all the time. It's not done in 'real time' as your credit card info. And, there is absolutely no comparison to showing what was put on a credit card to calculating taxes at year end. Please talk to someone who works in a corporate environment. End-of-year processing is simply awful with a lot of overtime.
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That info accrues as time progresses YTD and, frankly, I could have gotten the 1099R and savings bank and treasury note info as the year progressed had I been more diligent with keeping monthly statements, at least thru December. The point still remains, however. If I could get that info, then certainly the payer institutions should have it at their fingertips. A few of my banks provided interest info over the phone. That would permit me to get calculations started if all would do it
 
Damaged Goods said:
Despite all the advances in electronic technology, we still need to wait until Jan. 31 to get 1099s and W2s, and even then some are delayed further.

I don't mind not getting the formal documents until Jan. 31, but we should at least be able to get the required info earlier online so that we can fill-out the IRS and State forms before then. I mean, if I go to the grocer and forget to get the receipt, I can access my credit card information right away to see how much I spent just a few minutes earlier, so why not be able to access the previous year's info ahead of time?
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Jan 31...We do not get ours from TD Ameritrade until Feb 15th.

B
 
I always pay my taxes but I've never been in a hurry to do it!

My last form a schedule K does not have to be in the mail to me until the middle of March so I usually don't file before the deadline.
 
retiredtraveler said:
Now, c'mon. Think about this. My wife was in accounting and I was in IT. Do you really have no idea how much work and processing time it is to provide W2's and 1099's and all the tax info needed for state and federal government?.
Tax info changes all the time. It's not done in 'real time' as your credit card info. And, there is absolutely no comparison to showing what was put on a credit card to calculating taxes at year end. Please talk to someone who works in a corporate environment. End-of-year processing is simply awful with a lot of overtime.
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Yup been there, done that. End-of-year processing is an absolute nightmare, AND, it ain't nearly as fast easy as it looks from outside, even with machine accounting.
 
Boy...you must be expecting a large refund. Otherwise can't see the need to be in a hurry to file. My brokerages will post the information online on Jan 31st. Those that are mailed will be sent out between Feb 1st and 15th.
 
Refund or no, I just like to get things done early. Otherwise they prey on my mind. I'll probably be early for my funeral.

January is the perfect month to hunker down with tax work, because it's otherwise a nothing month when it comes to chores. No fields to mow etc. Jan. is also good for getting Spring housecleaning done.:)
 
Damaged Goods said:
Refund or no, I just like to get things done early. Otherwise they prey on my mind. I'll probably be early for my funeral.

January is the perfect month to hunker down with tax work, because it's otherwise a nothing month when it comes to chores. No fields to mow etc. Jan. is also good for getting Spring housecleaning done.:)
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I like to get mine done early as well. Right now none of our local stores have the disk version of Turbo Tax available. I refuse to download it because of past problems I have experienced downloading large software programs. (Downloading Microsoft Outlook was a nightmare.)

I also refuse to use any of the "free" turbo tax websites because I don't like these companies getting into my business any further than they already are.

…. and January has always struck me as a fine time to do my taxes.
 
Really don't care when the tax info shows up as long as it I get it in time to file. Calculating so we don't get much more than $100.00 back works for us. The choice to let that money go unused with no interest or gain in value or spend it on something during the year makes more sense to me.
 
debodun said:
The deadline for getting tax statements out by financial institutions USED to be January 31. Now I believe it's sometime in mid-February. I have received all mine except for one investment company's statement.
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Hang in there my fellow taxpayer.
It is irritating and you would think that in the modern age their computers could spit these things out in early January. I still have four more statements to go before I can satisfy Turbo Tax.
 

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