Krysalgir

Sounds just like what my wife is experiencing right now with Deloitte...

Cook_County

Ask your company for a warm live human to speak with at Deloitte in the US (the return will be prepared by Deloitte in Hyderabad, India; but you might prefer someone in the same time zone).

jammiie

Yes they have offered to do that to be fair, but I'm asking myself why I should bother taking an hour out of my schedule for them to talk me through their complicated system when I've already done it all on TurboTax (took all of 15 mins with W2 in hand) and I can just pay $40 and send it off.

Krysalgir

She had a call indeed, but even though the questions were rather comprehensive, their website seems to be a total pain to use. And there isn;t a lot of explanations on W2s for those who'd like to get the numbers.
Besides, we discovered there was the FBAR form in addition to FACTA when attending a conference on FR/US taxes!

Rete

What kind of explanation are you looking for on the W2s? They are really straightforward.

Turbo will do the FBAR and FACTA as well as the 1040.

Krysalgir

Well the wages are WAY higher than what she earnt, UNLESS all the relocation expenses the company paid directly (ie we didn;t pay a penny, no reimbursement) is somehow considered as income and the taxes the company paid are added to her taxes.

Ah and actually they told her about FBAR, my bad

Harveyspecter

Steering back on topic, I just wanted to close out this thread and say thanks to everyone who helped. I decided to go with TurboTax and spent one night running over Federal, and last night running over State taxes and while it took some time being my first attempt, I was comfortable and happy with it. I haven't filed just yet but will do it tonight (I was debating between giving them an extra $40 to take the fee out of my refund or paying by card).

I got a $2500 return so although not as much as I hoped given what I'd been told, I'm pretty happy with that and with my bonus it's a healthy lump for a house deposit!

Rete

Did you also file a state return for WA where you lived and worked for 4 months in 2017.

What was a $2500 return? Or do you mean a $2500 refund?

Rete

How did your employer take out taxes from your salary for the full year of 2018 when you only worked for approximately 6-1/2 months? That doesn't seem legal. Or perhaps you meant that they used your annual salary as the base for determination of what withholding taxes should be taken per pay period. Which is the proper way of doing withholding determination.

Harveyspecter

I lived in WA but didn't work there. I tried filing a state rtn through turbotax but for some reason I couldn't select WA. I haven't filed yet so will check again tonight.

And yes, I meant $2500 refund.

Harveyspecter

Yes that is what I meant, thanks for clarifying.

chawkins99

As there is no state income tax in WA, most people wouldn't need to file even if they worked. Same here in FL.

Harveyspecter

That explains why I couldn't select it then, thanks.

tom169

Remember that a refund is just the IRS paying back an interest free loan of your money. It's not a good thing.

You'll want to review your withholdings going forward.

civilservant

While I agree with your point, some people are otherwise incapable of saving and would rather get a lump sum to spend on something at the beginning of the year.

I am selling a used car for $3k right now and am swatting them off with a stick due to the refunds beginning to hit